How can we keep a shared common area (kitchen) clean?

Question

We share a kitchen with around 20 people on our office floor. The problem is that some people leave their dirty cups and plates in the sink and on the tables even though we have a dishwasher. Each week two people are in charge of cleaning the kitchen. However, this job is only to clean the surfaces, start the dishwasher. and then unload it. There have been several emails, but they have had no impact on the issue. What can be recommended to improve or correct the situation?

[Update]

The problem at our kitchen is that there are a few people who cook and heat up food in the microwave, and the rest - including me - who would either never use it or only make coffee. Therefore, one plate would not work. As the frequent users would just use the plates of the people who don't use the kitchen. Also the surfaces and the microwave tend to get dirty quickly. Our boss does not use the kitchen, and I don't want to spend my time leading by example when I am hardly using the kitchen.

The main annoyance (for me) is, that it is our only social area and so you have to sit in this dirty kitchen when you want to have a chat.

Answer 1

One cup and one plate per person.

Seriously, nothing else works. Hide cups and plates (in case you need them, for a customer or something) and only leave one cup and one plate per person. People will either start cleaning up for themselves or for others if they want to use them.

I've done it twice, and it worked both times. The first time people started cleaning up for themselves, the second time they started bringing plastic cups and plates from home. In any case, the kitchen was clean.

Answer 2

What do the people in your office do, and how much do they cost you on an hourly basis? What would it cost to get someone to come in every day at 5pm to handle this (or add this to the responsibilities of whomever already cleans your office, if you have someone like that)?

If you have 5 people taking 10 minutes a day, and each one costs you $100/hour or more in salary or expenses, having them clean up the kitchen is costing you roughly $80/day in productivity, plus whatever time you or someone is putting into trying to get them to keep the kitchen clean. And then there are tasks that are not going to get done if left to the staff as a whole, like cleaning the microwave (as mentioned above) or the toaster. So it might be cheaper to pay an unskilled laborer to do what is, frankly, unskilled labor.

If you have enough people and/or they are relatively expensive, you may want to consider just hiring someone and not making an issue of it.

Answer 3

This kind of issue can chew up a lot of time, act as a major distraction and allow people an outlet for all sorts of personal issues and angst between team members.

It can also be symptomatic of a deeper cultural issue in the team, which is festering away just below the surface.

My response on finding a messy kitchen is to clean it up - not just my stuff, and leave it as I would hope to find it. Every time.

Its easy for people to add to a mess someone else started.
Its much harder to leave the first plate.

Even if - at first - you are alone in doing this, over time, you won't be. People will see your actions, and copy them, just as they copy leaving messy plates.

And, its still only 5-10 minutes out of your day. I actually find this kind of activity is an excellent "mental reset" when I have been thrashing away at a tough problem, difficult e-mail or report.

About 70% of behaviours are reflected; this means that "workplace cultures" often become self-reinforcing; as one person leads, so the others follow.

• If you put up passive/aggressive notices, expect passive/agressive responses

• If you treat the team like children, expect childish actions to continue

• If you organise a rota for duties, expect a team that needs micromanaging

• If you only do your own cleaning up, expect a team that is selfish and unsupportive

• If you e-mail round instructions, expect e-mail traffic over every minor issue

My advice : lead by example, exhibit the culture you want to work in, and above all else, don't sweat the small stuff.

Answer 4

Interestingly, where I work now, they had a rota, where one person was responsible for keeping the kitchen clean each day. You got an email in the morning when your turn came up. While they had that rota, no one messed the kitchen up, and the rota seemed somewhat pointless.

Recently, they dropped the rota. Oddly, the condition of the kitchen has been dire since then, despite the fact that it's being used less (because the coffee machine is out of order).

I can't figure out for the life of me what the mental shift has been. Perhaps it's that no one wants the habitual mess when their turn comes up on the rota. Or perhaps it's merely given the message that cleanliness of the kitchen isn't that important.

But I'm pretty sure that if the rota is reinstated, the mess will suddenly clear itself up again.

Answer 5

We dealt with this all the time at a place I worked at, we sort of solved this issue adding a dirty rack right above the dishwasher, with a sign above it, saying:

Your Mom/Wife/Husband doesn't live here to pick up after you.

