Ways to Encourage Employees to Help With Office Cleaning

Cleaning is frequently a subject of contention in offices. No one really wants to clean up their homes; they certainly don't want to do it at their workplace as well. The problem comes when offices become out-of-control and messy. Finding ways to get employees to help out around the office can help keep the place looking and feeling professional while creating a more harmonious workplace where everyone pulls their weight.

You can implement various things as culture shifts within your office, to help encourage employees to help out with cleaning.

Make Cleaning Supplies Readily Available- and Tell Everyone Where They Are

This is a problem we see frequently in offices; there are only a few cleaning supplies in the whole place, and only a select few know where they are. This can be the office go-to, the manager, or just the cleanest person in the office, but no matter who it is, they accidentally act as a gatekeeper to these supplies. Many employees would clean up after themselves if only they knew where the duster, mops, or cleaners were.

Consider making a list of office supplies and their locations available to everyone in the office so they can easily find the things they want to clean up after themselves.

Offer Incentives

Whoever said bribery doesn’t work didn’t have the chance to win a pizza party when they were in elementary school. Setting clear expectations, boundaries, and rewards for employees can work wonders.

An example of this would be, "It's important that all our workstations are clear of clutter and garbage because we are a customer-facing space. So every morning when I come in, I’ll check to see if they’re clean. If they are every day this week/month, everyone gets a gift card/dinner out/choice of their treat." Tailor it to your workplace and employees to motivate them individually and collectively.

What often happens here is that the culture around cleaning up will shift, spurred by the competitive and motivated people, to the less motivated or clean to start developing these cleaning and tidying habits.

Hire a Commercial Cleaning Company

While this article is about encouraging employees to clean, hiring a company, in a roundabout way, does just that. Often, employees leave things because they don't think about how items get cleaned or they don't care. You can leverage the presence of a cleaning crew to say, "There's a crew coming next week. Here's a list of the things they'll do and everything else needs to be handled by us. So let’s divide things up and we can make sure the whole office is clean.”

This can be things as simple as "Clean your personal area" or "Make sure all the dishes are in the dishwasher." Reminding employees about what the crew will and won't do allows them to remember to clear up after themselves.

Lead By Example

No one wants to clean if their boss is a known and unrepentant slob. Clearly state what the expectations of cleanliness are for everyone, yourself included. Then let yourself be seen adhering to these expectations. Showing that you value the cleaning standards will go a long way to encouraging others to appreciate it too.

Enjoy a Cleaner Office

We certainly aren't suggesting you expect your employees to pitch in scrubbing the floors after hours on top of all their other responsibilities. But you can give employees easy ways to spruce the place up after themselves and make the whole office a more pleasant place to work.

At TNT Group Janitorial + Building Solutions, we're experts in cleaning and managing buildings to get the most out of them. For more tips and tricks on having a cleaner building, visit our website.