"Empowerment"

It is my job to keep the kitchen clean but at the same time I want to empower the other staff members to help keep it clean as well. We all use it! Do you have any advice on this?

When did managers learn to use the word "empower" to mean "just do things i want them to lol."

Signalling

And to encourage others to do so as well. “If you witness someone disrespecting the office tell them so”. [..] All joking aside, Meg can attest to how valuable it is to be honest with your co workers; let them know it is not okay to leave messes all over the office.

Corrective solution attempts

Rotating chore duties

While all employees were expected to clean up after themselves, the kitchen monitor of the week would wipe down the counters and table, restock coffee and tea, and load/unload the dishwasher before leaving for the evening. Everyone shared the responsibility and no one got stuck being housekeeper all the time. People were less likely to do things like leave globs of oatmeal in the sink or rings of coffee on the counter because they knew how annoying it was to clean up after others’ messes when it was their turn.

We don’t take volunteers we put everyone on the schedule. Each person in the office covers a week with the exception of the executives. If the scheduled person doesn’t want kitchen duty then they can pay another employee to do so. Running rate is $20 for the week.

About 6 months go, my office started a mandatory kitchen rotation. There are about 35 people who work in my office and I used to be responsible for tidying up the kitchen every day. People were horribly lazy about it and it was really frustrating! This shift made an immediate and noticeable difference in the culture. No one, including the President & CEO is exempt. If a business trip or something comes up during your week, it’s your responsibility to find a replacement or swap your weeks. So far, only one mid-level manager has complained, and then was peer-pressured to “suck it up.” We also use reward system. Every 6 weeks 2 people tag-team a fridge clean out. They take everything out, wipe it down inside and out, and throw away any forgotten left overs before they turn into science projects. We reward these volunteers with libations of their choice.

Incentive systems

In Meg’s kitchen she keeps a star board that allows staff to give themselves a star after they complete one of the following tasks; load dishes into the dishwasher, unload dishes from dishwasher, turn the dishwasher on (b/c we all know even this can be a struggle sometimes), clear dirty dishes from conference rooms/office common areas or cleaning out the coffee maker. At the end of each week, the employee with the most stars wins and Meg awards them with the “Golden Dish” and a gift card. Believe or not folks, Meg says this works.

Multiple dishwashers

2 Dishwashers! At 20+ employees we evolved to having a dishwasher (there was literally a fundraising candy sale to buy our own before the company got one). But when it was running, folks still left dirty dishes. Two dishwashers allows for one to run while the other can be loaded. I was actually pleasantly surprised that this worked.

Two dishwashers is definitely one of those things you only learn from experience, ha! Your message suggestions are also perfect (and hilarious).

Problem avoidance

Using only disposable utensils instead

So right now we currently have disposable utensils and plates etc and part of this is probably for this reason. Our President is trying to move the company into being more environmentally friendly. We started having mugs available but no one uses they. “Then I’d have to wash it.” Even if we did get people to do this, we only have paper towels to dry the dishes with–still not very environmentally friendly. But I just can’t see having towels; who would wash *those*?

Problems

Leaving empty containers

We like serving leftover food from meetings to the company or providing lunch on certain days of the month, however, it never fails that people will take the last piece and NEVER throw away a container. It will literally sit on the counter till the next day and sometimes over the weekend!

Incorrect cleaning & storage

I’d just be happy if my coworkers wouldn’t put their dirty dishes back in the cupboard. They lightly rinse and put away every time.

Dishwasher nazis

At my wits end (the dishwasher is RIGHT NEXT TO the sink),

While many of our staff do place their dirty dishes in the DW, they don’t always wipe them clean of scraps. Since the DW does not have a garbage disposal, the food scraps fly around and the ‘clean’ coffee mugs come out with a bonus onion bit stuck in it. I don’t see the Ant Farm approach working here. I may try the Reward system for wiping food scraps off before placing into DW.