An Office Manager’s Kitchen Nightmares

It’s a topic we know too well... the staff kitchen cleanliness. As an Office Manager, the kitchenette or break out areas can be one of the toughest challenges to crack and manage - it’s something that came up at our Summer OMP Event in 2019 during a Twitter ‘Tweet Your Advice or Questions’ challenge. The exact Tweet was “How can we get our employees to keep the kitchen clean??!!!” And the use of the multiple exclamation and questions marks showed the frustration and likely understanding that most suffer from the same difficulty in their workplace!

So, just what was the advice that came back and what can you do to manage this one? Here’s my top tips:

Don’t make a rod for your own back!

Many people have said it to me in my career - I think being the type of person who would always go in early to set up for an event or stay late to help ensure that the move completed perfectly, I naturally set myself up to give people the expectation that I’ll do it, I’ll be there and that it’s OK (time, and time again). It is all about that word “expectation”. If you start doing something and it’s visible to others, it is their expectation or perception that you are a) OK with it and perhaps also b) that it’s part of your role.

This point is particularly key when it comes to office and facilities management and given the lack of understanding for, and multiple responsibilities within the role you can see why. So, my advice: don’t start doing it if it’s not too late and more so, if doing the cleaning / tidying is not actually your role. It is really tricky to undo what’s already been set in motion and say “I’m not doing it anymore” if you have been for months, or even years now. Find an alternative way of managing this space. 

What if it’s too late to apply the above advice?

Well... if you are doing it and the above is therefore not applicable to you because the rod is well and truly set, what can you do? 

Firstly, if your company has the cash to have a cleaner in during the day or just after the lunch break, ensure they are doing the cleaning of these spaces or ask that they start to. They should ideally be tending to the kitchenette space every 2-3 hours depending on how many staff you have, and how busy they become. There should be a pre-lunch tidy up and a post-lunch one as a minimum. This will ensure a tidy and clean worktop as well as ample supply of crockery, cutlery and glassware. If you’re even luckier, they may be tasked with doing the rounds of your office to collect cups and crockery too!

You can’t control people – as much as we can try!

What if you do have this but people refuse to even take plates to the kitchen? I think this one is a case of managing people individually, trying to get the masses to do it and then approaching others gently, and warmly and asking them to comply. Signage is good, email comms is OK (but if you send a lot on a variety of topics, they’ll probably get ignored), using Slack and Teams as reminders can work too, but that personal touch is probably most effective. “Hey John, would you mind terribly if you could pop your plates/cups/day’s usage of kitchenware back at the end of each day please.”

Depending on the response, you can approach again if not and drop a note to the line manager if necessary. All of this, of course depends on your company culture, relationships and so on too so keep all that in mind.

It’s also really important in my view, to public ally praise the people that DO comply and help keep the spaces tidy in front of other members of staff in a non-patronising way. Something simple like “thanks so much Peter for doing that, really helps us out!” will do it.

And if there’s no budget?

What if you don’t have the luxury of having a day cleaner, or are a small firm that doesn’t warrant it? It’s likely that a degree of the upkeep of these spaces will fall to you in that case. It’s important to try and bed down a rota of sorts and ensure people are still supporting you with the clearing of the space and taking responsibility for the items they have used. So similar to the above, I would approach individuals you know aren’t helping to tidy after themselves and praise those who do in some way.

Some people have implemented rotas by teams e.g. it’s marketing department’s job to clean the kitchen week commencing xxx date and then it’s technology’s and so on with you merely monitoring to ensure this takes place and maintaining stock (until, of course it’s your team’s week on the rota!)

Going forward…

My hope is that if anything ‘good’ can come from COVID-19, it is that staff in offices and other shared workspaces take a little more responsibility for their stuff. Even if it is communal, and they used it, that they put it away e.g. in the dishwasher, wash it up and pop it back in the cupboards and so on. It’s always likely to be an ongoing battle for anyone in an office management role, but hopefully these tips can help to improve things at the very least.

Last but not least, spring clean! Much like you would at home, spring clean those kitchen spaces at least annually (Christmas is usually a good time). Get rid of the Tupperware that’s sat neglected for months on end, take stock of any supplies you need to top up on, give the fridges and microwaves a deep clean as well as the cupboards, shelves, handles, doors and all (and be sure to communicate it well in advance!)

Office and Facilities Managers what are your challenges and tips? Let me know, would love to hear how you manage these spaces.