While not enormously popular, National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day falls on November 15 and we think it’s the ideal time to make sure it’s up to your workplace’s cleanliness standards!

As a shared space the fridge should be regularly cleaned and organized . So how should your workplace prepare? Here are a few steps that can make the process less daunting for everyone:

Keep the fridge organized:

The secret to a clean fridge is an organized fridge! Make sure there is a designated area for the communal items such as cream and butter as well as for personal lunches. Likewise, label all sections in the fridge. If possible include dates on your labels for “best before” guidelines.

Establish best practices & guidelines for fridge cleaning:

A fair and simple policy should include all employees in a rotating weekly cleaning schedule. This will keep maintenance fair and regular. If there is more than one fridge in the office divide the tasks accordingly by each department. Simple “rules” as listed below can help avoid sticky messes:

Properly clean your fridge:

Scheduling occasional fridge clean days should be welcomed and encouraged. While it can initially take a long-time (when was the last time you cleaned your fridge?!) – if your workplace sets a regular cleaning schedule the time necessary to clean should decrease. Eventually – if everyone follows the above mentioned “best cleaning practices” then there might not be a mess to clean up in at all!

Maintain good fridge etiquette:

Food past it’s expiry date? Toss it. Out of condiments or cream for coffee? Add it to the office shopping list. Be proactive in making sure that everyone at your workplace is responsible for their own items. No one want’s the below policy where food is chucked out at the end of day because it wasn’t eaten or labelled properly!