5 Rules for Your Office Break Room
The office break room should be a space that gives employees a chance to enjoy lunch, grab another cup of coffee, and step away from the desk for a respite. A few basic rules ensure the area stays clean and organized between visits from your cleaning service. Establishing the following practices can help create a break room where everyone wants to spend time.
Office Break Room Rules
1. Clean Up Your Mess
It’s a simple but necessary concept. Ensure all employees know that no one washes dishes or cleans out the coffee pot at the end of the day. Instead, those tasks should be left to each employee. A friendly sign posted by the sink can remind employees to wash, dry, and put away their dishes after lunch.
2. Refill the Coffee Pot
Establish a rule that the employee who pours the last cup of coffee from the pot is the one who makes another. Ensure all employees know how to operate the coffeemaker so that no one has an excuse not to comply. If you have a large, industrial coffee maker, include some operating instructions so that anyone can refresh the coffee midday.
3. Respect Other People’s Food
Opening the refrigerator to grab your lunch and finding it gone can cause some serious office drama. Encourage employees to label their food and respect their colleagues’ lunches. In addition to names on lunches, employees should label any other refrigerated items, such as milk or coffee creamer, that they store at work.
4. Skip the Stinky Meals
One pungent lunch can result in an aroma that takes over the entire office. Encourage employees to keep the strong-smelling foods at home. Microwaving fish, for example, can leave a lingering smell that not everyone can stomach. Even a mid-afternoon snack of microwavable popcorn is risky if it burns, so ask employees to be thoughtful about what foods they bring in.
5. Clean the Fridge
Your cleaning service might wipe down the fridge, but they aren’t going to dump the food. Create a schedule where employees take turns cleaning out the fridge to get rid of expired food. Regular cleaning opens up space and keeps your office fridge more sanitary.
To keep your office break room clean, contact CMC Commercial Cleaning, which has been serving the Cincinnati and northern Kentucky area since 1976. Cleaning services include break room cleaning, which creates a sanitary space to cook and eat, as well as the commercial cleaning of factories and conference rooms. For a free estimate, call (513) 351-6571, or fill out our short form.