How often does an office need cleaning?

What the rules say – and don't say

The Swedish Work Environment Authority's provisions on workplace design (AFS 2023:12) require that workplaces and staff facilities are maintained and cleaned. No interval is specified: how often is needed depends on the operation, and the assessment sits with the employer. The frequencies below are therefore not a legal requirement but Avavik's experience of where offices tend to land.

Toilets and the kitchen set the interval

It is almost never the office rooms that decide how often an office needs cleaning – they take a few days without anyone noticing. Toilets and the kitchen do not. To find the right frequency, count how many people share a toilet and how many eat lunch in the office, not the square metres.

Rough guide by size

• Up to 10 people: once or twice a week is often enough, provided the kitchen is handled internally between visits.
• 10–30 people: two to three times a week. This is where the toilets start needing their own rhythm regardless of what the floors need.
• 30–75 people: daily cleaning of toilets and kitchen, floors and surfaces a few times a week.
• Over 75 people: daily cleaning, and often a midday check of toilets and the lunch room.

Four things that change the picture

Hybrid working

An office where half the staff are in from Tuesday to Thursday doesn't have an even need. What works is putting the cleaning against the days people are actually there – often Wednesday and Friday – rather than spreading it evenly across the week. Many contracts miss this and pay for Monday cleaning in an empty office.

Whether food is cooked and eaten on site

A kitchen used for a proper lunch every day needs daily attention however many of you there are. It is also the most common source of internal complaints.

Visitors

Reception, meeting rooms and a guest toilet have a different standard to live up to than an internal open-plan area. Clients coming in regularly is a reason to clean more often even in a small office.

Flooring and the entrance

An entrance straight off the street with a textile mat in a winter climate brings in grit and salt every day. Hard floors in a light colour show everything. That affects frequency more than floor area does.

Set the interval, review after a month

Start where the guide above puts you, and check in after four weeks with two questions: what is being complained about, and what feels unnecessary? The usual outcome isn't more or less cleaning overall but a redistribution – more often in toilets and the kitchen, less often in offices and meeting rooms. That is also a change that tends to be cost-neutral, which makes it easy to agree on.

See companies taking on office cleaning work.