If they aren't in the dishwasher they don't get cleaned, please put your own dishes in the dishwasher.

We placed the offending dishes, utensils, and cups in there, and kept putting them back there till they got the hint.

Another place I worked at closed and locked the kitchen with a sign on the door saying:

If you want to act like children, you need to ask an adult to use the kitchen.

Signed: The Owner

It all depends on how stringent or easy going you wish to be.

Answer 6

I have yet to work at a place that has completely solved this, but common elements of the "best" (least-bad) practices are: reminders, peer pressure, and chore rotation.

Reminders: like MattRidge, we have the "your mom doesn't work here" signs over the sink and coffee maker. Instructions for using the dishwasher are displayed on the dishwasher.

Peer pressure: pointing out to people you see leaving things around that it's really not fair to so-and-so, who'll have to clean that up. It's very important that so-and-so be well-liked in the office. (And, of course, there has to be someone who'll be stuck with the job if you don't clean up yourself.)

Chore rotation: every week the "clean up the kitchen" job passes to a new person. It may not solve the problem (though it may raise awareness), but at least it spreads the burdern. During your week you're responsible for making several sweeps through the area (morning, lunch, end of day at least).

Answer 7

I'm not sure if the people at your company bring their own dishes and utensils. At my company, a notice was posted on the wall, right where you use the sink so you can't miss it, which clearly says: "Any dishes left in or around the sink will be thrown away."

It did rub some people the wrong way, as someone did take the sign down (it went right back up). It's actually helped, though, as now people don't leave them lying around (unless they're actually being thrown out!).

Answer 8

Use paper plates and cups. They're only ~$.08-12 cents each. You save money by not making your $50/hr employees wash dishes. The sink will also be cleaner. Put a recycling bin by the door to make it easier for people to throw their trash away.

Use a tablecloth for the table. They’re ~$10 each. You can wash them or replace them every month if they get too funky.

If the microwave users want a real plate, they can bring one from home and wash it themselves. Eventually, if the microwave gets dirty enough, one of them will wash it.

Answer 9

I thought about it a little bit more and had following idea: It is known in the office who the heavy users of the kitchen are. These are the people that should have the highest interest in a clean kitchen. I will ask them how they feel about the whole situation and if they don't want to lead by example. Or maybe they know, who is messing up the kitchen so we can talk to these people.

Answer 10

We use a tool called Harmonia to manage things like this. It assigns responsibility for tasks and chores that need to happen regularly (like "ensure kitchen is tidy") around the whole team.

What we've found is that the people who tend to be messier soon realise that they want to make the chore easier when it is assigned to them, so they naturally start getting tidier as time goes on.

Disclaimer: I am affiliated with and involved in the development of this tool.

Answer 11

Since you rotate the task of kitchen cleaning among everyone (right?) then at some point, every one of those people who leave cups on the tables and in the sink has been an appointed cleaner.

One problem is that the appointed cleaners have an incomplete, lenient task description. They should take care of everything, including all the dirty kitchenware. Not only wiping surfaces and un-loading the dishwasher, but cleaning the sink, and wiping the floor.

When everyone has had a chance to deal with the collection of cups from all over the kitchen, perhaps the lesson will stick. "When I was on clean-up duty, I remember that I hated it when I had to collect cups all over the place and stack them into the dishwasher. I know, maybe I should just put my empty cup into the dishwasher now. If everyone has the same idea, we will have an easier time on clean-up duty."

Here is another idea. Simply do away with office-supplied kitchenware. Everyone should bring their own. (Though everyone is free to use the dishwasher, make it clear that people are not to "borrow" other people's clean wares out of the washer.) Furthermore, a rule is imposed that all dirty kitchenware left in the kitchen is removed and impounded. A small fee can be collected for releasing each confiscated item from the impound lot (a locked cabinet), and this goes straight into the pockets of whoever is on cleaning duty. Items not claimed for a week are thrown away.

The problem will then take care of itself. The worst thing that will happen is that people keep dirty dishes at their desk. Then they still have to clean them before use, or else use dirty dishes. The confiscation could be extended to desks: dirty dishes left anywhere, not only in the kitchen, are impounded.