Why the look and cleanliness of your office matters

Why the look and cleanliness of your office matters

We were inspired to write a post on the topic of office cleanliness by a business friend of ours, Odd. We met him during a work seminar many years ago, and he lives in a town called Bodø (pronounced “Bodoe”), to the north of Norway. When we had a video chat to catch up with each other, we were on the topic of work, when he suddenly asked how our office looked. We thought it was a bit of a strange and sudden question to ask (but then again, his name is Odd!), and we said “it looks alright.” 

Employees and customers will appreciate it

Odd proceeded to tell us about the changes he had seen in his workplace after he started hiring the professional cleaning company Bodø Renhold. They perform every type of cleaning in people’s homes and in business offices, and on their website Renhold Bodø, they give detailed explanations as to why it’s important to have a clean office, and how it can impact the well-being of employees, clients, and visitors.

The truth is, employees spend long workdays at the office, which makes it doubly important that they feel good when they are there. It will impact their enjoyment of work, their productivity, and the likelihood that they will stay for a long time. 

Customers and professionals who visit your office will often judge it based on how good it looks and how clean it is. “Don’t judge a book by its cover” someone says, but in this case, they will. A first impression is always important. It can affect how much business you get.

It declutters your mind

Hearing about these results reminded us of an article in Harvard Business Review on “The Case for Finally Cleaning Your Desk,” which basically says that if you have a cluttered desk, your mind will be cluttered too, and your focus and calm will suffer because of it. 

If this is true for just your desk, what do you think will happen if your entire office is out of whack, with dusty shelves, a dirty floor, and a disorganized interior which is not well-thought-out? 

It’s easy to ask for a review of your office

The best thing about having a clean and good-looking office is that it doesn’t have to be hard. It doesn’t even cost any money to have a professional cleaner come and review your office to gauge its needs. They will consider things like: 

• Where are the main problem areas? 
• Do you even have any problems regarding office cleanliness? 
• Should the computers be cleaned regularly as well? 
• Etc. 

To summarize, having a clean and good-looking office is important because it will create a happy and productive working atmosphere for your employees, and it will give your customers and visitors a favorable first impression.