Boost your staff productivity by making sure your factory or warehouse is always clean and tidy. This requires a bit of effort and forward planning, it can pay itself back several times over.
Increased productivity
Firstly, maintaining an organized working environment will make it easy for your staff to find the equipment and supplies they need, directly increasing productivity. It will also indirectly boost staff productivity — if your employees know you dedicate company time and resources to making sure their working environment clean, safe, and efficient, they are more likely to take pride in their work.
Making a factory or warehouse cleaning plan
The type of work you perform on your business premises will affect how often it needs to be cleaned, but you should perform two kinds of cleaning routines: deep and regular cleaning.
Deep cleaning
Over time, the floor of your warehouse is going to get dirty and your equipment is going to build up with dust and grime, both of which can seriously affect productivity. Your warehouse needs to be deeply cleaned before it reaches this point. How long this will take depends on what kind of work you perform, and may be different for each section of your premises.
When you perform a deep clean of your warehouse or factory, you should set aside several hours to use heavy-duty cleaning equipment and supplies on every surface and piece of equipment on your premises.
If you’ll be enlisting your staff to clean and tidy their own section, you should schedule the deep clean during a slow period if at all possible. If you’re hiring outside help to perform the clean for you, you should schedule them to come in on an evening or weekend so you don’t lose out on productive work hours.
If you’re using your in-house staff to perform the deep clean, each employee should be designated an area of the premises. This area should be their responsibility and theirs only in order to ensure accountability, and before you begin the clean, each member of staff should agree to the area they’ve been designated. This will prevent any miscommunication or arguments down the line.
Each employee should then be provided with the equipment and supplies they need to thoroughly clean everything in their designated area. You should also provide them with the training they need to use any specialist cleaning equipment they require.
The first time you perform your factory-wide deep clean, you should ask each member of staff to note down approximately how long it takes to perform each process in the cleaning cycle they’ve been assigned. This will help you plan the next intensive clean even more accurately. You should also ask for them how they think the process could be sped up, as they may have some useful feedback that could improve the process.
While performing your deep clean, you should take the opportunity to get rid of any clutter that has accumulated since the last one. This can be particularly problematic in storage areas and communal work spaces, which often become cluttered and hard to manage. Organizing these areas can help boost productivity for everyone within your business, making it well worth the effort.
Our customer care representative at First Class Cleaning Services can be reached through 0721867339 or email sales@firstclasscleaning.co.ke
