The office is a place that many of us spend most of our working hours in, and for some, the greatest part of our lives. Unfortunately, the office is often neglected when it comes to cleaning, and many end up having to bear with a grimy, messy office. Luckily though, it is not that hard to maintain office cleanliness, and with a little bit of diligence and some planning, you should be able to keep your office fairly clean, if not sparkling. Here are some helpful tips:

Keep the carpet clean

If your office has hardwood floors, you have your work cut for you. Many of us though, have to deal with carpets and the multitude of dust and dirt that they trap. For those who have dust allergies, carpets can be the bane of their existence. One of the best ways to deep clean carpets is by using a steam cleaner; however this requires a certain amount of know-how, and is a significant expense that smaller companies might not want to shell out for. Nevertheless, you can do a lot to keep the carpet reasonably clean from day to day by mopping up spills immediately, and doing a thorough vacuuming weekly.

Have a rug in the entryway

One of the greatest sources of dirt and grime in the office is the shoes of people entering. Prevent dust and sand from making their way into your office by leaving a rug or mat at the entryway for people to clean their shoes before entering. Straw rugs and rubber or vinyl mats are easy to clean, and allow people to scrape dirt and grime off their shoes efficiently. If you can get your hands on a disinfecting rug, it might potentially help to reduce the occurrences of flu and colds in your office. For those who are absolutely germ-phobic, it might help to introduce a policy of having indoor-only shoes in the office, and have employees change into their indoor footwear upon arrival.

Don't skive off your filing tasks

Doing your bit daily to keep the office neat and clean will go far in the long run. While many offices these days are in the process of digital migration, many older companies still retain a huge amount of paper. Well, being diligent about filing helps to ensure that all those dust-gathering stacks of paper are at least filed neatly and not left strewn around the office in a haphazard manner. Regular filing will ensure that you do not have to deal with a mountain of paper each time; rather, a small amount of filing each week helps to make the task less daunting and more manageable.

Maintain a roster

Cleanliness takes hard work, but it's definitely easier if all your co-workers pitch in equally. Create a roster and have everyone take turns to clean different parts of the office. This helps to eliminate arguments about whose turn it is to clean, and ensures that the office is kept in constant tip-top condition without any one employee having to bear the brunt of cleaning. Boredom is the enemy of consistency, so rotating cleaning tasks helps to keep everyone motivated and on task. For the lazier ones among us, a roster might actually generate enough peer pressure to keep us sticking to our cleaning duties.

Use a can of compressed air to clean behind electronics

Electronics are practically dust magnets, but their delicate nature makes it really hard to clean around all those tangled wires. Get a can of compressed air and use it to gently clean around the backs of desktop computers or monitors, and even grimy keyboards. You can also use a small handheld vacuum to suck up all that dislodged dirt and dust. Compressed air is also a great way to clean those unreachable spaces behind the fridge or even bookshelves. Just spray away and do a quick clean up after that to get rid of those pesky dust bunnies.

Get a professional cleaning service

Sometimes, no matter how much effort you put in, there are always some cleaning tasks that only the pros can handle. Office bathrooms, for one, tend to be hotbeds of grime and mold that would take up a more than appropriate amount of time were employees to do the cleaning themselves. Professional cleaners have all the time, and cleaning is their job.

These companies also have the equipment to handle deep office cleaning, and can often finish the job in less than half the amount of time it might take you and your co-workers to. Hiring a cleaning company on the regular, or even just once or twice a year for deep cleaning may make a great difference in your work environment, and who knows may even help to increase the productivity of your workplace in general!