The holidays are the most hectic time of the year in the office because of year-end deadlines, holiday observances, juggling staff and schedules, and potential inclement weather.
However, maintaining a clean, productive, and functional workplace is a must. Here are some tips on how to keep your office in its clean and healthy state to keep your staff productive during the holiday season:
1. Choose residue-free decorations
Every time you think about Christmas decor, what’s the first thing that runs in your mind? Do you equate it with something sparkly and shiny like glitters?
Although they are minuscule in size, glitters are a lot more complicated than that. The popularity of it and the quantity that’s used for our Christmas decor, whether it’s your Christmas tree decor or single-use Christmas cards, is now a growing problem.
First off, glitters are made of plastic. This means that it could be bad for marine life since these could enter in the seas and rivers. This is also dangerous for marine organisms as they can’t distinguish between particles of food from plastic. Not to mention, it’s hard to get rid of and it adds to the world’s microplastic problem.
So, when choosing your decorations in the office, opt for residue-free and reusable ones like Christmas lights and ornaments made of scrap materials.
2. Leave baked goods in one area
The holidays are a season for giving, with a lot of offices participating in bake-offs or bringing in some treats to add that extra holiday cheer. But after that initial sugar rush, you’d be left lots of crumbs that will leave you in a sticky mess.
To avoid that, you can ask your employees to leave all of those treats in a single area like your office kitchen and or break room. That way, the commercial cleaning service that you’ve hired afterwards could clean the mess more efficiently.
3. Plan the holiday party outside
While you think that it’s a good idea to hold your Christmas party in your office, sometimes it might not be feasible, considering the number of employees that you have.
So, if you don’t have enough space, and you want to make your event as memorable as possible, then you might need to rent out an event venue.
Doing your event outside lets your staff connect more on a personal level because they’re not confined in the professional environment of the office. It also encourages them not only to talk about your business but get to know each other more.
4. Schedule a cleaning service
Cleaning the office in this festive time of the year isn’t a job meant for only one person. You might have to hire a team of professional cleaners so that your entire office gets a thorough cleaning before you welcome the next year.
At Maid Sailors NYC Office Cleaning, we recommend that you schedule a deep cleaning session after the festivities. That way, you’d have a fresh start next year once business operations resume.
5. Deep clean when the office is closed
Sometimes, because of the intensity of the cleaning process in your office, you might have to arrange a deep clean to decrease any disruptions and maximize your efficiency.
A cleaning team could get the job done on a weekend when there are no business operations, or during your Christmas break if you have one. Just make sure that there is someone, usually an office administrator, who can look for the professional cleaners during and after the cleaning session.
6. Improve air quality
Good air quality is not just an indication of a clean office. It can also improve your employees’ health.
That said, it’s a good idea to add indoor plants in your office or purchase air purifiers to make the office more breathable. If you can find a way to bring more natural air by having more windows and opening them more often, the better.
This will ensure that the workplace has sufficient ventilation, to get rid of any musty smell and bad odors.
You might also want to get your air vents and ducts regularly checked. Replace the filters regularly so that you’ll optimize the airflow in the workplace.
7. Don’t Let the Garbage Sit
Another thing that’s often overlooked in your office is the garbage bins. If you’re open for the holidays, then you should take the garbage out at regular intervals.
Again, this is something that you should be speaking directly to your cleaning service company or office maintenance staff. To have this taken care of, you have to make sure that the cleaners are coming shortly before you close down for the holidays.
The last thing that you want to do is to let the garbage sit there the entire time while everyone is out. You might come back for a nasty surprise!
Over to You
The holiday season can be hectic but you have to make sure that you’re taking care of everyone’s health by calling a cleaning service company that will ensure that your office is kept to a standard that you expect.
