Question: “I oversee the contract janitorial crew. How do companies deal with the problems of keeping the lunchroom and refrigerators clean during the day? I struggle with the time between the daily cleanings. Anyone have any suggestions?”—Rachel
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
yeah CLEAN MY MESS UP
In our small office, it was the Admin’s job to do dishes each evening. As the receptionist, I took care of making coffee every morning and cleaning out the coffee pots each evening.
Unfortunately, there were some individuals whose idea of “washing” the dishes involved dunking a cup in soapy water and then leaving it in the dishrack to dry. Gross!!
Since I order supplies and groceries besides taking care of coffee each day, I decided it would be easier to take on washing dishes too. That way, I KNOW that I am getting a CLEAN coffee cup every time, instead of discovering someone else’s lipstick on my cup once I’ve gotten to my desk.
Seriously . . . dishes are not that big of a deal if you’re in a small company like ours (18 people). Just make it part of your (or someone else’s) job description.
We have a problem with the Fridge and sink. The Fridge, every Friday is cleaned out by myself and another Admin. People trickle through the kitchen to complain about what we throw out or stop by and chat about how much it sucks that we have to clean the fridge but no one lends a hand. The dishes are loaded into the dishwasher every night by us and turned on. Recently we had to get TWO plumbers in to fix a clogged sink. They found over 50 stir sticks in the sink. Parts had to be dismantled to get the stir sticks out.
Please do not use the word Nazi.
give up now. We assign the lunchroom on a rotating shift to maintain the lunchroom throughout the day and the end of the day. Our maintanence guy thoroughly cleans twice per week. If you bring any food in you must initial it and put an expiration date on it and you are responsible to toss it, at the end of the week the front desk goes through the two fridges and toss things that are expired, container and all.
It IS A BATTLE; after years of schedules, notices, threats most employees eat at their desks and avoid the kitchen. The boss is the bigest offender and tends to blame others. So a group of kitchen users have labeled the bottom of the plates with wax markers with day, employee name and food. When the mess gets to a point that the Boss complains, subtlely the plates are turned over throughout the day for the Boss to visually grasp the volume of her works. She usually throws it all out and thing resolve for awhile but her behaviors are repeated.
I work for a state agency so many of us bring our lunch. On your bag or container you are required to place a removable label with your name and date. We have a full size refrigerator, a sink, a dishwasher and a microwave. We have six divisions with approximately eight people to a division. We compiled a binder with information such as what to clean and what to restock, wiping down all tables and chairs etc. If there is a bottle of mustard (for example) the person who bought puts there name on it and if it is okay to share with others we write ‘okay to use’ or ‘help yourself’. This is done every week; prior to cleaning, an email is sent to staff to get it named or get it out because it will be thrown out. One person decided to be funny and put the correct day, wrong year and the name of a former employee. It was tossed. We look at expiration dates, if it has expired whether a name is on it or not we toss it. The refrigerator is completely emptied, wiped out (per manufacture directions), remove ice once a month. We seem to have kept it in pretty good order. You check off everything that was done. Each division is held accountable for their month.
Because this was a CONSTANT battle, I finally found a great solution to at least the refrigerator part of it. We purchased Ziploc gallon bags and if you use the refrigerator, what you put in there has to fit in the bag with your name on it. The fridge looks BEAUTIFUL now!!! People used to forget what they brought in and others brought in a month’s supply of stuff and took over all the space. Same thing for the freezer space. The kitchen, however, continues to be a source of irritation .. emails, signs, threats, fake cameras, only produce temporary compliance.
I used to work for a company that posted a sign in the lunchroom “Your mother doesn’t work here, please clean up after yourself.” One of the people in the office wrote under the sign, “Yes, she does.” That person’s mother DID work there. I had to smile at the memory.
After endless reminders to clean up dishes in the sink & dispose of leftovers from the fridge, we now have a no tolerance policy. If your dishes are there at the end of the day, they are thrown away. If your container is left in the fridge on Friday, it’s thrown away as well. After a few tough love sessions, people have gotten the not-so-subtle hint and have really stepped up to help clean the lunch room.
Years ago I saw a sign in a school lunchroom “Your mother doesn’t work here, please bus your own dishes.” I made one for work and later one of my co-workers made a sign with a picture of a mummy and added “Your mummy doesn’t work here, clean up your own mess.” That may or may not have helped but it will make most people smile and think.
I agree with Deb – people who don’t care will never care. Those of us who are constantly cleaning up after others where I work have tried going on strike, but then it gets completely disgusting and it only bothers those of us who used to keep it clean. I like DarrelC’s idea of closing down the break room for a week. We had a problem with staff not washing the silverware after they used it, so we took it all away and now no more problem.
We send out e-mails periodically reminding everyone to clean up their own mess. Since we’re in Maine, cold and flu season gave us another advantage. Our last e-mail included a health and safety notice. Other folks should not be expected to touch your germs type of thing. It helped a lot.
I am constrantly amazed at how people will leave the kitchen or rest rooms in our office buildings. You know they do not leave their homes in the messes they leave these areas at work.
I believe there is really no true solution as people who just don’t care will never clean up. I find coffee grounds all over the place and the microwave oven…don’t get me started. I try every day to surface clean after lunch and it seems to help. Is it fair? No. But at least the kitchen is usable. I am waiting to hear from someone who has a fool-proof plan. I’ve yet to find one.
Post a notice that if the lunchroom isn’t kept clean they will lose the priviledge of using it. Then, when they ignore the posting (and they will), close the room for a week. Attitudes might change when you reopen it.
I work for a public agency and we have different units in our agency. The way we do it here is that each month a unit is selected to clean out the refrigerators every Friday of that month. We send out reminders to every employee to let them know that Friday is clean up day and anything left behind will be tossed out regarless of how long is been there. Nothing should be left over the weekend. Good luck.
Isn’t it amazing the slobs grown ups can be when they’re not at home. This is an uphill battle for us too. I stopped using our pantry so I could remove myself from the irritation. Due to budget cuts I stopped ordering supplies for in there too and this solved a lot of the problems. Now that people are bringing in their own things it seems like they care a bit more and are cleaning up after themselves.
At my past job we did all take turns as Jen suggests and it worked. At another job we tried this and there were a few that complained that they weren’t going to clean up after anyone else. Hopefully it will work with your group. Every now and then I will send a group e-mail alerting them that everything will be thrown out on Friday because it’s getting smelly in the frig.
In our organization, there is a list kept in our break room designating 3 or 4 staff members responsibility of cleaning the break room. For example for the month of December there were will be 3 or 4 staff members assigned the responsibility of cleaning the break room. It’s the responsibility of those 3 or 4 staff members to communicate with one another who will clean throughout that month of December. Then in January it will be the responsibility of 3 or more staff members. I think it’s a luxury for some companies to even provide a fully stocked break room for it’s employees, and as the employees responsibility we all make sure we clean up after ourselves. Even though we do have a contracted janitorial crew – but that’s just one way we save money in such a troubled economy.