5 Tips for Break Room Refrigerator Organization

Adding a refrigerator to a company break room can be hugely beneficial for employees who bring food and drinks with them to work. Many break rooms, however, feature refrigerators that are packed full of decaying and rotting food. Food can be misplaced, stolen, or completely forgotten, and this can cause serious problems. These five refrigerator organization steps, however, can alleviate some of these issues.

Provide Labels

Placing a stack of labels near the refrigerator will encourage employees to clearly label the food they place in the refrigerator. Informing employees that all unlabeled food items will be thrown out will also encourage employees to label food.

Provide Containers

Food sitting on open plates or in cheap containers can cause the spread of mold and bacteria. Providing containers to employees can help eliminate these risks while simultaneously improving refrigerator organization.

Create and Enforce Check-In Charts

If you are dealing with serious organization problems in your break room's refrigerator, you may want to create a check-in chart. Employees can be required to write precisely what food items they place in the refrigerator. Then, you can monitor which employees are leaving food in the fridge and contributing to the disorder.

Multiple Refrigerators

If at all possible, buying multiple refrigerators for your break room can be a huge organization improver. With multiple refrigerators, you can divide employees into different subgroups and assign a refrigerator based on those subgroups. Often, the major cause of a cluttered refrigerator filled with old and rotting food is simply because there is not enough storage space to begin with. Small refrigerators increase the likelihood of food items becoming lost amongst the chaos. It isn't necessary to spend a small fortune for a top of the line refrigerator. A simple, one door refrigerator is often all that is necessary. It may even be advisable to purchase several compact refrigerators. You can spend approximately the same amount of money and have the same amount of storage space for food, but the organization will be much simpler.

Perform a Weekly Fridge Purge

Another important task in the refrigerator organization battle is a weekly food purge. Be sure that employees know that all food will be thrown out at the end of the work week. If there are staple items such as condiments, coffee creamer, or beverages being stored in the refrigerator, those should be relegated to a shelf that is not purged each week. If employees bring their own storage containers to work, they should be informed that the container and its contents will be thrown away if it is left in the refrigerator over the weekend. When you continually remind employees about this rule, you will start to notice that the amount of food left in the refrigerator decreases week by week.

Having a refrigerator in a break room is a convenient amenity to offer your employees. Breakroom refrigerators will ensure that food stays cold and free of bacteria during working hours. However, a refrigerator can also be a huge headache for employers. These five simple tips will improve the organization of a break room refrigerator, so you don't have to be in charge of a huge cleaning overhaul each month.