Office Hours Cleaning: When Is The Best Time To Have Your Office Professionally Cleaned?

It’s time to talk about office hours cleaning… And the more popular timeframe, after hours office cleaning.

Whether you have an office cleaner or not, you probably know that most businesses prefer an after hours schedule.

But whichever time of day is the best fit for your company, it’s beyond doubt that employees expect a regularly cleaned office.

Recent research from Tork found that 86% of staff see a clean office as the most important aspect of a good work environment. It’s official – cleanliness is more than a ‘hygiene factor’ for employees!

In this guide, we’ll explore the different times of day for office cleaning. When is the best time to have your office professionally cleaned?

After work

Let’s start with the most popular choice – after hours office cleaning. There are several benefits to cleaning in the evening when all your staff, or at least the vast majority, have left for the day:

• Safety: For example, hardwood floors will be slippery after cleaning. After hours office cleaning means that the floors have time to dry before staff will walk over them again the next day.

• Efficiency: With staff out of the way, cleaners can focus on getting the job done as efficiently as possible. With no need to wait for staff to finish a meeting, for example, it’s easier for cleaners to stick to their allotted time without overrunning.

• Less disruption: The biggest reason – to clean an office thoroughly, cleaners need to reach all the nooks and crannies. That includes under the desks, but it’s better for both cleaners and employees if staff aren’t sitting there when it happens.

Cleaners also want to disinfect and wipe desks, some of the most used surfaces at work – again it makes sense for employees to be elsewhere and it’s why many offices have a clear desk policy.

Before work

There are similar advantages to cleaning before office hours begin.

Again, without employees present, the cleaners won’t be in the way and vice versa. That means the cleaners can complete their tasks as efficiently as possible.

It also means that when staff – or clients – come in, they will be seeing the premises at its cleanest and freshest possible. Here’s how to improve your office’s image with professional cleaning services.

There are a few potential downsides to cleaning before work though. Some employees may prefer to come in very early to get a head start on the day – although by the same token, others may work late the night before at the traditional office cleaning time.

For offices with a kitchen, it’s not ideal to leave this area uncleaned overnight. In general, if there is more cleaning to do than usual, leaving it to the morning before work begins risks the work not being completed in time before the majority of staff start their day.

In the morning, during business hours

Some companies may like to have cleaners before midday while work is underway.

• One example could be after a big morning event, particularly if it involves breakfast in a large room. It’s a long time to leave an area uncleaned if you wait until the afternoon or evening.
• Or perhaps there’s a big lunchtime event and you want the office looking freshly cleaned beforehand.

For ad hoc reasons like this, cleaning in the morning during business hours makes a lot of sense.

As part of a regular cleaning schedule, after hours office cleaning is a more popular choice though. It means that employees and cleaners are not trying to do their jobs at the same time.

In the afternoon, during business hours

Similar to morning cleaning during business hours, there may be specific reasons for an afternoon schedule.

An after work event is a good reason for afternoon cleaning. A lot of mess can build up during the day and if you’re entertaining clients at 6pm, the office could look very unclean by then.

Again though, for a thorough office clean, after work tends to be the more popular option. That way, cleaners have full access to all the rooms, under desks and so on without disturbing employees while they’re focused on work.

At weekends

Weekend office cleaning tends to have the same advantages as the evenings after work. In other words: 

• Safety
• Efficiency
• Less disruption!

The weekend is also the best time for deep cleaning. For the most comprehensive cleaning, the office needs to be empty and the weekend is the most likely time for this, as some staff may still stay late on weekdays.

Find out more about the benefits of deep cleaning vs regular cleaning in our detailed recent explainer.

As with evening cleaning, there’s another perhaps more surprising advantage. Many cleaners prefer to do their job after hours, knowing that they are not in the way and can focus on their tasks without any risk of disrupting anyone else.

However, for many offices, cleaning only at the weekends is not a very regular option – it means that the office could stay unclean between Monday and Friday. Therefore, employees would only experience the benefits of a clean office on Monday.

It also means that any ad hoc visitors to the office – for example, clients – may not see the office at its cleanest unless they are coming in on Monday. We explain this conundrum in more detail in our guide – Is Daily Office Cleaning Necessary in London?

Final thoughts: When is the best time to have your office professionally cleaned?

We hope you found this deep dive into the different times of day for office cleaning useful but ultimately, the choice is yours.

Every business has its own preferences. While after hours office cleaning is the most popular choice, if you need cleaning at other times, you don’t need to be constrained by your supplier.

Here at Think FM, we offer a 24/7 cleaning service. We provide our cleaning services whenever it is most convenient for you.

And with over 200 cleaners, there’s no need to worry about a cleaner falling unwell or being unavailable at your preferred time.

These are just some of the reasons why Think FM is the no.1 commercial cleaning company London has to offer!

We offer exceptional office cleaning London businesses throughout the capital rely on at all times of the day.

For more information about our services please don’t hesitate to contact us.

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