Are You Looking For The Wrong Things In Your Medical Cleaning Company

Red Flags To Look Out For From Your Medical Office Cleaning Company

What should you be looking for when judging janitorial quotes and bids? When considering prospective medical cleaning companies, prices and services can often be very difficult to compare. It really shouldn’t be the case. A professional, established cleaning company should provide you with transparent pricing and a clear quote. Imprecise quotes and cloudy pricing is a sure sign that you aren’t dealing with a professional. Not only does it make it harder to compare quotes from multiple companies to find your best value, it is nearly impossible to hold a cleaning company accountable if you don’t know exactly what you are promised and how much you are paying for it. And while it is imperative quotes are clear, you also should not accept hurried, one size fits all quotes from prospective janitorial companies. The best janitorial quotes come after site visits and reflect specific needs that you have identified. The best janitorial quotes are built around the select needs of your facility and the company’s ability to meet these needs.

How Are Medical Cleaners Screened?

Another important aspect of any cleaning company to look at is their hiring and screening processes. Frontline staff and medical cleaners are the people who will be in and out of your facility performing services. Who they are matters. Is your healthcare cleaning company doing everything (and more) required to vet the people they are sending into your facility? Are they doing comprehensive criminal background checks and drug screening? Are they verifying past employment and checking references? Are they working hard to establish themselves as a good place to work in the community thus attracting and retaining people well suited for the work? The people in your facility must be trustworthy and take their job seriously.

Is Your Healthcare Cleaning Company Training Their People?

While hiring and screening is important, it isn’t the only significant thing to look at regarding your cleaners. Your cleaning staff must be safe AND competent, well trained for general medical cleaning as well as the specific needs of your facility. This means your healthcare cleaning service’s staff needs to be provided with the groundwork of basic commercial cleaning and industry relevant training to meet the unique requirements of your facility. Having staff that is trained specifically in medical cleaning is critical to a successful partnership and effective, consistent service.

Does Your Healthcare Cleaning Company Offer Competitive Pay & Benefits?

Does your janitorial company have strong management, competitive pay and opportunities where employees are rewarded for going above and beyond for their customers? Do they have a culture that supports and encourages great work and a team effort? Do they treat the people like well, people? If not, they are not doing enough to foster employee success and retention. Cleaning staff are often classified as unskilled laborers, but this designation is often misleading. Cleaning staff work hard and require extensive training to do their job effectively. Companies that don’t have competitive pay and rewards aren’t going to attract and retain the best cleaning staff. That leads to high turnover damaging the overall quality, consistency and value of your medical cleaning. Competitive pay and benefits promote employee satisfaction and retention translating into better service and cost savings in the long run.

Communication From Your Medical Cleaning Company Can Be A Life Saver

Everyone makes mistakes and your commercial cleaning company and their staff are no exception. What separates the professional cleaning companies from the not-so-professional cleaning companies is how they handle mistakes when they come up. The best companies know that problems will come up and have a plan in place BEFORE they show up. They tell you if there is an issue no matter how large or small it is so it gets addressed correctly. They don’t let small missteps turn into growing problems and intractable issues.

Accountability Can’t Be a Paper Tiger

While many employees care about and work hard at their jobs, accountability systems help assure reliability and consistency. Accountability can also help motivate even top performers because they know their stellar work isn’t going unnoticed! Accountability can come in the form of a detailed checklist, regular inspections of work done, or “Smart Cleaning plans” that can help keep teams on track. Is your Hospital cleaning service assuring accountability from their team? Regular janitorial inspections can be a great way to assure accountability and even catch issues before they spiral out of control. We see all too often that companies will start with a plan for effective service and then just assume that it is being implemented and done correctly without any follow up. Janitorial inspections help prevent mediocre work and even help push for continual improvement from your health care cleaners.

Medical Cleaning & Green Cleaning Often Go Hand In Hand

Many companies have environmental and sustainability directives they are striving to meet. Green cleaning can offer an effective and budget-friendly way to help your medical facility reach its green cleaning goals. Green cleaning technology has progressed by leaps and bounds in the last ten years and is both effective and relatively easy to implement. With the right medical office cleaning company you can get access to innovative cleaning equipment, green cleaners and resource saving methods that help reduce waste, reduce resource and energy usage, improve indoor air quality, and stop sound pollution in your facilities. The best part of it is, it can even help you save money.

