It has been a trend for most office to continually call up local commercial cleaning services every week to clean up after employee’s messes. While it’s not exactly that bad, it will drain your expenses in the long run if you continue with this kind of habit with your workers. Sure the common areas like the office pantry, lobby, and washroom needs local commercial cleaning services to maintain it, but individual cubicles needs upkeep from the employees who use them.
How do you promote this kind of lifestyle? Maybe strictly implement it in your office and make sure it’s followed through. While it might seem like a challenge for some, maybe you can come up with simple steps for them to follow in order to clear up their office space. Here are the easy steps in keeping your desk neat and clean:
Keyboard upkeep. Some employees rely on snacking when they hit a writer’s block during work, and usually it’s the keyboard that suffers the most. Keyboards often get grease and crumbs in between keys and it attracts nasty creatures like ants and cockroaches. It would also break the device if it’s unclean for a long while.
The best thing you can do is put a piece of cloth on top of it to avoid accumulating dust when unused. You can also wipe the keyboard after eating by a slightly damp microfiber cloth. You can even use Q-tips to clean the crumbs in between the keys for good measure. But the best way is to avoid eating while working.
Proper filing. There are probably a dozen of paperworks you haven’t touched for a while, and it’s occupying your available space on your desk. If it’s something unnecessary, might as well as properly dispose them or shred them to avoid spreading of important data. If they are still used for reference in the future, store them neatly in an organized filing cabinet.
You can organize them per client, alphabetically, or by year that helps you pull out the documents you need in your work. It might sound daunting or hard work, it will definitely help you save time in the future.
Pencil marks. While it is indeed a wonder as to how there came to be pencil marks on your desk, it can look ugly and distracting while you work. The easy way to clean this up is to save a bit of the rye bread you had earlier and rub it on the markings. No need to spend anything, it’s just a piece of bread from your lunch.
Business cards. They are definitely needed for reference, but they can take up a lot of space that it basically explodes whenever you pull one out and you’re too lazy to cram it again. In order to save space from your office desk and drawers, perhaps you can save the details in your phone or list them down in your planner for easy access.
Thick dust. You may not like to admit it, but there’s a thick layer of dust you can find in every corner of your desk. You can get rid of this by mixing vinegar and water and make sure you wipe it properly. But be careful on where you spray this simple solution: Printed products might be damaged from it.
