The Best Cleaning Strategy for Offices with Open Floor Plans

Open-plan offices are becoming more popular with large companies. It is a suitable layout for businesses with 20 or more employees working in the office. Open floor plan offices also look modern and are often cheaper to rent. However, since almost all employees work in one large room, open-floor offices require specific cleaning strategies to ensure the workspace is clean, pristine and professional.

In this article, we’ll discuss the best cleaning strategy for office space with open floor plans.

Daily Cleaning Routine

Open-plan offices require daily cleaning and sanitation, especially if more than 20 or 30 employees work on-site every day. The daily cleaning routine for such offices starts with general cleaning tasks such as dusting fixtures and ledges around the office and cleaning hard-to-reach areas.

Then, you should wipe and disinfect high-touch surfaces like desks, shelves, door handles and counters. At this stage, you should remove clutter from the office space, empty rubbish bins and replace their liners. Afterwards, you should vacuum carpets and mop hard floors to give the office a pristine look.

Cleaning Shared Spaces

Open-plan offices often have several shared spaces or communal areas. They include:

• Meeting rooms
• Employee break rooms
• Kitchens or kitchenettes
• Toilets

Routine cleaning tasks apply for meeting rooms and employee break rooms as well. However, kitchens and toilets require more attention when it comes to cleaning.

When it comes to kitchens or dining areas, cleaning tables and counter and mopping floors aren’t enough. First, you should wash all the dishes or load them in the dishwasher. Then, you should clean and polish the sink, clean the faucets and descale kettle.

Next, you should check the fridge and remove mouldy and spoiled food. Then, you can go with cleaning and disinfecting eating tables, counters and cupboards and finish with mopping the kitchen floor.

Cleaning toilets is even more important. You should start with emptying rubbish bins, replacing liners, descale, scrubbing and sanitising toilets and washroom sinks. Then clean and disinfect faucets, mop the floor and finish with restocking washroom consumables like toilet rolls, paper towels, soap, etc.

After cleaning the office space, shared spaces, kitchen and toilets, take all rubbish bags out to prevent problems like pests and bad odours. Removing rubbish on a daily basis is essential in open-plan offices.

Window & Window Treatment Cleaning

Open-plan offices are often surrounded by windows overlooking the city. They are one of the aesthetic features of such workspaces. Cleaning windows from the inside every day or at least 2 times per week is essential.

Cleaning windows from the outside, on the other hand, is usually the responsibility of the building manager. Two or three times per year is suggested. Window cleaning for office spaces has several benefits. You can read our detailed article about the benefits of window cleaning.

Many offices also have window treatments. They are either window blinds or fabric curtains. Cleaning window blinds one or two times per week can reduce the amount of dust in the office space. Also, washing fabric curtains two times per year is essential to extend their lifespan and keep them safe from discolouration.

Office Air Quality

One of the major issues in open-plan offices is the air quality. Maintaining the air quality is very important for the health and safety of employees. Keeping the open-plan office air quality high is difficult and often requires multiple actions at the same time.

You can greatly improve the office air quality by using industrial air purifiers or special HVAC air filters. Cleaning HVAC air ducts once a year can also help with air quality as mould growth in air ducts impacts the HVAC performance and office air quality.

Regular dusting and cleaning of office electronics like computers and servers can greatly benefit the air quality. Electronics collect dust faster and cleaning them not only reduces maintenance and repair costs but also reduces the amount of dust in the office environment.

And another factor that can improve the office air quality is using green cleaning products. Open-plan offices require daily cleaning and regular use of cleaning chemicals may cause allergic reactions or sick building syndrome in employees. Switching to green cleaning products not only causes less harm but also reduces the company’s environmental impacts.

Read More: Essential Cleaning Supplies for Office Spaces

Role of Employees

Employees in open-plan office spaces also have a major role in keeping the office clean. Office managers or HR managers working in companies with open-plan offices can get employees to keep the office clean by putting out informational posters, setting up incentives or fun challenges.

Setting up ground rules around the office can help as well. This may include asking employees to eat only in the kitchen, wash the dishes or cups they use throughout the day or clean their desks once a week.

Providing training for employees about some cleaning tips is also effective for engaging them in keeping the office clean. Employees personal hygiene is also a great matter for those working in open-plan spaces.

If employees engage in keeping the office cleaner, office managers can reduce the cleaning frequency. This can benefit the business financially as well as the employee’s health as less frequent cleaning means less cleaning costs and less use of cleaning chemicals.

Frequent Extra Cleaning

Busy open-plan offices may require extra cleaning sessions to ensure the office space adheres to H&S regulations and office space is in good shape. Extra cleaning includes deep cleaning, carpet cleaning and floor work.

Deep cleaning once a month or once every two months is suggested by many commercial cleaning contractors, especially for larger open-plan office spaces with more than 50 employees.

Carpet cleaning two or three times per year is also suggested. A clean carpet not only means an extended lifespan and fresher looks but also helps with managing dust in the office environment.

If the office has large hard floors, then floor scrubbing and floor work sessions once a year are perfect for painting the office floors and keeping them shiny and pristine.

Conclusion

Open-plan offices are becoming popular among companies and businesses with more than 20 employees. Open-plan offices are often cheaper to rent and have more space for large businesses with several employees. However, cleaning such office spaces requires extra cleaning strategies on top of regular cleaning. In this article, we explore the best cleaning strategy for open-plan offices.

The information provided by this article can help you understand the specific needs of your open-plan office space and how to move forward with closing it effectively.