The break room is where a cleaning program quietly fails

Every office has the same conversation about the same refrigerator. Nobody owns the shared kitchen, so it degrades in a way the rest of the floor does not, and the standard slips week by week until somebody sends an all staff email that fixes it for nine days.

This is a scope problem, not a people problem. Wiping the counter is on almost every cleaning contract. Cleaning inside the microwave, descaling the coffee machine drip tray and clearing the refrigerator on a known date almost never are. We put those on a rotation with dates, so the room stops depending on goodwill.

What the visit covers

• Counters, splashbacks and cabinet fronts wiped down every visit
• Sink scrubbed, drain flushed and taps descaled
• Microwave interiors and turntables cleaned, not just the door
• Coffee machine exterior, drip tray and surrounding counter
• Refrigerator exterior and handles every visit, interior on schedule
• Toaster crumb trays emptied and wiped
• Tables and chairs wiped, including the underside edge people grip
• Vending and water cooler surrounds, buttons and drip trays
• Trash, recycling and compost pulled and bins wiped
• Floor swept and mopped, including under the table run

The refrigerator rule that keeps the peace

We put the refrigerator clear out on a fixed date, published to your team by your office manager, usually the last Friday of the month. Anything left after that date goes. Nobody has to be the person who threw out somebody's lunch, because the date did it.

It sounds like a small thing. In practice it is the single most appreciated line on an office scope, and it costs almost nothing to run properly.