CLEANING & HYGIENE
THE HUMAN TOUCH
Matt Kuwertz, Commercial Director at Principle Cleaning Services, believes it’s the company’s people-driven culture that make all the difference when it comes to providing service excellence.
It’s fair to say that the perception of cleaning has changed significantly since the Covid pandemic. Prior to this, cleaning in offices was predominantly performed out of hours, unseen and often unthought of, apart from a minimal daytime presence you might not even have noticed.
However, cleaning is now expected to be far more visual, people want to see cleaning happening all around them throughout the working day. It gives confidence that you are in a safe and clean environment whilst at your workplace. It's also far better for the majority of cleaning operatives as it gives them a healthier working environment and is often better for their work life balance.
The cleaning industry is an entry point for employment for many people. It often starts as a part-time job or, simply, as one of the most accessible roles for many people. The industry is extremely diverse, employing almost every nationality, people from under-represented backgrounds and an almost equal split of men and women. Principle, for example, has a diverse team with a workforce from over 54 countries with many different ethnicities and backgrounds.
The cleaning sector, from the outside, is often seen as low skilled and low paid whilst also seemingly unattractive in terms of the type of work involved. This causes employers a number of challenges when recruiting and retaining quality staff that are both engaged and reliable.
There are a few obvious ways to attract staff to your organisation over another, one is the pay rate - although now, in London, the majority of responsible employers also pay the London Living Wage, so this levels the playing field somewhat in this area. Additional benefits also help along with personal development opportunities. These can be enhanced from statutory minimums and help to provide more support when times become more difficult.
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One of the main areas that employees look to join a particular organisation and then remain loyal, is because of how they are treated when they are actually there. Regular communication with local management, great team collaboration at a site and company level, and just honouring the basics - such as being paid on time for the work they have done, makes a huge difference.
Leading providers perform thorough training at inductions and then regularly add to this, to give valuable team members additional earning opportunities due to the skills they have acquired.
The measure of a successful organisation is how well they promote from within. This might be simply progressing people from entry level operatives to supervisors and then management roles, which is of course, excellent. However, another less obvious route that Principle has employed successfully, is to recruit non-cleaning roles in their head office by advertising all roles to all staff.
The reason for this is that a large number of their teams have degrees in areas such as Law, IT or Accounting that are not necessarily recognised by UK employers in those sectors. Principle has a number of key roles filled by people that joined as cleaning operatives with degrees that are adding amazing value in non-frontline roles. Some have even won industry-recognised awards after being highlighted as rising stars in the sector.
Having a management team, which is keen to provide a working environment where employees feel comfortable and supported in all stages of life, is vital. Teamwork is key in providing service excellence and social events also play their part. Such events are great opportunities to further develop personal and team relationships, have fun and share experiences, bringing everyone closer together.
www.principleclean.com
twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
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