11 Benefits of Maintaining a Clean and Orderly Workplace

Updated September 30, 2022

Keeping your work environment clean and organized can be essential for many businesses and organizations in helping them grow and develop. If a company wants to improve the efficiency and productivity of its staff, it can be helpful to understand the benefits of maintaining a clean and orderly workplace and how to achieve them.

In this article, we discuss what maintenance in the workplace is and the major benefits of a tidy workspace, plus we provide a list of tips on ways to achieve powerful upkeep routines for any work environment.

What is workplace maintenance?

Workplace maintenance, also known as workplace “housekeeping,” is the process of cleaning and organizing materials and inventory to help improve the functionality of the space. It helps businesses create a hazard-free work environment that can have major benefits, such as reducing workplace injuries and improving overall productivity.

Though such upkeep can prove beneficial in many types of workplaces, it can often be most effective in warehouses, construction and manufacturing organizations because of their use of dangerous materials and heavy equipment.

What are the benefits of good maintenance in the workplace?

Here is a list of the major benefits of maintaining a clean and orderly work environment:

1. Creates an effective use of space

Cleaning up the workplace and organizing inventory and materials can help create an effective and efficient work environment. This is often because employees have an easier time moving around the space and can find the information and tools they need more easily.

2. Establishes better control of tools and materials

Better control of tools and materials, including the business' inventory, can help employees understand when some inventory might be low, or not selling as well as it should be. This can help them know when they need to adjust their selling tactics, or replace certain inventory items with a new shipment.

3. Exposes potential hazards

It's possible that an upkeep routine at work can expose potential workplace hazards, such as falling items or tripping hazards, especially in a warehouse setting. Organizing the equipment and inventory in a warehouse, and other working environments, can help employees spot dangerous risks and work to either avoid them, or fix them.

4. Creates opportunity for discussion

Conducting regular maintenance duties can help create an opportunity for businesses and organizations to discuss safety rules and procedures. This can help employees understand how to act in case of an emergency, as well as help them understand the major benefits that keeping things clean and orderly can offer to their working environment.

5. Reduces injuries

When you regularly carry out maintenance in the workplace, you can clean up hazards that might contribute to employees injuring themselves, including risks of slipping or falling. As you conduct cleaning and organizing tasks, consider first starting with liquid spills or tripping hazards to improve safety conditions before continuing.

6. Increases productivity

Keeping a workplace clean and orderly can increase productivity as it can help reduce the amount of time that employees need to search for certain tools and materials or step over messes. Creating a clean and organized workspace can help individuals save time by moving through the space and finding everything they need more quickly, which can help increase their overall productivity and efficiency.

7. Reduces fire hazards

Performing regular maintenance checks can help to prevent workplace fires by cleaning up areas with flammable materials, such as sawdust and paper, and ensuring all chemicals are properly stored away. It can also be important to make sure any electrical boxes or circuitry has sufficient clearance and no flammable objects are stored nearby.

Lastly, to ensure that the workplace meets important safety regulations, it can be important to make sure all entrances and exits are free of obstacles in case of an emergency.

8. Improves morale

A clean space could help improve the morale of employees by creating a sense of calm, order and functionality. The act of cleaning the organization’s workspace together can also give employees a sense of camaraderie and teamwork, which can help improve morale by building strong professional bonds.

Related: How To Boost Employee Morale

9. Creates strong first impressions

Whether you're showing the space to a new employee, or you have constant visits from clients and customers, having a clean workplace can help create a strong first impression to whoever sees the space. Strong first impressions can help improve the morale of new employees and possibly help attract and retain your clientele.

10. Easily identify missing items

When tools and inventory are cleaned and well-organized, it can help employees identify any items that might be broken or missing from the workplace. This can allow them to order replacements more quickly and save the company time, while maintaining productivity.

11. Removes harmful materials

Dusting and thoroughly cleaning the workplace can help remove harmful materials, such as dust and vapors. Removal of those materials can help reduce sickness and disease for employees, increasing their overall productivity and helping improve workplace morale.

Ways to achieve good maintenance routines

Here are a few ways you can establish good cleaning and organizing routines and habits in the workplace:

Mark areas for tools and materials: Marking areas for tools and materials can help employees understand where items go more quickly and easily. When marking areas, consider labeling different shelves or hooks to improve efficiency.
Create a schedule: Creating a schedule can help ensure the team’s workspace is cleaned and organized consistently. It can be beneficial to delegate different cleaning tasks to employees and rotate those assignments every period to help maintain morale.
Develop end of the day routines: Developing a checklist that employees have to follow at the end of every workday can help make sure that the workplace is consistently tidy before everyone goes home. This can help employees start the next workday with a clean space and a positive attitude.
Establish a system to report safety risks: Establishing a system to report safety risks can help create open communication between managers and employees to ensure that any workplace hazards are corrected or adjusted right away.
Periodically inspect areas of the workplace: Having employees or managers periodically inspect different areas of the workplace, such as floors and cables, can help make sure that nothing is damaged and all safety risks are fixed before they become a major issue.