DIGNITY AND FAIR PAY FOR CLEANING OPERATIVES
Ensuring the fair and dignified treatment of cleaning industry workers is crucial. Lee Baker, Media Manager for the British Cleaning Council, investigates the importance of maintaining a respected workforce.
Despite the huge improvements that have been made in the cleaning industry over the last few years, there are still too many cleaning operatives who are treated without the dignity, respect and fairness they deserve.
It really shouldn’t be like this in 2017, nor does it need to be. The British Cleaning Council (BCC) believes passionately in paying cleaning staff a good living wage and, just as importantly, treating those that do this extremely arduous work with respect.
One of the strongest arguments for treating workers fairly, apart from basic human decency, is that there is a tangible economic advantage to be gained by doing so. Staff churn can be expensive and destabilising for a company, and if essential cleaning staff don’t turn up for a shift because they’re ill, or because they’ve suddenly left the company, it can be deeply embarrassing and problematic for the contractor.
Former BCC Chairman, Doug Cooke, has been an ardent supporter of the London Living Wage for a number of years, and found it made a real
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difference when he introduced it into his company Principle Cleaning. He says treating staff well and paying them a good living wage was actually good for business, as absenteeism and staff churn decreased.
Better pay and conditions are a start, but good quality training can also lead to big tangible benefits for companies.
One of the cleaning industry’s big successes over recent years is the professionaliSation of the sector through education and training. Along with this, new initiatives like daytime cleaning and the Living Wage, are making cleaning operatives feel more valued, and this in turn makes them more motivated, productive and loyal. All traits that any successful company needs in its frontline staff.
Of course many contractors in the cleaning industry do understand the economic benefits of a skilled and motivated workforce, but the key is making sure managers and supervisors further down the line are on board. Sometimes it can be as simple as a supervisor saying ‘thank
you’ or showing a degree of empathy to those at the coal face.
The BCC and its member associations in the cleaning industry are striving hard to promote fairness at work. The Council sits on the Cleaning Industry Liaison Forum and recently took part in their ‘Know Your Rights at Work’ campaign.
But there are also groups like the Living Wage Foundation, which the BCC supports. They give a voice to the powerless, and have been a central part of raising basic pay over the last few years.
We should remember that in an age of advanced technology and robotics, the cleaning industry will continue for some time to be dependent on human labour. Cleaning operatives are the industry’s most prised asset and we all have a stake in making sure they are treated as such.
www.britishcleaningcouncil.org
twitter.com/TomoCleaning
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