Most commercial cleaning services do a decent job with the basics, but there’s a whole category of tasks that rarely get the attention they deserve. I’m talking about light switches that haven’t been wiped in months, air vents caked with dust, and keyboard grime that could probably host its own ecosystem. These overlooked spots aren’t just aesthetic issues. They’re health hazards hiding in plain sight.
You walk into your office each morning and it looks clean enough. The bins are emptied, the floors are vacuumed, maybe there’s that faint smell of whatever cleaning solution they use. But here’s the thing. A lot of what makes an office truly clean happens in the places you don’t immediately see.
I’ve worked in enough offices to know that most cleaning contracts cover the obvious stuff. The visible surfaces get attention because, well, they’re visible. But the spots that actually harbour bacteria & allergens? Those often get a pass week after week.
Keyboards and Desk Phones Get Forgotten
Think about how many times you touch your keyboard each day. Hundreds? Thousands? Now think about when it was last properly cleaned. Not just a quick wipe, but actually cleaned.
Most cleaning teams won’t touch personal workstations beyond emptying the bin and maybe wiping the desk surface. Your keyboard sits there accumulating skin cells, food crumbs, and whatever else finds its way between those keys. Desk phones are even worse in some ways because they’re pressed right against your face.
Studies have shown that office keyboards can harbour more bacteria than a toilet seat. Sounds dramatic, but it’s true. The problem is that standard cleaning contracts often exclude these items because they’re considered ‘personal equipment’. Fair enough from a liability standpoint, I suppose. But it leaves a pretty significant gap in office hygiene.
Some forward thinking companies are starting to include electronic equipment cleaning in their service agreements. It requires specific products that won’t damage the equipment and a bit more time per workstation. But the difference it makes is substantial.
Light Switches and Door Handles
These are the classic high touch surfaces that everyone talks about but few actually remember to clean consistently.
Door handles might get a spray and wipe during flu season if you’re lucky. Light switches? Almost never. And yet every single person who enters a room flicks that switch. Every single person leaving a meeting room grabs that door handle on the way out.
The science here is pretty straightforward. Bacteria and viruses can survive on hard surfaces for hours or even days depending on the conditions. A light switch that gets touched fifty times a day but cleaned once a month is basically a germ transfer station.
I think what happens is that these items are so mundane that they become invisible. Your cleaner walks past them because they’re focused on the floor or the desks. It’s not malicious. It’s just how our brains work when we’re following a routine.
Air Vents Collect Dust for Years
When was the last time you looked up at your office air vents? Really looked at them?
There’s probably a visible layer of dust and lint hanging off the slats. That stuff gets circulated through your office air every time the HVAC system kicks in. Lovely thought, isn’t it?
Air vent cleaning is one of those tasks that falls into a grey area between regular cleaning and maintenance. Your cleaning service might assume it’s the building manager’s responsibility. The building manager might assume it’s part of the cleaning contract. Meanwhile, months turn into years and nobody actually does it.
The health implications are real though. Poor air quality affects concentration, increases sick days, and can trigger allergies & asthma. Clean air vents won’t solve every air quality issue, but they’re a good start.
Getting vents cleaned properly requires a ladder and some specific tools. Perhaps that’s why it gets skipped. It’s more effort than running a vacuum around.
The HVAC Connection
Your vents are connected to a whole system that probably needs attention too. Ductwork cleaning is beyond most commercial cleaning services, but at minimum those visible vent covers should be getting cleaned monthly.
Ceiling Corners and High Surfaces
Spiderwebs in the corners, dust on top of cabinets, grime on light fixtures. All that stuff you only notice when you’re staring into space during a boring meeting.
High surfaces are easy to miss because, well, they’re high. Your cleaner is working at floor and desk level most of the time. Looking up and dealing with areas that require a ladder or step stool adds time to each job.
I get it. Time is money in the cleaning business. But here’s the reality. Those accumulated cobwebs and dust layers make your entire office look neglected no matter how clean the floors are. It’s like wearing a pristine suit with scuffed shoes. The overall impression suffers.
