How often should you engage in professional office cleaning?

Did you know that how often your business engages in a professional office cleaning company plays an important role of office cleaning? Cleanliness is an important aspect of conducive and productive office space. Some offices only engage in cleaning services once three times a week, while others engage cleaning services daily. This all depends on business operations nature.

At times, it is dependent upon the nature of industry and upkeeping the international standard organization. Of course, we understand that most business owners may not comply fully after accreditation. The perspective of cleanliness should be considered as part of the total workforce efficiency that may affect the overall sales performance of the company.

Think of it as, if your place is dirty, and you do not mind, but your client who walks in and sees a dirty office, does it affect your reputation? Statistical records have shown that cleanliness directly affects the value of a company.

A clean office space showcases that the company is proactive in maintaining its space. It shows that the company cares for the health and comfort of their employees and visitors and provides a good first impression for clients or visitors. Here are some reasons that your business may consider before proposing a good frequency rate to engage in office cleaning.

Every office is diverse, and your needs are ever-changing. The size of your office, the asset within the offices, your industry and even the number of employees present are some contributing factors.

a) Type of cleaning – Deep cleaning / Basic cleaning

There are two types of cleaning that offices can do. Offices can opt for deep cleaning or basic cleaning.

i. Deep Cleaning

Deep cleaning, on the other hand is used to clean hard to reach areas such as air conditioning vents, carpets, and upholstery. Desks, furniture’s, toilets are usually only cleaned by daily general cleaning.

Deep cleaning needs to be done for these hard-to-reach areas once a while to ensure that dirt and bacteria does not accumulate. General cleaning does not suffice as just wiping and disinfecting the surfaces does not fully ensure that the surfaces are properly cleaned.

Office cleaning companies can step in and guide your company in all areas of deep cleaning. As deep cleaning usually involves certain tools and chemicals, common offices may not have these tools to perform such deep cleaning.

To add on, it may be costly if companies were to invest in these machines or allocate its manhours to accommodate to such works.

Let us take into consideration that you have sufficient staffs who may be able to do the cleaning, such cleaning may even be ineffective if this equipment is not operated properly. The key will be having a knowledgeable workforce.

Hence, it is ideal to consult in office cleaning companies to take care of your company’s deep cleaning.

Usually, deep cleaning is done bi-monthly. For instance, an office with a size of 900 square feet to 1,500 square feet, may take 8 hours per session to fully deep cleanse. Of course, this also depends on the equipment and furniture that your current office has.

Hence, is it important that your office cleaning company provides a walk down of your office to evaluate what needs to be cleaned. They will also be able to offer customized and personalized cleaning schedules which would cater to your office’s wants and needs.

ii. Basic Cleaning

General cleaning includes cleaning of high touch surfaces such as telephones, keyboards, and fridge handles. These areas would more likely have to be cleaned daily. Adding on, disinfectant should be used to eliminate any bacteria or germs.

Cleaning and disinfecting come hand in hand. Cleaning only removes the dirt and germs on surfaces whereas disinfecting kills the germs. Usually, disinfectants are used after cleaning as disinfectants do not break down solids.

With all these different cleaning types, it may daunting to know exactly which cleaning agents and chemicals to use. Professional office cleaning services in Singapore have the expertise and knowledge to aid you on this.

Do note that if you were to use the incorrect cleaning agent, you may risk damaging your surfaces, which in turn cost your company to fork out even more money to replace them. Hence, it is advisable to consult a cleaning company for you to get the best results.

Daily cleaning is usually done for 4 hours each day, for an average office size of 900 – 1,500 square feet.

b) Factors to consider when determining cleaning frequency

i) Type of cleaning

As aforementioned, there are two different types of cleaning – deep cleaning and basic cleaning. Deep cleaning should be done at least bimonthly. However, this also is subjective to your company’s preference, space, and asset inside your office.

For instance, some companies may opt for more deep cleaning sessions to be done as their office has a high flow of unique individuals coming in and out or the nature of the business.

With that, we encourage companies to opt for a higher frequency of cleaning to be done. On the other spectrum, some companies may be contented with monthly deep cleaning as they do not a high flow to traffic coming into their office.

Basic cleaning should be done daily, or at least Monday to Friday. Basic cleaning includes the cleaning of high touch areas that should be frequently cleaned due to the high touch frequency.

However, businesses can customize this daily cleaning to conform to your office needs. For example, if your company holds a 3-day work week, you can conform your cleaning frequency to the days when the office is not vacant.

ii) Type of Office space

The type of office also plays a major role in the frequency of cleaning. For example, if your office space is entirely carpeted, dust easily collects, enviably the frequency of deep cleaning would increase. If your office only holds two meeting rooms with no carpet and a small reception area, then deep cleaning can be on the standard bimonthly approach.

From our experience, most of the business owner tends to be unsure about how often their office space needs to be cleaned, your chosen cleaning company would be able to advise you on the best course of action to proceed with the appropriate cleaning schedule.

Some schedules include weekly cleaning, with personalised cleaning area for high touch areas that your company has. Hence, it is crucial to evaluate your office space before establishing the frequency of cleaning services.

iii) Budget

Most importantly, your cleaning package should coincide with your budget. Many companies do not have much budget for professional office cleaning services, however, would not want quality to be affected.

Working with tight budgets without compromising quality is workable, however, it takes an expert eye to be able to cater to such needs. Hence, engaging in a professional cleaning service would be able to advise your company in getting the best service.

After considering all these factors, you may be more well informed in making an informed choice on the frequency of engaging in an office cleaning company.