When is comes to office cleaning there are a few dos and don’ts to keep in mind. It’s especially important to understand the “don’ts” so you don’t end up with a cleaning catastrophe. Here are the five worst office cleaning mistakes you can make.

1. Using the wrong cleaning products.

Using the wrong cleaning supplies or cleaning products on a surface can damage the surface. Sometimes you just have to go out and buy something that is more appropriate for the surface it is being used on. For instance, you would want to use a soft dusting cloth on your cabinets, but that probably wouldn’t work to properly clean up your toaster oven of hardened pieces of mozzarella cheese from last weeks pizza. Make sure you use the right chemicals and cleaners in the right places as well. Use vinegar, bleach and furniture polish for their intended uses, not just where you think they apply. You can always check the back of the bottle to double check if you are unsure.

2. Not disinfecting these areas.

Just because it looks clean doesn’t mean that it is. Clean more than you can see by just looking….now what exactly does that mean? Your office deserves a more in depth clean than what you think on first glance to keep the dust and dirt away. Green cleaning products are great to clean with but make sure they are the right disinfectants and will clean well in your application. With a high volume of persons going through your building, you may have to do a bit more than you may do at home.

3. Relying on associates to clean.

It seems like a great idea to have your employees clean right? When initially considering it, you may start to think of positives like cutting the overheads of having a cleaning company come to your office weekly. However, you need to really evaluate this when putting your employees in place to clean. Can they do the job the way a cleaning company is trained and to the extent that it will keep germs to a minimum? Make sure you do a thorough analysis of the persons you’ll be putting in this position.

4. Not taking out the trash daily.

Taking out the trash daily is a huge asset to eliminating not only food smells, but also germs and bacteria. Those food scraps can fester creating a haven for pests and bacteria to breed. Also, the smell of rotting food is not welcome in an office cafeteria. If you can, contain all of the food scraps in a specific bin and on a daily basis have someone take out the trash.

5. Not giving your associates a cleaning orientation.

One important aspect of office cleaning, is giving your associates a regular cleaning orientation. Speak to employees regarding cleaning up their personal desk space and the importance of keeping it clean. You can even add some of these cleaning pointers in the employee handbooks.

This gives you a brief outline of the office cleaning supplies and office cleaning practices to help you avoid making the common mistakes of office cleaning. Let us know if you have any other tips.