You’ve worked hard for half the day; you’re ready for lunch and you really need a break to relax and recharge. Then finally, the clock strikes 12pm and it’s lunchtime! One of the best parts of the working day…shhh let’s keep that between us.
You make your way over to the kitchen to grab your lunch. As you open the fridge door, the handle feels kind of sticky. You brush this off and head to the microwave and, to your dismay, as you pop the door open, it’s like a horror show. There are all sorts of splatters and bits of food on the inside of the microwave…. how gross!
You decide to eat your lunch cold and head over to the break room lounges. But, as you sit on the couch, you notice there are crumbs everywhere. This is the exact moment you decide it’s time your office needs a commercial cleaning service (or maybe you need tidier coworkers).
You know that you need a commercial cleaner, but what areas do they actually clean? What’s the process and what tasks are included?
We know that many of our clients have had these exact questions when they first came to us looking for a commercial cleaning service. So, in order for you to fully understand what’s involved in staff breakout area cleaning, we are going to pass on our 27 years of experience to you.
So, the first question you probably have lingering in your mind is, “what even are staff breakout areas? How do they differ from work office areas or amenities?”
Typically, commercial cleaners will cover a range of areas that include but are not limited to:
To put it simply, any areas where your staff may convene or get together are cleaned.
Now that you know what areas we clean, you may be wondering how we do it.
Here at In-Tec, every cleaner we employ for breakout areas uses a 5-step cleaning process.
The number one thing a good commercial cleaner should be doing first is emptying the bins.
When it comes to kitchens and lunchrooms, most modern offices nowadays tend to have recycling centres – a paper waste bin, mixed recyclables bin, organic waste bin, and general waste bin.
It’s no longer as simple as emptying one bag of rubbish. Generally, it’s three or more bins that are just in the kitchen/lunchroom area!
In all other staff breakout room areas such as recreation rooms, etc., the same process is followed in regard to removing waste.
Whilst the cleaner is emptying the bins, they are also scanning the area looking around for any loose rubbish on the floor, and taking mental notes of other tasks they’ll need to address.
Once the cleaners have finished emptying the bins, their next step is to wipe clean all surfaces with GECA approved and/or chemical-free solutions to make sure they’re sanitary.
Depending on the area, different coloured microfibre cloths are used to prevent cross-contamination. For instance, blue cloths are used in kitchens (think blue for water), and green cloths are used for recreation rooms and other breakout areas (think green for safe to use).
To break things down a little easier for you, and to also give you a better understanding of what we clean in different areas, we’re going to split this section into 2 parts.
Kitchens are one of the worst offenders when it comes to dust, germs, bacteria, and viruses.
Afterall, everyone will grab a cup of coffee or tea from the kitchen every now and then. Or perhaps, they’ll heat their lunch in the microwave after storing it in the fridge. I guess what I’m trying to say is that most people at some point in the day will use the office kitchen. It’s inevitable.
So, what tasks should a commercial cleaner perform when they arrive to clean this area of your site?
Here at In-Tec, our team of cleaners wipe down the following surfaces within kitchens and lunchrooms:
But that’s not all.
If requested, our team of cleaners can also clean the inside of fridges at the end of the working week. This involves tossing any food or drink that is left in the fridge at the end of the week and then wiping down the inside.
We can also clean coffee machines entirely and do all their preventive maintenance if requested by the client. Generally, we do wipe down the outside of the coffee machines but don’t take them apart to clean the rest of the machine.
At In-Tec, some of our clients have recreation rooms that include lounges, games machines, ping pong tables and bats, and games controllers for video games, to name a few. The list really does go on and on and on.
All of these things are wiped clean with microfibre cloths to make sure they’re sanitary, especially as they’re touched by a lot of people/employees.
Similarly, couches, coffee tables, and chairs in breakout areas (any space open to employees that is separate from their usual working area) are also wiped down completely. We also tidy the coffee tables which can include stacking magazines neatly.
Do you have any areas like this in your office that need cleaning?
Vacuuming is a necessary step in floor cleaning and should be done during every clean. At In-Tec, we use Pacvac’s commercial backpack vacuum cleaners. They have a HEPA 4-stage filtration system and can eliminate 99.95% of dust and allergens.
Within kitchens and lunchrooms, there’s no such thing as spot vacuuming (only vacuuming visibly dirty areas).
You may ask, “why is this?”
Well, as we all know, kitchens and lunchrooms always have crumbs and food everywhere. So, these areas are vacuumed edge to edge to ensure all the food and dust is picked up and removed off the floor.
When vacuuming, a trained cleaner will move the chairs away from the table to vacuum underneath. Once they’ve finished, our cleaners don’t actually put the chairs back. Instead, they leave them out and you’ll soon find out why below.
If breakout rooms or recreation rooms are attached or located right next to the kitchen/lunchroom, then our cleaners would vacuum the entire area. However, if the breakout or recreation rooms aren’t located close to the kitchen/lunchroom, then these areas would most likely be spot vacuumed (separately when the cleaning of the kitchen/lunchroom has been completed). Of course in areas like break rooms, we also vacuum lounges if needed, to remove crumbs, dead skin cells, hair, etc.
One of the final physical tasks the cleaners at In-Tec perform is mopping. This is done with a flat mop and quality microfibre covers, and/or an i-mop.
Did you know that there is only one way to mop a floor?
It’s edge to edge, corner to corner, ensuring the whole floor has been cleaned and that no spot has been missed.
Remember when we said our cleaners don’t move chairs back after they’ve pulled them out? Well, as they’re already left out, our cleaners can mop underneath the table first which makes life a little easier for them. Instead of pulling out and pushing the chairs back in multiple times, they only need to do it once!
We are all guilty of making final checks when we leave the house – we want to make sure the doors are locked, windows are closed, pets are fed, and whatever else needs to be done is done.
The same can be said for our team of cleaners.
They are on one last patrol to make sure:
To put it simply, our cleaners conduct a final check to make sure the site is as the client would expect it the next morning.
Yes, we do stack and unstack dishwashers, however, this is normally a special request made by the client.
If requested, when our cleaners arrive on site, they will go through the whole office and breakout areas to retrieve any cups, plates, or cutlery that need to be stacked in the dishwasher. Once they’ve picked up all the dirty dishes, they’ll turn on the dishwasher and continue with all their other tasks. So, by the time they’ve reached the final check stage, they can empty the dishwasher as it’s been through its entire cycle (unless the dishwasher takes longer).
Quality staff breakout room cleaning achieves 2 main goals:
Wouldn’t it be great to enter the office kitchen and breakout room, and everything is clean?
No longer is the inside of the microwave dirty. No longer are there crumbs on the couches.
All the problems that you had to deal with earlier have disappeared.
This is what you should expect from a good commercial cleaning service.
Here at In-Tec, we tailor our professional cleaning services to suit your specific requirements. Our team of highly trained cleaners make sure your site is left clean, not just looking and feeling clean.
Feel free to download our printable checklist that includes all the tasks your commercial cleaner should be doing in your staff breakout rooms!
If you find yourself wanting to learn more information about staff breakout room cleaning and what we can do for you, schedule a call with us. We're here to help.