Is your dust-bunny population multiplying unchecked in the back corner of your desk? Are promotional pens overflowing your desk drawer? Are you still hanging on to the file from 1997’s company picnic committee?

Spring Cleaning called—and it wants to meet with your office right away. In fact, Spring Cleaning has sent a calendar request for an entire day to clean the office, with an annual recurrence. Here’s the meeting agenda:

• Destroy dirt. Use the entire day to clean! Individuals should start with their dedicated workspaces, then work together on common areas like file rooms and employee lounges. Make sure they are well equipped with dusters, cleaning sprays, sanitizers—and plenty of recycling bins, shredders, trash cans, and Dumpsters.
• Conquer clutter. Unless you are a pen salesman, five pens is plenty for your desk drawer. Could the rest be happily rehomed in the supply closet? And how about that filing cabinet? Cleanup day is a great time to go through your files. Keep the company’s records retention policy in mind as you archive or discard files that are out of date or that you don’t reference often, BUT hold on to tax records, master documents, and legal documents, such as contracts, licenses, and warranties. And you can always scan your files into electronic format. One year after scanning a document, the paper copy can be discarded in favor of the electronic version. And then you can use cleanup day to archive and delete your electronic files, too!
• Encourage employees. What’s to say employees will be motivated to clean and not chat about the latest episode of The Walking Dead? Positive peer pressure! Promote the day well in advance, and make sure it gets on everyone’s calendars. Remind the team one week before cleanup day—but keep your tone lighthearted and fun. And on cleanup day, appoint someone as hall monitor to make sure everyone is really using the time to clean up.
• Find a fresher future. Spring Cleaning, under the auspices of Year-Round-Clean Industries, supports all cleaning projects, and wants to use this annual meeting to spark smaller, regular cleanup efforts around your office. Is the community fridge stuffed with month-old takeout boxes? Start cleaning out the fridge every Friday; any takeout boxes left inside will be tossed. Is the sink filled with dirty dishes? Take turns serving as dishwasher for the day or week. Better yet, think about a system that holds “abandoned” dishes captive until their owner comes to claim them—for $5. Work out a sliding scale for repeat offenders. Money collected can go toward a fun office activity!

Sure, Spring Cleaning might sound like a taskmaster, but it only asks for one day a year to make a big difference in how the office looks and how employees feel about working there. With a little imagination and a lot of elbow grease, your annual cleanup day can pave the way for a fresh office every season!