TRAINING & CPD
MOVING TOWARDS STABILITY
Why has learning and development become more valuable than ever during the pandemic? Joanne Witzer, Training Manager at Kingdom Cleaning, analyses an area that’s been moving up the business agenda recently.
It’s a well-known fact within the business community, that without regular learning and development, operations would grind to a halt. Training is a vital tool for professional success and is one of the most important investments a company can make.
However, it seems that over the past few years, many businesses have put training on the back burner. Of course, the pandemic initially left many businesses in a tailspin, and some had to make budget cuts to survive. But, in my opinion, the development and upskilling of our colleagues has to remain high on the agenda, particularly at a time of such uncertainty.
Tackling the unknown Over the past 20 months, the cleaning and hygiene sectors have been under immense pressure. Our key workers have been on the frontline keeping people and places safe with the highest standards of infection control. But we have certainly had to adapt to enable us to be one step ahead of the ever-changing circumstances.
As the virus spread, customers’ requirements changed. This meant that our cleaning operatives had to get up to speed quickly, taking on new skills and processes to comply with measures like social distancing.
As demand grew for deep cleans, fogging and touch point cleaning, we refreshed our training in these areas, so we were ready to deliver these services. However, we didn’t just stop there.
We invested heavily in teaching our colleagues how to instil customer confidence in our modified and enhanced services. At a time where anxiety amongst hygiene- conscious businesses was at an all-time high, we gave our teams the skills and services to reassure clients that their premises were safe.
In 2020, we launched a new service, ‘SAFER’ with Kingdom Cleaning, which is an Adenosine Triphosphate
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(ATP) surface testing regime that provides measurable results on cleanliness levels. Our cleaning operatives take a swab of surfaces before and after the cleaning process to monitor efficacy and identify any hotspots that can be addressed with an altered cleaning regime. Not only did we train our colleagues in how to use this service, but we taught them how to communicate this data to the client to prove the standards of our cleaning.
Training our colleagues during lockdown wasn’t easy and trying to deliver sessions alongside restrictions was a real challenge. But through socially distanced meetings and video calls, we were able to upskill our teams to provide these vital services at a time of real need.
Moving towards a stable future With experts claiming that the Omicron wave is now past its peak, and a large proportion of the country vaccinated, workplaces are reopening, and we are hopefully moving towards a more stable future.
This presents yet another shift in cleaning and hygiene trends. We are seeing an increasing number of customers looking for longer-term protective measures such as anti- microbial shields and surface protectors. These products are applied after a thorough clean and can protect the surface for weeks, instantly killing any pathogens that land on them. We are also seeing great uptake in our ATP testing, to provide that extra reassurance that daily cleaning standards are as high as they can possibly be.
Our cleaning operatives need to be ready and willing to deliver these services, as client demands continue to evolve. This is why ongoing, regular training has never been more important. We cannot afford to wait and see what the next trend or request will be, and then upskill of teams retrospectively. We need to be one step ahead, leading our customers to a safer way of life.
www.kingdom.co.uk/cleaning twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
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