August 14, 2024
It is 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, and 2080 hours per year. Are you wondering what we are talking about? It's the amount of time you spend at the office.
The office is our second home and dramatically impacts our overall well-being. So, the office space, especially the kitchen, must be clean for a healthy life. As an owner, you must consider that a dirty kitchen can cause your employees to get sick and impact company growth.
You might wonder how to avoid this. Don't worry; today's comprehensive blog will solve all your office kitchen cleaning queries.
Before we discuss the cleaning tips and methods, let's consider the importance and benefits of keeping your office kitchen clean and pristine.
Apart from maintaining a good office environment, office cleanliness helps an organization uphold its health standards, fostering a positive work environment. Do you still want to know more about this?
Here is a list of reasons for keeping your office space neat and fresh:
a. Boosts Employee Motivation: Regular cleaning of the office kitchen reduces the chances of foodborne diseases.
So that employees stay in good health and remain productive. A healthy body helps directly boost their motivation and confidence.
b. Improves Reputation: Employees who arrive at work in perfect sanitation conditions post good reviews about the company on their social media handles, directly fueling the company's brand value.
Moreover, they recommend the company to their friends, which helps an organization quickly identify valuable talents.
c. Impacts on Employee Morale: A clean office kitchen and space reflects that the company cares about the employee's health, well-being, and comfort.
It makes the employee feel valued. It can boost employee morale and encourage them to take responsibility for maintaining cleanliness.
Overall, it fosters a sense of belonging and helps in employee retention.
d. Cost Reduction: Cleaning the office kitchen regularly is an investment for a company. It diminishes the chances of bacteria growth on kitchen appliances, helps increase their lifespan, and saves money.
Maintaining cleanliness and sanitation in an office is a tough job. Not every employee obeys the rules and regulations or pays attention to hygiene.
To tackle this issue, we recommend you introduce kitchen rules. Managing a clean office space or an office kitchen is a joint venture. Make your employees a part of this by implementing the rules below:
a. Use Microwave Responsibly: Sadly, most people do not know how to use microwaves properly, so food spillage in them is very common.
Instruct your employees to use a loose lid above the food bowl while heating up to avoid this issue.
However, using an airtight lid in the microwave is very dangerous, and only a few know about it. Inform and educate your employees about using loose lids while heating their food.
It prevents food spillage.
b. Rules for Fridge: Most of the time, the office fridge works like an almirah. People tend to keep things and forget about their existence.
To avoid this, there should be clear instructions about storage time. At the same time, no one can take up more than usual space.
c. Don't Let Them Make a Hoard at the Sink: Often, people leave their dirty dishes in the sink, which gradually becomes overloaded.
Tackle the issue by introducing disposable plates or a rule of cleaning their dishes before leaving the kitchen.
d. Dry Before You Keep: Ask your kitchen staff to ensure that all the cutlery is clean and has no water before putting it back in the cupboard.
A trace of moisture can make it a breeding ground for germs and bacteria and make your employees sick.
Personal plates, mugs, and cutlery should also be labeled with the user's name to avoid mix-ups.
e. Emphasize Using Disinfectant and Sanitizer: Wiping out the spilled food with a wet towel from the top of the table is insufficient.
For optimum cleaning, disinfectant and sanitizer are mandatory in the kitchen.
Ask your kitchen staff to spray food-safe disinfectant and use a clean cloth to distribute the sanitizer.
For more convenience, introduce sanitizer kitchen wipes.
These kitchen rules or etiquette will help maintain a good kitchen environment and make cleaning easier.
A large kitchen or pantry area is typical in a large office. These areas also have several gadgets, fancy glass tables, and tops.
So, one needs to be very careful while cleaning this area. Multiple risk factors are related to it. Beware of the risks to avoid any mishap.
Some common risk factors are:
Burns from hot items, equipment, steam, or oil.
Cleaning the office kitchen can be daunting due to various risk factors. However, if one follows the proper rules to do it, it is not risky.
Therefore, we recommend you inform your staff to follow the rules for a safe kitchen cleaning task. The rules are as follows:
a. Maintain a Dry Kitchen Floor: If the kitchen floor is wet or sleepy, there is a chance of falling and getting injured.
This applies to your kitchen staff and employees. So, keeping the floor dry and clean every time is essential.
Ask your employees to use a mop whenever it is necessary.
b. Cool Down All the Kitchen Items Before Starting: Hot kitchen items can cause a burn injury and prove dangerous.
Before cleaning, kitchen staff must take ample time to cool down the kitchen accessories, such as the microwave and hot bowls.
c. Be Careful with Sharp Objects: A knife is necessary in the office kitchen or your household.