A thorough cleaning service should be hitting these spots at least monthly. Some areas might need attention more frequently depending on your building’s air circulation and whether you’re near construction or other dust sources.
You’d be surprised how much brighter an office feels when the light fixtures are actually clean. It sounds minor but the cumulative effect of all these details really matters.
Under and Behind Furniture
That break room sofa hasn’t been moved in three years. I can almost guarantee there’s a lost civilisation of dust bunnies and dropped pens underneath it.
Moving furniture to clean underneath is labour intensive. It takes two people for the heavier items and significantly extends the time needed for each room. So it gets skipped. Weeks become months, months become years, and suddenly you’ve got a situation.
The same applies to areas behind filing cabinets, photocopiers, and other large equipment. These spaces become dead zones where dust accumulates along with the occasional dropped document or forgotten coffee cup.
A proper deep clean should include moving furniture quarterly at minimum. More frequently in high traffic areas. Yes, it costs more. But the alternative is letting grime build up to the point where it becomes a much bigger and more expensive problem.
The Breakroom Reality
Break rooms are particularly bad for this. Food crumbs find their way into every crevice. Behind the refrigerator is probably best left to the imagination at this point.
I once worked somewhere that finally moved the microwave stand after about five years. The wall behind it looked like some kind of abstract art piece made entirely of splattered food. Not my finest moment to witness, I’ll admit.
Window Sills and Blinds
Windows might get cleaned, but what about the sills? And those blinds are probably coated in a layer of dust that’s been building since they were installed.
Window sills collect dead insects, dust, and whatever else drifts in from outside. They’re often forgotten because they’re not quite floor level and not quite furniture. They exist in this liminal space that doesn’t fit neatly into cleaning routines.
Blinds are even trickier. Cleaning them properly is tedious and time consuming. Each individual slat needs attention, and there are dozens of them per window. So they get ignored until they’re visibly discoloured and someone finally complains.
The thing is, dirty blinds affect the whole vibe of an office. They make everything look dingy even when the rest of the space is clean. Natural light coming through dusty blinds just highlights all that accumulated grime.
Professional blind cleaning exists as a specialist service for this exact reason. It’s worth considering as an annual or biannual task even if it’s not part of your regular cleaning schedule.
Trash Bins Themselves Never Get Washed
Your bins get emptied daily. Great. But when was the last time the bin itself was actually washed?
Bins accumulate residue from leaking bags, spilled liquids, and general grottiness. That smell that sometimes lingers even after a fresh bag goes in? That’s the bin itself needing attention.
This is especially true for bathroom bins and break room bins where food waste is involved. Those things can get genuinely nasty if they’re never properly cleaned. We’re talking bacterial breeding grounds here.
A quick rinse with disinfectant once a week would solve this problem. It takes maybe two minutes per bin. But it rarely happens because it’s not typically specified in cleaning contracts and cleaners are working to a tight schedule.
Same logic applies to recycling bins, by the way. Maybe even more so since recycling can sit around longer before collection. Old milk cartons and food containers leave their mark.
Final Thoughts
None of these tasks are particularly complex or require special equipment. That’s what makes their omission so frustrating. It’s not that they can’t be done. It’s that they fall through the gaps in standard commercial cleaning routines.
The solution isn’t necessarily to fire your current cleaning service. It might be as simple as having a conversation about these specific areas and potentially adjusting the contract to include them. Some tasks might need to happen less frequently but with proper scheduling. Others should probably be part of the weekly routine.
I think the key is being specific about expectations. Don’t just assume that “cleaning” means the same thing to you as it does to your service provider. Walk through your space together and identify these problem areas explicitly.
A truly clean office isn’t just about appearances. It’s about creating a healthier environment where people can actually focus on their work instead of unconsciously avoiding touching surfaces or breathing through their mouth near dusty vents.
Your current cleaner might be doing a perfectly adequate job within the parameters they’ve been given. But if these seven areas are being missed, there’s definitely room for improvement. And honestly? Your team will notice the difference even if they can’t quite articulate what’s changed.
