On a Monday morning the office is open, the alarm is off and nobody knows since when. Or the first person in finds the door locked and the only key is on holiday with a colleague. Neither is a disaster, but both are the kind of small gap that turns into one: a stolen laptop, a customer file left on a desk, a late-night call to a landlord.
Opening and closing the office is a routine job that tends to live in one person's head. This article describes a simple setup for a small company: who holds the keys, how the alarm is handled, what the last person out checks, and what to do when something is missed. It covers the physical side. For the digital side of the same day, see a new-employee access checklist.
Name the key holder
Pick one person as key holder and one as deputy. The key holder is not necessarily the one who opens every day. They are the person who knows where every key is, who can issue or take back a key, and who is called when something goes wrong.
Keep a written list, in one place, with these columns:
- what it is: door key, cabinet key, fob, alarm code, access card
- who has it and since when
- whether a spare exists and where it is stored
- who approved it
A list of ten lines is enough. If you cannot say who holds the key to the server cupboard or the stock room, that is the first thing to fix.
Control the keys
Few keys is better than many keys. Give a full set only to people who need to open or close the office. Others can have access during working hours without a key.
Some practical rules:
- Do not cut copies privately. Copies go through the key holder, who updates the list.
- Mark keys with a number, not the address. A lost key labelled with the office address is an invitation.
- Keep one spare set in a locked place that is not the office, for example with the deputy or in a safe at the landlord's agent, and record where it is.
- If you use a code lock or a smart lock, change the code when someone with it leaves, and do not share one code between everyone.
- When a key is lost, decide the same day whether the lock needs changing. A lost key with the address on it, or a key lost by someone who left on bad terms, usually does.
Handle the alarm
If there is an alarm, give each person their own code, not one shared code. Most systems then show in the log who set and unset it and when. That is not about monitoring people; it is how you find out that the alarm was never set on Thursday.
Agree three things in writing:
- Who is called when the alarm goes off, in which order, and who has the phone that night.
- What the first person in does if the alarm is already off or the door is already unlocked: do not go in alone, call the key holder, and say so to the others.
- How a false alarm is cancelled, and who tells the alarm company.
Test the alarm and the call list twice a year. A call list with a number of someone who left last spring is one of the most common faults.
Opening: a short routine
The person who opens does not need a long list. Five points are enough:
- Door and alarm in the expected state; if not, stop and call the key holder.
- Walk through quickly: windows, back door, anything out of place.
- Switch on only what is needed: lights, heating, the printer and the router if they were switched off.
- Check the log or the note left by the last person out.
- Note any damage or missing item the same morning, with a photo.
Closing: the last-out checklist
The last person out is responsible for locking up. That sounds obvious, yet in many offices nobody knows who the last person is. Make it explicit: whoever is last on the day's list, or whoever notices they are alone, owns the checklist.
Put the list on the inside of the door, short enough to do in five minutes:
- Everyone else has left; any visitor has been signed out. If you have guests in the office, the rules in visitor and guest Wi-Fi rules for a small office cover the network side.
- Laptops and phones are with their owners or locked away. For what to do if one goes missing, see the first-hour checklist for a lost or stolen company laptop.
- Desks cleared of customer documents, contracts and anything with personal data; paper for shredding is in the bin, not on the printer.
- Meeting room whiteboards wiped.
- Windows closed, heating and equipment switched off, the kitchen checked.
- Back door and any side entrances locked.
- Alarm set with your own code; wait until it confirms.
- Front door locked; try the handle.
A tick on the list is not necessary every evening, but a weekly photo or a line in a shared channel gives you a trail without bureaucracy.
When someone forgets
Everybody forgets sometimes. What matters is that it is cheap to admit and the fix is already agreed.
- If someone notices the office was left unlocked or the alarm was not set, they tell the key holder immediately and the key holder checks the office, in person if it is safe to do so.
- Look first for what is missing and what is moved. Check the equipment list and the cabinets before deciding it was only an oversight.
- If something is missing, treat it as an incident: record the time, tell the landlord or insurer if the policy requires it, and report a theft to the police.
- Afterwards ask one question: why was it possible to forget? A missing reminder, an unclear owner, or an alarm panel that takes too long to set are all fixable.
Do not turn a missed lock into a blame exercise. People who are afraid of being blamed hide the mistake, and you lose the day you could have acted.
Keep it current
Once a quarter, the key holder goes through the list: does everyone on it still work here, do all keys exist, are the codes personal, does the call list still work. Do the same on the day someone leaves; it belongs in the checklist for when an employee leaves, next to accounts and equipment.
When the team grows, moves or starts working partly from home, update the routine. A shared coworking space or a landlord who controls the main door changes who holds which key, and the list should say so.
One page to keep
Write the whole routine on one page: key holder and deputy, the key list, alarm contacts, the opening points, the last-out checklist and the forgetting procedure. Put it where new staff will see it in their first week. If an office routine fits on one page and someone owns it, it will usually be followed.