How to Make Your Office Smell Good
Occasionally catching a whiff of an offensive odor in the workplace is normal and, for the most part, tolerable. Even offices feature eating areas and restrooms where some pretty objectionable aromas can crop up. But when off-putting odors seem to stick around the office all day, every day? Those lingering aromas can become a major issue.
Not only are repugnant office odors off-putting to customers, clients, and staff, but they can also leave behind quite a negative impression about your business. After all, no one wants to spend time in a smelly building, whether they’re working several hours in it or just dropping by for a brief visit.
Want to make sure your office smells great more often than not? Here are our top seven ways to get the job done.
Keep Working Areas Clean
When your primary working areas house several desks and staff members, those areas can easily develop odd odors simply due to the volume of people and foot traffic. As a rule, the more humans there are within a space, the more likely strange odors will start to crop up within it, especially when those spaces aren’t cleaned regularly.
That’s where daily office cleaning can make a major difference in the scent of your collective work areas. The cleaner those areas are kept — getting rid of tracked-in debris, tossing out food and drink at desks, etc. — the lower the likelihood of strange smells developing.
Try to get your staff on board with this one by asking everyone to ensure their desks are clean before they leave for the day. If you’re not keen on cleaning up the floor and other areas where smelly things can collect, hire a janitorial service to do the job for you.
Maintain a Clean Break Room
If you’re trying to control odors in your main working areas, chances are you have a break room or kitchen where staff members can enjoy their lunch. But even a designated break room won’t contain food-based odors if you don’t keep the space clean.
To cut down on break room odors that can quickly waft into working areas, consider implementing a take-your-food-home-every-night policy. Let staff members know that the refrigerator and break room will be completely emptied of food containers each night. If they fail to collect their leftovers, they’ll end up in the trash.
Not a fan of food cleanup? That’s what a janitorial service is for. In addition to cleaning your office’s common areas, they can take care of the break room too.
Keep Restrooms Clean
Clean your office bathrooms daily. Given the high volume of use your office bathrooms see each day, they can quickly become dirty — yes, even in a 12-hour period. Ultimately, dirty toilets, trash cans, and sinks tend to stink, so it’s in your best interest to keep them as clean as possible.
Practice Prompt Waste Removal
Office trash cans designated for paper only probably don’t need to be changed on a daily basis. But any trash cans that house hygiene products, food waste, and anything else that might become remotely odorous should be emptied daily.
To control office odors, at the end of each workday be sure to check trash bins at staff desks, as well as in restrooms and break rooms, and empty them if necessary. Or you can take the no-fuss route and hire an office janitorial team to handle the job for you instead.
Consider Professional Carpet Cleaning
Does your office have any carpeted areas? If so, when was the last time they were thoroughly cleaned? Because carpet is a veritable safe haven for odor-causing bacteria. And if your carpets haven’t been professionally cleaned in a while, those carpet fibers are likely harboring copious amounts of microorganisms that make your office smell weird.
The solution? Hire professional carpet cleaners who can deep clean your floors. If you notice odors isolated to specific areas of carpet, applying baking soda can help in a pinch. However, it’s still in your best interest to opt for professional cleaning to ensure any odors are permanently removed.
Implement Indoor Plants
Did you know indoor plants are natural air purifiers? It’s true! Not only can they introduce fresh oxygen to your office space, but they can also help destroy harmful microorganisms that may be floating around in the air.
If you want to keep your office smelling fresh and looking vibrant at the same time, live plants are an excellent way to augment your odor-busting efforts. Some of the most effective, low-maintenance, air-purifying options include:
- Rubber plants
- Snake plants
- Aloe vera
- ZZ plants
- Spider plants
- Pothos
Clean the Ductwork
If the ducts in your building haven’t been cleaned in years (or ever), they may be a major contributor to odd office odors. That’s because, over time, dust, debris, bacteria, and other types of particulate matter accumulate inside ductwork. And each time the office heating or cooling system kicks on, it forces air through those filthy ducts.
As the air travels through the duct system en route to the vents, it picks up any odors that may be lingering inside the ductwork. When that conditioned air finally makes its way into the office areas, it smells odd and can make the whole place stink.
The solution? Professional duct cleaning. Ideally, you should schedule biannual air duct cleaning for your office building both to control odors and maintain HVAC efficiency. But if your building houses hundreds of staff members, more frequent cleanings may be necessary. The more people that spend time inside the building, the dirtier every part of it will get. Want to keep your office smelling great all the time? Get in touch with our team at Zeppelin Cleaning Services! We specialize in comprehensive office cleaning services and will sit down with you to develop a fully customized cleaning plan for your building. To get started or learn more about how we can help you, give us a call today at 313-731-6459 or request a janitorial quote, and we’ll reach out with more information.