A CAREER IN CLEANING
British Cleaning Council Executive and Membership tell us about their history in the industry, and what needs to be done to improve training and further education.
Stan Atkins, BCC Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer of the British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc), said:
“Like most managers I fell into the cleaning industry by accident. When I joined there was no real career path from cleaning operative to management level, so I created my own. I attended night school for two years at my own expense and volunteered regularly for mobilisations including healthcare, royal palaces and local government establishments. I also took the opportunity to attend any relevant training courses where possible.
“Throughout my time in the industry I have experienced both ends of the spectrum; employers who have provided exceptional training and those who have provided none at all. My biggest concern is that there is still no defined career path to management in the cleaning industry. There is little for cleaning operatives to aspire to as a result, so it’s no wonder people are leaving the industry. Through my work with both BICSc and BCC I hope to leave a legacy that defines not just the future of the cleaning industry but creates social
46 | TRAINING & EDUCATION
mobility opportunities for all those involved in the cleaning profession.”
Stephen Munton, Director, Domestic Cleaning Alliance, said:
“Since starting my cleaning business in 2004, I have attended as many training courses as possible. Some of the courses were funded, but most of them I paid for myself. This wasn’t a big issue as I am passionate about the need for training, but for many others it is a problem, particularly when it comes to training staff as the domestic cleaning industry has a huge turnover of staff.
“The financial cost of putting a staff member on a training course soon spirals when you factor in the additional cost of paying another staff member to cover their work whilst they are being trained, and if the trainee leaves the company soon afterwards then it’s easy for the business owner to view it as a waste of money for them, thus discouraging them from allowing other staff to attend training.
“But by far the biggest problem I’ve found is that a lot of the training courses on offer don’t actually reflect the work we do in the domestic sector
– my NVQ assessor had a very hard time trying to make the qualification fit the work I do as all the units were geared towards commercial cleaning. Graffiti removal, for example: our clients don’t often spray graffiti in their homes, so it’s not something we need to cover. The cleaning we do is very general and not that complicated, so more emphasis on this as well as the ‘social’ side of the job – such as customer service, which is a huge part of the role of domestic cleaner – would be fantastic.
“Our members have indicated they are more keen to attend training courses which are relevant to the job, rather than those which are accredited with a recognised qualification but don’t quite hit the spot. Our long-term aims are to offer industry specific training to our members and to train them on how to train their staff so that they can deliver bite-sized chunks of sector- specific training in a way which is both timely and cost-effective.”
Pat Wherton, Secretary General of the BCC and General Secretary of the Association of Building Cleaning Direct Service Providers (ABCD) said:
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