How often should your office be cleaned? A guide by team size

There is no single rule for how often an office should be cleaned. A five-person design studio and a 60-person sales floor need very different schedules. What they have in common is that the right frequency depends on how the space is used, not just its size.

This guide gives you a starting point by team size, then shows how to adjust it for your own office.

A rule of thumb by team size

UK office cleaning guides commonly use headcount as the starting point. Here is a version we find works well for London offices:

• Up to 5 people: once or twice a week.
• 6 to 15 people: three times a week.
• 16 to 30 people: daily, Monday to Friday.
• More than 30 people: daily, with a mid-day washroom check.

Treat this as a starting point. The areas people use most decide whether you need more.

The areas that decide your schedule

Washrooms

Washrooms get dirty fastest and cause the most complaints. Under the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, employers must keep toilets and washing facilities clean and supplied with soap, water and a way to dry hands. In a busy office that usually means a daily clean, even if the rest of the office is cleaned less often.

Kitchens and tea points

Shared kitchens collect crumbs, spills and full bins within a day. If your team eats at work, the kitchen needs attention on every visit, with fridges cleaned out on a weekly or fortnightly cycle.

Desks and touchpoints

Door handles, light switches, lift buttons, phones and shared keyboards carry the most germs. At a minimum, desks and shared surfaces should be wiped weekly. In winter, or when illness is going round the office, increase touchpoint cleaning.

Reception and meeting rooms

If clients visit, reception and meeting rooms need to look right every day. Some offices keep the main clean to three days a week but add a short daily visit just for front-of-house areas.

When to clean more often

Move up a level from the table above if:

• you have regular client visits
• most of the team is in the office on the same days
• staff eat at their desks
• you have carpeted floors in high-traffic walkways
• the office is in a building with heavy street dirt, such as near a busy Tube station

When you can clean less often

Hybrid working has changed office cleaning across London. If your office is only busy on Tuesdays to Thursdays, you may not need five visits a week. Many businesses now book cleans the evening after their busiest days, or first thing the morning after, and save money without the office slipping.

Daily tasks and periodic tasks

Frequency is not only about how often a cleaner visits. It is also about which tasks are done on each visit. A good office cleaning schedule splits the work:

• Every visit: bins emptied, washrooms cleaned and restocked, kitchen surfaces wiped, walkways vacuumed.
• Weekly: desks and ledges dusted, glass partitions polished, microwaves cleaned inside.
• Monthly or quarterly: fridges cleaned out, high-level dusting, hard floors machine cleaned, carpets deep cleaned.

Writing these frequencies down in a specification stops periodic tasks being forgotten. See our guide on writing an office cleaning specification.

Early morning or evening?

Most London offices choose an early-morning clean, finished before staff arrive, or an evening clean after they leave. Early-morning cleans suit offices that are used late. Evening cleans suit offices where the first meeting starts at 8:00am. Either way, nobody has to work around the cleaner.

Check what it costs

More visits cost more per week, but each visit is often shorter because the office never falls behind. To see what shapes the price, read what affects the cost of office cleaning in London.

Get a schedule built around your office

We clean offices across all 32 London boroughs and the City of London, Monday to Saturday from 7:00am to 8:00pm. At a free site visit we look at how your team uses the space and suggest the lowest frequency that keeps it right. Book your site visit or see our office cleaning service.