In the first part of this article I put forward 7 questions
that I believed were important to ask of your potential cleaning
company. In this article I will explain the relevance of the
first two questions and the answers you get to you as a business.
What is your staff turnover?
When the top 150 Cleaning Companies in the UK were asked this
question the answer came back as 73%. That means that within
a 12 month period 73% of their cleaning staff have left and
been replaced. What is the relevance of this figure to you?
If the figure you get back is higher than about 25% it is
likely that if you engage this firm then you are unlikely
to have the same cleaners for very long. You will have a constant
stream of new cleaners. This is not good for building up a
working relationship or continuity. Worse still might be the
answer 'I don't know exactly' because this probably means
they are trying to avoid giving you an insight into the correct
figure. They can of course lie!
Do you provide verifiable training?
Cleaners might simply be hired to cover a particular clean,
shown what to do and left to get on with it. Verifiable means
that the company has a recognised training scheme which is
documented and you can see the date and times training of
your staff has taken place. Is training necessary? You might
think not. Everybody should know how to clean because we all
do it! Commercial cleaning is not like cleaning at home. The
cleaner has a time limit in which tasks must be completed.
They must be trained in how to carry out those tasks as quickly
and efficiently as possible. Secondly not all the tasks will
be assigned to every cleaning slot. Some tasks might for example
be designated as weekly in the cleaning schedule or even monthly,
for example cob webbing. However the staff must be trained
that if they see a cobweb they remove it then and there and
not wait until the schedule allows them to do it! This may
sound petty and common sense but not all cleaners are capable
of working outside their little boxes and schedules without
proper training.
To you as a business it is actually quite important that your
cleaners are capable of doing things as and when needed and
not necessarily waiting for the appointed time on the schedule
to come around. So ask the question and then probe a little
deeper into the cleaning companies view on cleaning schedules
David Andrew Smith has been working for many years
in the cleaning industry and is the owner of http://www.wesparkle.co.uk,
general cleaners and specialists in the cleaning and polishing
of natural stone
