It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year… to Help Your Office Cleaning Company Help You

We all know that the winter months and bevy of holidays be a time of shifting needs with regard to our office cleaning. This time of year can present both challenges and opportunities for both you and your commercial office cleaning company. Often you will find that with more employees taking vacation time, your needs shift. You may need less service or even more service from your office cleaners depending on the nature of your business. And sometimes, with so many people out of the office, it is a good time to get some deep cleaning done. But there are some factors that can get in the way of a clean building and even your office cleaner’s ability to make the most of the seasonal down times. How can you take advantage and make the most of the downtime in your building to make sure you offices look their best?

#1: Keep Desks Organized to Help Out Cleaning Staff

Your commercial cleaning company can’t clean the desks if they are covered in paperwork and other important things that they don’t know what to do with. Further, any trash, cups or other items can make it near impossible to get to the surfaces beneath. As Facility Manager, it can be helpful to remind your employees to clean their desk and other communal areas before they leave for holiday to allow the cleaning staff to effectively get their job done and get as deep and thorough a cleaning as possible.

#2: Prevent the ‘Holiday Fridge’ From Becoming a Biohazard 

When people start leaving for the holidays, your communal refrigerator can quickly becomes a biohazard if some steps aren’t taken to prevent it. How often have you looked into the office fridge post holiday party to find a Jenga of foil cartons threatening to tumble and assorted sundries left behind after the merriment si over? The danger (not to mention the smell) of the three-week-old salmon and the platters of party goodies that no one took with them in the haste to start their holidays can quickly become ideal hosts for molds and other unpleasantness. If you ignore this problem your office fridge may become the worst smelling thing in the office. The trick to solving this all to common problem, is getting employees to take responsibility for the week old Chinese or half finished soda. The most effective solution, we have found, is to create a regularly cleaning schedule so that anything that isn’t claimed within a certain time period is disposed of before it can become a problem. This eliminates any risks associated with leaving food in the fridge for too long and gives cleaners an opportunity to deep clean and minimize odors.

Tip #3 Winter Means Cold and Flu

The holiday season also coincides with another less pleasant season, cold and flu season. As such, your Michigan janitorial company should be doing everything in their power to keep touch points and hotspots regularly cleaned to help reduce the risk of bacterial and viral infections and assure you have a healthy work environment. Is your office cleaning company cleaning for health?

It isn’t solely on your cleaning service, their are some things that you should remind your employees of:

• Wash your hands correctly to stop the spread of pathogens
• Don’t come to work sick, you won’t be an effective employee and it can potentially get other people sick
• Regularly use hand sanitizer and wash hands as well as to keep hands away from the face. It may sound like something you here in a kindergarten classroom, but science has shown time and time again that this is the most effective way to prevent illness
• Understand practices that help reduce the risk of spreading disease such as how to cough and sneeze

TIP #4:Use Winter Downtime to Your Advantage to Get Some of That Deep Cleaning and Maintenance Done

Most offices are busy, bustling places so deep cleaning and other intensive maintenance tasks are often pushed to the side or delayed longer than they should be. However, during the holiday season, take advantage of the reduced number of people to catch up and even do some preventative maintenance to prepare for the busy months ahead. Many office cleaning services not only offer cleaning but other services such as HVAC care, plumbing painting, electrical, carpet and window washing, among other things that you can use to care for your facility. Need carpets cleaned? Need floors stripped and recoated? Need some other extras? The holidays present a rare opportunity to get these things done, unobstructed by high traffic.

Tip #5 It is the Season of Giving, so Give Yourself an Effective, Professional Commercial Cleaning Company

The holiday season is a time of giving, so give yourself the right office cleaning service provider for your facility. Maybe you’ve had it with your current cleaning company and are looking to try something else. Or, perhaps you are new to the janitorial market and are trying to decide who can help keep your facility looking fresh and clean. Either way, if you are looking for quality, consistent, responsive, professional service for you and your building, there is a company out there that can fill your needs.

The winter holidays can present a good time to transition to a new, better office cleaning company. So often in talking to Facility Managers we are finding that as budgets remain tight or even reduced, demands go up leaving many Facility Managers struggling to get their buildings cleaned effectively AND within budget.

The time of reduced office budgets have been here and it doesn't look like it will be changing anytime soon so you need a company that will give you value for your dollar and that will be committed to working with your budget and giving you consistent, effective services. Thoughtful winter maintenance, planning and even bringing on a new more adept office cleaning company can be the answer to assuring your office is clean and ready to go during winter months and all through the year.