Essential Office Cleaning Checklist for Post-pandemic Working

Office cleaning has always been important but few would argue that a clean workspace is now more important than ever. People’s lives literally depend on it.

That’s why office cleaning checklists are so useful.

They provide your staff with the confidence their workplace is being hygienically cleaned, which should help them with the transition back to work and productivity once back at work.

They also provide cleaning staff with the daily and weekly tasks that must be completed before an office is regarded as completely clean.

With that in mind, we are sharing one of our own office cleaning checklists. We compile these for individual clients depending on their needs and the space in question, but they should give you an idea of what goes on.

Checklist for workspaces and cubicles

Let’s start with the place staff should be spending the majority of their time, their desk.

A daily cleaning checklist should look a little something like this:

• Dust books, shelves and other workplace surfaces
• Empty the bin
• Vacuum the floor
• Wipe down the desk to remove dust and dirt
• Wipe down phone, mouse, keyboard and monitor with an antibacterial product
• Wipe down desk, mouse mat, drawer fronts and other surfaces with an antibacterial product
• Wipe clean and disinfect door handles

The exact checklist would depend on the workspace in question, but this should give you an idea.

Office kitchens and break areas

If you have a kitchen and/or break areas in your office, those need special attention.

A daily office cleaning checklist for those areas would look a little something like this:

• Clear down surfaces and remove crumbs, wrappers and other rubbish
• Empty dishwasher or wash up and dry
• Check the refrigerator for out of date milk or food. Clean all surfaces inside
• Empty coffee pot and/or kettle and wipe down with exterior with an antibacterial product
• Clear away cups, crockery and utensils
• Check water cooler for clean water and cups
• Wipe down all worktops, taps, controls and surfaces with an antibacterial product
• Wipe down all appliances and buttons with an antibacterial product
• Wipe down all worktops, tables and shared areas with an antibacterial product
• Vacuum entire room
• Wipe clean and disinfect door handles

Office bathroom cleaning checklist

As you can imagine, the average bathroom in an office sees a lot of daily activity. It’s also one place bacteria finds it easy to replicate so needs special attention daily.

An office bathroom cleaning checklist might look similar to this:

• Clear all surfaces, remove wet abandoned towels and toilet paper
• Empty all bins and receptacles
• Flush all toilets
• Clean and disinfect all toilets
• Clean and disinfect all sinks and surfaces
• Replace empty toilet rolls or hand towels
• Wipe down all hand dryers and check they are working
• Wipe clean and disinfect door handles
• Clean and disinfect the floor

While this is a relatively short checklist, the level of effort put into it should be far more than any other area of your office.

Cleaning reception areas, lobbies and meeting rooms

If you have meeting spaces, lobby, waiting area or reception, they will also need thorough daily cleaning.

An office cleaning checklist for those areas could look like:

• Clear all surfaces of rubbish and anything left over from the work day
• Empty bins
• Dust all surfaces and clear of dirt and debris
• Replenish consumables, cups, pens or whatever your office uses
• Clean any vending machines, coffee machines or water coolers
• Wipe all computer equipment, phones, switchboard and other items with an antibacterial product
• Wipe all surfaces throughout each area with an antibacterial product
• Wipe clean and disinfect door handles
• Vacuum all areas thoroughly

These areas of a business can be the first thing customers see so need thorough regular cleaning. Every surface, everywhere should be cleaned, clear of rubbish and debris and smell clean as well as look clean for maximum confidence.

Weekly or monthly cleaning tasks

So that’s the daily cleaning taken care of, how about deep cleaning or more involved tasks performed weekly or monthly?

Much will depend on the size, shape and use of the office space, but can include:

• Deep clean of meeting, break, lobby, waiting areas
• Deep clean of any public area of the office
• Carpets cleaned throughout the office
• Thorough clean of all computers, mice, phones, keyboards and other high use accessories
• Emptying of refrigerators and vending machines, thorough clean and refill
• Deep clean of canteen and kitchen with steam cleaner
• Clean hard to reach areas not usually accessible to daily cleaners
• Cleaning of car park, building exterior, windows, doors and anywhere the customer sees

Whether this is done weekly or monthly depends entirely on how dirty the office gets, the number of people employed and your exact needs.

We create these checklists on a per-client and per-office basis so no two checklists look alike. However, we hope these have given you an idea of how much work can go into office cleaning and how much we can put into your office whenever you need us to.