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Due to Covid, my company (industrial automation, in France) has set up a cleaning calendar. Every month, an empty calendar is posted, and we are required to sign up to be in charge of cleaning for one day in the month. We are provided with a paper towel and a disinfecting spray and must wipe down all the commonly touched areas (door knobs, cupboards etc.) twice a day.

I have no real issue with this, but it just feels weird. Is it common place to have employees clean the office? There is a cleaning service that comes at the end of the day to clean toilets and vacuum, but they don't do this kind of disinfecting. There is no standard for cleaning so who knows who actually cleans anything. We aren't provided with gloves so it just feels like we're being made to walk around the office and touch all the "hazardous" surfaces.

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    That's rather uncommon since hired (outsourced) office cleaning personal is in most cases cheaper, more skilled and trained in their field as well as quicker than using the employees time/hours to perform the cleaning (especially considering your field and country). We for example advised the facility-management company to conduct those desinfections 3 times a week, resulting in some additional hours we need to pay them..
    – iLuvLogix
    Commented May 25, 2021 at 15:04
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    How large is your company? I've worked for several smaller companies/offices where it's up to the employees to clean the break room/kitchen during the day and/or after lunch. Hiring an external company do to a 15 minute task just doesn't make sense, nor does leaving the area a mess for the rest of the day.
    – Abigail
    Commented May 25, 2021 at 17:12
  • This is typically due to the company’s unwillingness to spend the extra money to hire the cleaning crew to due the work. The cleaning crew are doing the job they are paid to do, so you should continue to show them your appreciation, for the job the do. You should complain to your upper management that it’s more efficient to pay the cleaning crew to sanitize the office.
    – Donald
    Commented May 25, 2021 at 18:25
  • @Abigail It's a medium sized company. There are about 25 people in my department. The common areas are used by maybe twice that many people because of overlap with neighboring departments.
    – E.Aigle
    Commented May 26, 2021 at 5:57

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It's not common, but neither is a pandemic. The company could hire some cleaners, but that also increases the number of people in the building and therefore the risk of infection. You'd only have to wipe the surfaces two times per month, so it's a minor task.

The missing gloves are of course supoptimal. Did you ask for them?

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  • I haven't asked for gloves. I don't feel strongly about any of it honestly, I just find it strange to ask employees to clean the office. Cleaning your own office or workspace makes sense to me, but cleaning door knobs on the other side of the office that I would never touch otherwise just feels like it shouldn't be my problem seeing as it's not what I was hired to do.
    – E.Aigle
    Commented May 25, 2021 at 13:31
  • @E.Aigle: You're right that generally speaking, you hire a person for a specific job, and a different job will require a different person. But during a pandemic, adding extra people is the opposite of what should be done. If a cleaning crew moves from workplace to workplace, that dramatically increases both the cleaning crew's chances of catching COVID as well as their ability to spread it. Your company's request, specifically during a pandemic, is not unreasonable (assuming they actually provide the proper equipment and no hard labor required). Post pandemic, it will be less reasonable.
    – Flater
    Commented May 26, 2021 at 9:37
  • Not only increases it the risk, hiring someone to do a 15 minute task twice a day doesn't exactly strike me as the most economic way to spend money. It would be different it the company is large enough to have cleaning staff around during the day. Smaller offices typically only have cleaning staff after hours.
    – Abigail
    Commented May 26, 2021 at 11:42
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What you are being asked to do is not common. The common approach to such cleaning is to hire a dedicated cleaning company, who has been properly trained, to do the work.

It seems like your company is merely trying to avoid the added cost of hiring a professional cleaning service to give the impression that your workplace is safe.

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  • Or they can not hire because the market is empty with all the additional sanitation and some companies opening, some not.
    – TomTom
    Commented May 26, 2021 at 7:19
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I feel it is uncommon as well, however it seems you (and all of us) are being forced to create a "New Norm". I work for a county government. We have a janitorial service paid for who does things link take out the trash, mop, clean the restrooms and polish glass doors. Since COVID, we have also been asked to wipe down surfaces, but only our desk areas before and after working. We are no longer allowed to visit other desks assigned to colleagues. It is strange however, that you are required to clean commonly touched areas since this could be hazardous to your own personal health and probably wasn't in your original job description. I agree with "sf02" that a dedicated cleaning company is more properly trained. If France incorporates a work administration similar to OSHA for worker safety, perhaps you can review their policies to ensure your company is legally following the proper guidelines for employees health safety.

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