Ask your kitchen staff to be very careful with any sharp objects.
At the same time, they should develop a habit of keeping the items at their place right after using them.
d. Treat Electrical Appliances Very Carefully: Electrical shock is one of the most common risk factors while cleaning the kitchen.
However, this can also be avoided. After using them, ask every employee and staff member to switch off all the appliances (except the fridge).
At the same time, do not place any electrical appliances near a water source.
You can train your kitchen staff to deal with electrical appliances for more safety.
e. Treat Chemicals with Utmost Care: Often, large-scale kitchens use and store chemicals. This can lead to a chemical hard and a severe injury.
To avoid this, keep labeling them and try to find an alternative way.
If you don't find an alternative, use a less hazardous chemical.
f. Opt for Professional Help: Large kitchens have a ducted grease extract system. If you have the same, get professional help to reduce any risk factor.
These professionals use updated cleaning technologies. As trained professionals, they can customize their services or work processes according to your needs.
This way, you can save both employees and your appliances.
Hopefully, these tips will help reduce the risk factors for this job. In this context, it is essential to mention that office kitchen cleaning must be a regular practice.
Making rules or hiring a professional is not enough to clean your kitchen. Your kitchen or cleaning staff should be clear about the areas they need to clean and how to do it.
Regular cleaning might tend to avoid many hard-to-reach areas in the kitchen. It is performed well through deep kitchen cleaning services. So, let us provide a list of the areas that need special attention:
a. Clean Door Handles Regularly: Door handles are the most neglected areas in an office kitchen.
However, these door balls can be breeding grounds for germs and bacteria. They regularly come in contact with everyone in the office.
So, cleaning them with a sanitizer is mandatory.
b. Carpet and Rugs: Some offices use carpets and rugs to protect the floor. They do their job nicely.
However, they attract a lot of dirt and allergens, so cleaning them regularly are not feasible. However, we recommend washing/cleaning them once every fortnight.
You can hire a professional to clean them. However, daily cleaning with a vacuum cleaner is necessary.
c. Clean the Fridge Regularly: Most people keep their food in the kitchen or the fridge but forget to do so.
Don't let them sit over there. Instruct your kitchen staff to throw them out and keep the refrigerator pristine.
d. Clean the Kitchen Appliances Daily: Kitchen appliances such as microwave, glass top, fridge, oven (if your office has any), and every table and chair must be cleaned daily.
Any casualty in this can lead to severe contamination.
The practice is to wipe these appliances with a wet towel first and then use disinfectant for the best results.
e. Organize and Reorganize every day: Cups, mugs, cutleries, etc., in the cupboard, need to be reorganized regularly.
Suppose it is impossible to do it regularly, at least once every three days. This will prevent dirt from building up in the cupboard.
By implementing these tips in your office kitchen, you will be able to clean every nook and corner of your office kitchen.
We can bet no office cleaning tips will work without the proper cleaning accessories. Let's examine the accessories required in this process.
a. Different cleaning items: One needs dedicated cleaning items for the sink, dishes, etc.
b. Less hazardous cleaning supplies: You must stock up your office kitchen pantry with less dangerous or preferably green cleaning supplies, embracing eco-friendly measures.
c. Disinfectant Wipes: If you genuinely want to save your employees from getting sick, introduce disinfectant wipes.
d. Gloves: The kitchen staff usually needs harsh cleaners and chemicals to clean the kitchen. Introduce rubber gloves to protect their hands.
Office kitchen cleaning can become hectic depending on the carpet area and traffic. To do that, if one breaks down the whole process into smaller steps or sections, it will help maximize the effort.
Some simple tips and tricks mentioned below can give you success in making your office kitchen crystal clear:
a. Introduce the "Do It Yourself" Policy: Some people leave dirt and used things on the countertop. To stop this, introduce the "Do It Yourself" rule in the office.
Ask them to throw the garbage into the dustbin before leaving the kitchen. Also, clarify that any violation will be considered an office rule breach.
b. Install a Dishwasher: Kitchen staff often has a lot on their plates, making dishwashing difficult.
On the other hand, this kind of work might also waste your employee's valuable time.
Installing a dishwasher in the office kitchen is a great option here.
c. Disposable Items: Disposable items work best to stop spreading germs or bacteria. Additionally, it reduces the hustle of cleaning.
For example, replace reusable dish sponges with disposable dishcloths, provide paper towels in the office kitchen instead of sharing towels, provide only disposable cups and plates in the office, etc.
d. Avoid Cluttering the Cabinets: Cluttering the cabinets and drawers is a common mistake. It increases cleaning time and effort and creates a safe space for bacteria growth.
