When students head back to school, busy schedules, packed classrooms, and seasonal illnesses return with them. But those germs don’t necessarily stay in the classroom. Employees with school-age children can encounter more illnesses at home, while cooler weather means people begin spending more time indoors.
For businesses, fall is a good time to take another look at office cleaning and workplace hygiene.
A consistent commercial cleaning service can help maintain a cleaner, healthier workplace while keeping restrooms, break rooms, common areas, and frequently touched surfaces ready for employees and visitors.
Why Fall Is an Important Time for Office Cleaning
Your office sees plenty of traffic throughout the year, but fall can bring additional challenges. Employees return from summer vacations, children are back in school, windows stay closed more often, and more activities move indoors.
That makes this an ideal time to review your office cleaning schedule.
While no cleaning routine can eliminate every illness, professional cleaning can reduce dirt and contaminants on surfaces and help businesses maintain a more hygienic working environment.
The key is paying attention to the areas that receive the most use.
1. Give High-Touch Surfaces More Attention
Think about how many people touch the same surfaces during an average workday. Door handles, light switches, conference room equipment, shared appliances, and other common touchpoints can be used dozens or even hundreds of times.
High-touch areas to include in your commercial office cleaning plan may include:
- Door handles and push plates
- Light switches
- Elevator buttons
- Shared phones
- Conference room tables
- Copier and printer controls
- Break room appliance handles
- Faucets and restroom fixtures
- Reception counters
- Shared workstations
Regularly cleaning these surfaces is a simple way to improve overall workplace hygiene.
2. Don’t Overlook the Office Break Room
The break room is one of the most heavily shared spaces in many workplaces.
Employees prepare food, use the same refrigerator and microwave, operate coffee makers, touch cabinet handles, and gather around common tables and countertops. Food crumbs, spills, trash, and frequent hand contact can quickly leave the area looking—and feeling—less than clean.
A thorough office cleaning service should give special attention to break room floors, counters, sinks, tables, appliance exteriors, trash receptacles, and other frequently used surfaces.
A cleaner break room isn’t just more pleasant. It shows employees that their workplace is being cared for.
3. Make Restroom Cleaning a Priority
Few areas influence someone’s perception of a workplace as quickly as the restroom.
Dirty floors, overflowing trash, empty soap dispensers, odors, and visibly soiled fixtures can leave employees and customers with a poor impression of the entire business.
During cold and flu season, consistent commercial restroom cleaning becomes even more important.
Businesses should have a cleaning schedule that accounts for restroom traffic and ensures toilets, sinks, faucets, dispensers, door handles, floors, and other surfaces receive appropriate attention.
For higher-traffic offices and commercial facilities, that may mean increasing cleaning frequency during particularly busy periods.
4. Keep Floors Clean as Fall Weather Arrives
Fall doesn’t only bring seasonal illnesses. It also brings rain, leaves, mud, and eventually winter weather.
Every person entering your building can track moisture and debris across entryways, hallways, carpeting, and hard floors. Without regular floor care, those areas can quickly make an otherwise professional workplace look neglected.
Routine commercial floor cleaning helps remove dirt and debris before they spread throughout the facility.
Entry mats, vacuuming, hard-floor cleaning, and periodic deeper floor care can all play a role in keeping your business looking professional throughout fall and into winter.
5. Pay Attention to Dust and Less-Visible Areas
A surface doesn’t have to look dirty to need cleaning.
Dust can accumulate on windowsills, vents, baseboards, shelving, furniture, and other areas that aren’t always part of an employee’s everyday cleaning routine.
A professional janitorial service can address these easily overlooked areas as part of a more comprehensive cleaning program.
Fall is also a good opportunity to evaluate whether your current cleaning routine is keeping up with the needs of your facility—or simply handling the most obvious messes.
6. Encourage Good Workplace Hygiene Between Cleanings
Professional cleaning works best alongside good habits from employees.
Encourage employees to wash their hands regularly, clean up food and drink spills promptly, avoid leaving old food in shared refrigerators, and keep personal workspaces organized.
Businesses can also make sure soap, paper products, trash receptacles, and other basic supplies are readily available.
Employees don’t need to become the office cleaning crew. Small individual habits simply complement the work performed by your professional commercial cleaning company.
Is Your Current Office Cleaning Schedule Enough?
There’s no single cleaning schedule that’s right for every workplace.
A small professional office with limited visitors may have very different needs than a busy facility with dozens of employees and constant customer traffic.
When determining how often your office should be professionally cleaned, consider:
- Number of employees
- Daily visitor traffic
- Number of restrooms
- Shared kitchens and break rooms
- Floor types
- Building size
- Customer-facing spaces
- Seasonal conditions
- Current employee or customer complaints
If trash piles up before the next service, restrooms frequently need attention, floors look dirty between visits, or employees are regularly handling cleaning tasks themselves, it may be time to increase your office cleaning frequency.
Prepare Your Workplace for Fall With M&V Pro Services
Back-to-school season is a useful reminder that fall brings changing routines both at home and at work. It’s also the perfect opportunity to make sure your facility’s cleaning program is ready for increased indoor activity and the months ahead.
M&V Pro Services provides professional commercial cleaning and janitorial services designed around the needs of your workplace. Whether you’re looking for more consistent office cleaning, better attention to high-touch areas, restroom cleaning, floor care, or a customized cleaning schedule, our team can help develop a plan that works for your facility.
Don’t wait until dirty restrooms, overflowing trash, or neglected common areas become employee complaints.