Holidays are incredibly hectic for businesses; doing year-end reports all while preparing for Christmas parties, various holiday office activities, and potlucks can leave your workplace in a mess. And once it is all over and the dust settles, and you think you finally have some time to breathe, you will realize you need to tidy up the workplace for the coming New Year. This means you have to face the dreaded cleanup and put everything back into place to make your business and workplace ready for the coming year. This involves putting the Christmas tree down, rolling up the Christmas lights, picking up the pine needles and wrapping paper from the floor, and putting all the Christmas decorations and ornaments back into the storage boxes.
How do you juggle all those things and still keep your sanity? This entry has compiled all the things you need to do for an easy and hassle-free post-holiday cleanup. Here are some tips on cleaning up after Christmas and prepping your office for the New Year.
Plan everything
No matter what size your space and business is, your employees, business partners, clients, and customers will appreciate a clean and tidy space. A quality commercial cleaning services company will do just that – every day, regardless of what season it is. This means you don’t need to worry about anything, and it costs a fraction of having your own in-housing cleaning team and investing in equipment, tools, and cleaning products.
Disorganized meeting rooms, cluttered desks, chairs moved from their designated places, and specks and spots of food and drinks all over will be a common sight for your office. And if left unaddressed, these things will not only leave you with a muddled workplace but a holiday health hazard.
So how do you avoid this from happening? Hire an experienced and high-quality commercial cleaning company that actually knows what to do, and has the resources and personnel to do it.
Hiring the services of a quality professional commercial cleaning company will be the best gift you can give to your workplace for a relaxing and stress-free holiday. Why? Here are some reasons.
Let’s you decorate from a clean slate
Failing to plan and planning to fail. It sounds cliché but it couldn’t be more applicable in this scenario.
Planning your holiday celebration well in advance will give you enough time to designate all the work, identify the things that need to be done, and be ready for any curve balls that may come your way.
Have a to-do list
That is right. Just like your projects, daily tasks, and short-term and long-term goals, you will need a to-do list to make cleaning up after Christmas and New Year seamless and stress-free for you and your whole team. Write down everything that needs to be done, who needs to do it, etc. Add specifics and details to your list. Who is in charge of the Christmas decorations? Who should get the ornaments? Who is in charge of the lights and sounds?
Plan your pre and post-holiday cleaning
If you are planning to have a Christmas party on the side, you might want to consider hiring professional commercial cleaners to do all the cleaning up before the big day. They have the personnel and tools to not just do the tidying up, but more importantly, to make sure your place is ready and safe for the activity. This can make putting up the Christmas decorations a lot easier for you and your staff.
You can do the same thing post-holiday – hire professional cleaners to do the office cleaning after your party and prep your office and workplace for the New Year.Plan the maintenance work too
Also, plan all the maintenance work to take place while everyone is out and away for their holiday break. This includes carpet cleaning or re-carpeting, repainting, window and glass cleaning, vinyl floor maintenance, and general refurbishing. Again, you can hire professional commercial cleaners to do these things for you. It will be more cost-efficient and can save you precious time and money than buying all the cleaning equipment and tools.
If you have an in-house cleaning crew, you can tell them ahead of time to schedule the general cleaning.
Keep on top of all the mess
There is a good chance you will only have a couple of days around Christmas and New Year to clean up and organize everything in your workplace, especially if you are in the hospitality business. Maximize every minute of it by staying on top of any clutter or mess throughout the remainder of the year. Do not let any of the rubbish pile up.
Minimizing mess is the best way to go about the holiday cleanup – this will help you keep everything under control.
Declutter
It is completely normal to feel overwhelmed when looking at the mess that has been left behind after the party is over. This is primarily because you don’t know where to start, that can be a really daunting feeling.
You can, however, start by decluttering; remove all the trash and debris. Take the empty rubbish bins out and start filling them with trash from the tables, floor, corners, etc. Start from one room to another, and before you know it, you have cleaned every room in your office.
Take down party decorations carefully
When it comes to after-holiday cleanup, one of the most important things you need to do is wrap up your decorations safely. Invest in boxes and storage solutions that can help you stow away your piles of paperwork, utensils, stationery, tools, etc. You can also invest in containers with lids for easy storage of the Christmas decorations.
Make sure you put things away in the same area every year. Cleaning up after Christmas is exhausting, and the last thing you want to do next is to figure out where you put all your Christmas decorations. So have a designated space in your workplace for these items.
You can also donate unwanted or sell some items to help minimize the clutter. You can take photos of them and post them online.
Spot clean and remove stains
After emptying the rooms of clutter, you can now start addressing the food stains and beverage spills. Most often than not, you will have plenty of them throughout the place. The good news is, you don’t actually need to do this yourself – you can hire professional cleaners to do that thorough carpet and upholstery cleaning for you. They have all the equipment and tools to remove stains and clean your carpet and office furniture upholstery safely, without damaging them.
Throw out all the rubbish
Get rid of all the party clutter; empty all the bins to help keep the office clean and fresh for the holiday break. You can ask your commercial cleaning service provider to help you with this case. They can help keep your office smelling fresh with air fresheners and neutralizers.
There may be some changes to you garbage and recycling collection schedule. If your establishment uses kerbside collection services, then check whether public holidays will impact their collection schedule. If you are closing for the holiday break, make sure you get rid of all the rubbish and waste before the year ends, as this can attract flies and everything that are not nice to when you come back for the New Year.
You can also ask your commercial cleaning company to take care of all the rubbish and waste for you.
Cultivate teamwork
Schedule a cleanup with your staff members before they leave for the holidays and vacations. Have them clean up their workstations and tidy up the workplace. As soon as everyone is done cleaning their workstations, it is time to work as a team to clean up the communal spaces.
Many will not be enthusiastic to join you in the cleanup, which is okay. You can arrange a team (or teams) of volunteers and incentivize them properly.
Consider calling the pros
The best way to avoid the headaches and stress of cleaning up after Christmas and New Year parties is to outsource the cleaning to the pros.
Post-holiday cleanup can be absolutely daunting, especially if you have a large building to cover and take care of. Moreover, you didn’t hire your employees to do the cleaning, right? This is where the benefits of hiring professional commercial services get into the picture – they can do all the dirty work for you and ensure that your workplace is clean, organized, safe, and comfortable for the next year.
Cleanworks can help you with all of your cleaning needs, whether it’s an office, childcare or early education center, school, restaurant, retail store, healthcare facility, factory, warehouse, etc., we have all the expert personnel and tools to keep your place in top shape for the coming year.
Contact Cleanworks for a thorough pre & post-holiday clean-up!
Call us on 1300 609 419 or send us an enquiry.
Get a Quote