So, throw away unnecessary or expired items right away. Additionally, try to follow minimalism. It will help you keep track of them and keep the content organized.
e. Hire a Commercial Service: Commercial cleaning services offer expertise and thoroughness that may be beyond the capabilities of your employees. They also use top technologies to do this. So, hire them at a regular interval.
f. Stock Up on Cleaning Supplies: Always make sure that there are ample cleaning items such as paper towels, kitchen disinfectants, garbage bags, dish detergents, etc. This will help you continue an uninterrupted cleaning session.
Cleaning must be a daily habit. But what if the staff somehow forgets to do it every day? Making and following a checklist is one of the best ways to avoid that.
Here is your checklist that will work as a reminder:
a. Clean the Interior and Exterior of the Appliances: After closing the kitchen, allow some time to cool down all the electrical appliances, such as the microwave, toaster, etc., and then wipe out their interior and exterior parts.
b. Clean Dustbins Regularly: Well, some of the office dustbins don't get full every day. For example, if there is a dedicated dustbin for a paper water cup, there is a chance that it will not get full every day.
However, it needs to de-clutter every day.
Use garbage bags in the bins to prevent them from getting dirty.
c. Surface and Floor: Before closing the kitchen for the day, all the surfaces and floors must be cleaned.
Experts suggest cleaning the kitchen surfaces after a spill every time. At the same time, the floor is supposed to be mopped once every hour to prevent dirt from accumulating on the floor.
Before closing the kitchen, a final mopping is essential. During this, using any disinfectant keeps you one step ahead.
You can also ask to spray virucidal spray in every nook and corner.
d. Pay Attention to Sink & Taps: Cleaning the upper surface of the sink and taps regularly is very important.
These things come in contact with everyone and remain wet most of the time, contributing significantly to bacterial growth.
To avoid that, scrub the sink and taps with a dedicated cleaner and wash it properly.
e. Cabinet Doors and Drawers: Cabinet doors and drawers are highly prone to pollutants and stains. They also get dirty after a hectic day.
It also needs to be cleaned daily. Spraying a disinfectant adds an extra layer of safety.
If your kitchen staff follows these tips daily, you will be able to maintain the hygiene and cleanliness of the kitchen.
However, we must inform you that doing these alone is insufficient for your desired result. You have to add more checklists to your office kitchen cleaning journey.
The two checklists are:
Here is a checklist, a roadmap your kitchen staff must follow weekly to ensure a healthier kitchen environment. So, your weekly kitchen deep cleaning checklist is:
a. Clean the Kitchen Fixtures: All the lighting fixtures, exhaust fans, etc., need to be cleaned once a week.
b. Clean the Storage: We all need to store several things in the kitchen. However, removing all the things from the cupboard and cleaning them is essential.
Remember to change the cupboard liners during this time. Placing a cover or liner helps protect the cupboard or drawer.
c. Clean All the Containers: It is essential to clean all the containers once a week. It will be best if it gets cleaned inside out. However, if that is not possible, then cleaning only the outer part of the container is enough.
Choosing the right cleaning company is crucial because the safety of the properties is involved. Here are some tips that will help you find the right one.
a. Be Specific: Before searching for a service, one must be very clear about their demand.
For example, if you want to hire for your office kitchen cleaning works, search for a company that provides commercial kitchen cleaning services.
Also, they must have experienced employees to do the task.
b. Decide the Budget: The second step is to decide a budget for this. Not every professional kitchen cleaning service company charges the same. So, you should take quotes from different companies.
c. Read the Reviews: Carefully read a company's review section before hiring.
Social media handles are the best for this. You can also check the company's business profile on Google My Business and online review sites like Bark.
During this research process, go through their testimonials.
d.Ask for a Referral: A maximum number of companies now hire commercial kitchen deep cleaning services. Ask your friends about the company they trust and ask for their quotes.
e. Ask about the Company Policy: Before the final process, ask about the liability insurance. This will protect you from any damage done to your property during the cleaning process.
f. Check out the Employee Experience: Experience plays a pivotal role in providing an excellent professional kitchen cleaning service. To know this, check the company website closely to check every employee's experience and reviews.
A clean kitchen ensures a healthy life for your employees, reduces absenteeism, and boosts the company overall. It also fosters employee satisfaction.
With several experienced employees, Sterling Cleaning Services helps achieve a crystal-clear kitchen. So, don't wait anymore. Bid a goodbye to kitchen cleaning chaos. Make a checklist, book a service from Sterling Cleaning Services, and see the magic.
Please reach us at any time to set up an appointment to review your commercial cleaning requirements. Sterling will provide an on-site review of your janitorial needs, then create a custom proposal that fits both your specifications and budget
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