Cleaning For Health Can’t Be Optional

Cleaning for health focuses on best practices that effectively clean in a way that minimizes the spread of disease causing germs and utilizes products and practices to safeguard the health of everyone involved: cleaning employees, your employees and patients. These practices can include the use of color-coded cleaning rags to avoid cross contamination. This helps assure a towel used to clean a toilet isn’t used again to wipe down a door handle. This is important in any facility but nowhere more important that in a facility rendering medical treatment. Proper labeling of cleaning products with specific use instructions is also critical to assure cleaners knows exactly how each product is to be used. Furthermore, training cleaners on proper, manufacturer recommended contact times and dwell times assures disinfectant efficacy. Similarly, utilizing established best practices like “touch point” cleaning for maximum impact where it is needed most can raise the level of your cleaning significantly. Finally, regular equipment maintenance should be implemented to insure optimal operation and effectiveness.

Good Cleaning Doesn’t Happen By Accident

Good cleaning doesn’t happen by accident. The best medical cleaning companies start with a solid plan. If you current medical cleaning company is on shaky ground and isn’t constantly striving to meet your individual needs, it might be time to move on.

Stathakis operates right here in southeastern Michigan delivering effective, professional medical cleaning services. You might say our “treatment plans” vastly outperforms those of our competition. If you want the most effective health care cleaning services for your facility delivered with professionalism, value and responsiveness, please contact us and we can work with you to put together a clear, straightforward, workable plan for your individual facility.

The Dirty Truth About Germs & School Cleaning

If you have children or have ever been around them, it is no surprise to you that they are very efficient spreaders of disease. Not to call anyone out but with dirty fingers, always in noses, mouths and eyes, and the ability to make objects sticky just by looking at them, kids are the ideal carrier and distributor or the flu and other common illnesses. So, when flus are making their yearly rounds, you can be sure children have a role in its spread and transmission. Ideally, we would want sick children to stay home for their sake and ours, but often children are most contagious before they even show symptoms of illness. So keeping sick kids home does only so much. And with an already tight curriculum and the increasing importance of attendance for success, attendance is more important than ever. So, what can your school cleaning company be doing to minimize and prevent illness in the classroom and to keep your students and your staff healthy?

Cleaning In Schools 101

Research on bacterial and viral spread in classroom settings is plentiful and the ISSA (International Sanitary Supply Association) has an extensive list of recommendations when it comes to school cleaning. What does this research say and what should your school cleaning company be doing to keep your school a healthy learning environment even in the middle of flu season?

1. First and foremost, it was found that elementary school classrooms were often as, if not more dirty as their respective restrooms.
2. All too often surfaces are only cleaned to appear clean, passing visual inspection but still being laden with bacteria and other disease causing pathogens.
3. Door handles, railings and any other surfaces that are touched regularly offer an ideal breeding ground and transmission point for bacteria.
4. Of all classroom surfaces, gym mats are the most likely to be contagion spreaders because they are cleaned with dirty mops that only spread dirt and bacteria.

If There Were A Test On School Cleaning How Would YOUR Cleaning Company Do?

To understand effective school cleaning, you need to understand touch points. A touch point is any surface that is regularly touched throughout the day. For instance: stair railings, computer mice, and door handles. Research confirms what common sense tells us, that the surfaces touched the most often are the dirtiest and have the highest bacterial load. On top of that, these areas are the main perpetrators when it comes to spreading disease around the classroom. Think about it, Johnny has the beginning of a cold so he wipes his hand across his runny nose, then he touches the stair railing, uses the computer lab computer that many other children will use and opens the door to the cafeteria, all the while leaving behind germs that can then hop an easy ride with the next hands they come into contact with.

So, if your school cleaning service is ignoring these touch points then the germ loads build up and make their way across your school even more efficiently. If you school cleaning service isn’t taking the time to thoroughly clean those oft touched surfaces, your school may look clean but it isn’t clean where it counts most. Proper disinfection of all surfaces, especially hotspots, is the only way to make sure that your school is both visually clean and a safe, healthy environment for students, teachers, and other staff.

