Tips for Maintaining Office Hygiene in Australia

Clean premises and hygienic practices can help foster healthier and more productive workplaces, as well as minimise the costs of absenteeism and sick leave.

Having professional cleaners is important, and you can also encourage an overall culture of cleanliness among your staff members.

Here’s how.

Call in the professionals

Workplace cleaning is generally best left to a commercial office cleaning service. The professionals have the right equipment and cleaning processes to help limit the spread of germs, and make sure staff have a clean and welcoming work environment.

Make sure your cleaners are on a regular schedule, and that they pay extra attention to those high traffic areas, such as kitchens. Also:

  • Recognise that shared coffee stations can collect germs and ensure that they are regularly and thoroughly professionally cleaned.
  • Ensure the meeting room table is wiped down regularly. With hands and elbows on it, it’s ripe to pass on germs. This is particularly important if it is used for food at meetings or celebrations.
  • Have the copy machine or other communal office equipment regularly wiped down.
  • Make sure the bins are emptied at the end of each day and thoroughly disinfected.

Create a culture of cleanliness

As well as employing a professional office cleaning service, here are some other ways you can help to influence a culture of cleanliness in your workplace.

  • Make sure office hygiene is on your team’s meeting agenda and raise it for discussion as a weekly item. Encourage staff to raise any cleaning issues in the meeting.
  • Run a handwashing campaign. Make sure everyone knows how to properly wash their hands by mounting how-to posters above bathroom basins.
  • Run a similar campaign for employees on covering their mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing, putting tissues straight into the bin, and washing hands afterwards.
  • Make antibacterial wipes and hand sanitisers readily available to staff.
  • Encourage all staff to clean their phone, computer mouse and book covers with an appropriate, safe product that kills germs. Make sure that personal items such as photographic frames are also wiped down.
  • Get your staff to shake down their keypad before wiping it; they’ll be horrified by the food particles, skin flakes and dust that live between the keys!
  • Ensure that all cups, plates and cutlery are thoroughly washed after use. If the budget allows it, invest in a dishwasher.
  • Ask staff to report cracked toilet seats or other fixtures that may harbour germs, and replace them.
  • Encourage staff to clear their desks regularly to enable the office cleaning service to effectively clean the surfaces. Better still, institute a clean desk policy.
  • Ask staff to check under their desks to make sure nothing is breeding in the boxes of books and other junk hidden under there!
  • Ensure your fridge doesn’t become a health hazard to the team by collectively developing a set of rules that everyone must obey, including a weekly professional clean out.

A healthy workplace is a productive workplace. By taking some simple measures and employing professional cleaners, you can encourage cleanliness and wellness in your office.

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