You are reading: Your Office Is Dirtier Than You Think. Here Is How To Keep It Clean

18 August 2022

4min read time

Brooke Payne

Your Office Is Dirtier Than You Think. Here Is How To Keep It Clean

Key Insights

To keep your office clean, you should ensure that you have a strict cleaning schedule that includes desk maintenance, efficient floor cleaning and air purification
Clean and disinfect your desktop or laptop and, most importantly, your desk phone
Air purification is more important then you think, as is a strong suction vacuum cleaner and floor scrubber

When you’re at work, whether as a business owner, manager or employee, your office cleanliness might not be top-of-mind. Rather, work can often sweep us away and prevent us from thinking about the everyday hygiene of our lives that, in reality, affect our work productivity.

Good office hygiene is vitally important for overall happiness, productivity and especially your health. To keep your office clean, you should ensure that you have a strict cleaning schedule that includes desk maintenance, efficient floor cleaning and air purification.

Below are some steps and guides on what to clean in your workplace, and how to clean them using a range of our cleaning solutions.

Clean desks - properly

Some people might keep their desks organised and tidy, but is it really as clean as you think? Unfortunately, as most bacteria is invisible it’s important to implement a strict cleaning schedule.

According to research, the average desk contains more than 10 million bacteria, which is 400 times more germs than is found on the average toilet seat. In the current times, with COVID-19 still an ever-present threat, it’s vitally important that we maintain strict cleaning standards wherever we can, especially when we’re at our desks for a large portion of the day.

The first step to good desk hygiene is to consider professional cleaners to conduct regular cleaning on the desks. This should involve:

- dusting

- wiping down surfaces

- disinfecting

Many professional cleaners use i-team’s suite of cleaning products as part of their cleaning arsenal, because they can trust in their cleaning efficiency. You can read just a few testimonials here. Otherwise speak to your designated health and safety officer to see what cleaning solutions their team currently use. If it doesnt cut it, then direct them to our range of cleaning solutions.

The i-fibre is a great way to start your cleaning routine in order to remove any dust or dirt before disinfecting your workspace.

Disinfect your workspace

After removing all dust, use an antibacterial spray to wipe down all surfaces including your desktop computer or laptop, keyboard and mouse.

Also consider wiping over your entire desk surface, chair arm rests and phone which is a very high touch zone. Phones pick up large amounts of bacteria, especially if shared. They also are right next to your mouth and are at high risk of transferring germs

Consider Air Hygiene

Indoor air quality can be up to 5-10 times worse than outdoor air quality. So, why are so many constrained to small offices with limited openable windows and no air flow? Not only is this unpleasant for staff, it also massively increases the number of airborne contaminants circulating in the air.

Having good air quality will make employees feel better and also increase productivity, as it means that there is less sickness travelling throughout the office, which is vitally important with the spread of COVID-19.

The i-air , which is a freestanding unit that provides MERV19-rated pure air. It improves indoor air quality through elaborate filtration systems that target all three kinds of air contaminants: microbiological, VOCs and particulate matter. The i-air also has low power usage, which ensures that you don’t have to have clean and fresh air at the expense of the environment.

Deeply vacuum your carpets and scrub hard floors

The next step of your cleaning routine (after disinfecting) is to look to the floors! Vacuuming and scrubbing your floors is extremely important as dust and germs can hide on these surfaces. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking a basic vacuum does a good enough job of cleaning, especially when a carpet looks clean.

The reality is that many vacuum cleaners aren’t cleaning as well as they need to. On the surface, everything might look great, but underneath there’s a wealth of bacteria and dirt still lurking.

i-team’s eye-vac uses a HEPA or even a ULPA cassette filter - the highest vacuum cleaner filtration level available - that stops dust, bacteria and dust mites from being reintroduced after they’ve been vacuumed up. Because of its design, every eye-vac model is easy to use, whether you’re a professional commercial cleaner or not. Unwinding, plugging in and rewinding takes only a quick thirty seconds, so you’re not spending excessive amounts of time getting set up.

Like all of i-team's equipment, the eye-vac is also much more sustainable. The eye-vac’s 5B and 9B battery vacuums use 40% less energy than a cabled vacuum cleaner. Overall, it’s easy, affordable and efficient to use, making vacuuming much less of a chore.

If your office requires hard floor cleaning, don’t look any further than the i-mop, which cleans surfaces quickly and efficiently with minimal chemicals and water usage. It can also steralise areas that need it using our specialised i-dose chemicals.

Read what the differences are between air purifiers and air disinfection machines.

Prove the cleanliness of your office with i-know

Since most dirt is not visible to the human eye, it can be difficult to know how clean your office actually is. It looks spotless - but is it? By using i-team’s i-know kit, you can ensure that your investment in consistent cleaning is working and you’re getting to all the hard-to-reach dirt.

The i-know kit does this through ATP testing, which evaluates the level of Adenosine Tri-Phosphate. Higher levels of ATP indicate a higher risk of infection. The higher the levels of ATP, the less clean your office environment is. Office cleanliness is integral to efficiency and health, and it’s important that we make it a priority.

The i-team suite is perfect for most commercial environments, especially offices, and it delivers efficiency returns that will provide huge cost savings over time.

Book a demo today of any of the i-team products .

Common Questions Answered

1. What are the most commonly overlooked areas in office cleaning?

Answer: Commonly overlooked areas include keyboard and mouse surfaces, behind and under desks, light switches, door handles, and communal kitchen appliances, all of which can harbor germs and dirt.

2. How often should offices be deep cleaned versus regularly cleaned?

Answer: Offices should ideally be deep cleaned every 3-6 months, while regular cleaning (such as daily or weekly tasks) should include dusting, vacuuming, and sanitizing high-touch surfaces.

3. What cleaning products are effective for maintaining office hygiene?

Answer: Effective cleaning products include multi-surface disinfectants, alcohol-based wipes for electronics, and natural cleaners like vinegar and baking soda for everyday messes.