Quality Education Starts With a Clean School

It can be easy to convince yourself that because your surfaces appear clean that they are, but we know this isn’t the case. There are real and measurable effects of failing to clean for health from the overall health of your students to absenteeism and even overall school performance. Many studies show a strong correlation between clean surfaces like desktops, work tables and handles and a reduced rate of absenteeism for both students and staff. With the obvious link between absenteeism and test scores that can negatively impact your school’s performance, it is essential that you take steps to insure the health of your students, educators, and staff by partnering with a school cleaning company that knows what matters most.

Is Disease Spreading On Your Campus?

Does your current school cleaning company understand the science of cleaning for health? No matter what kind of institution you are, whether it be university all the way down to pre-school, a commercial cleaning service that understands how to protect you and your students health and uphold a clean and welcoming appearance. The most effective school cleaning companies understand the distinction between the terms cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing and know when it is appropriate to use each. Understanding the importance of hotspots and touch points and the science of disease transmission can distinguish the run-of-the-mill cleaning companies from your committed industry professionals.

Building A Healthy Learning Environment Is Key To Successful Education

Good learning begins with a good foundation and that begins with the right tools and a healthy, clean, safe school environment. Your school cleaning company should make these lofty but necessary goals more attainable rather than out of reach. Are you happy with your current school cleaning services or is time for a change?

Here at Stathakis, we work with schools of all kinds to build cleaning programs that meet the needs of each individual customer. We know how to deal with touch points and tailor our cleaning solutions to target areas that may be unique to your school and learning environment. Don’t settle for a company that doesn't take cleaning for health seriously. Can we help you? If you would like to learn how we help schools with effective maintenance all while staying on budget, please contact us at (800) 278-1884.

At first glance it may seem like cleaning for health and green cleaning are two separate things. It even used to be the case that green cleaning solutions were less effective than your standard cleaners putting you in the position where you had to make a choice between safe but less effective cleaning products or potent but dangerous commercial cleaners. Green cleaning has come a long way since then, but it still has that negative association of less effective cleaning or much higher cost attached to it. We are here to tell you that you can have your cake and eat it too. Green cleaning has made real strides and can both help protect you from harsh cleaning chemicals while making sure that your facility is properly cleaned for the sake of your health, all at prices that won’t bust your budgets. Now you can have the benefit of better indoor air quality, environmental stewardship, and a high quality cleaning that you and your facility require.

Eco-Friendly Office Cleaning Now Versus Then

Green cleaning has significantly advanced in the last decade with advances in safety AND efficacy. By combining new advances in tools, training, and chemicals, new environmentally friendly cleaning solutions and techniques far surpass their predecessors. While you care about environmental stewardship, at the end of the day your facility needs to be cleaned at the highest level to both protect your reputation and safeguard the health of everyone who enters your facility.

The best commercial green cleaning services are going to utilize the best in green cleaning solutions like color coded microfiber rags, HEPA filtration vacuums, green cleaning chemicals, spray-and-vac equipment and other no touch cleaning systems. HEPA multi-filtration vacuums have been shown to improve air quality by up to 99% by removing allergens and other particulates. Additionally, color coded microfiber cloths are a good way to minimize cross contamination in your facility while remaining an effective way to remove dust and bacteria from surfaces. 

Another important aspect of environmental stewardship is water conservation and material conservation. There are a couple of green cleaning solutions that make this directive a reality. Low-moisture vacuum systems like the Whittaker carpet cleaning method have been designed to use less water in the cleaning process as well as improving the life expectancy of your carpets. Another good example would be flat-mopping, or a system of carefully dispensing water and cleaning solution onto surfaces to make sure it gets spread evenly and does not oversaturate specific areas while not cleaning others. Even newer mechanical hard floor cleaners are using less water than ever. Not only are these cleaning solutions effective for keeping your facility bacteria free and looking presentable but they are the best in green cleaning. As for material conservation, a cleaning company’s methods can help work to this goal. For instance, cleaning companies can opt to empty trash cans with mostly paper refuse without replacing plastic liners every time both cutting costs and plastic trash. Similarly, a cleaning company can stock restrooms with toilet paper and hand towels made with a high percentage of recyclable materials. These products, practices and equipment all add up to big green cleaning feats.

Green Cleaning Can Make Or Break Your Budget

With advances your commercial cleaning services can do more work in less time giving them adequate time to focus on cleaning for health and implementing green cleaning solutions that won’t break the bank. These professional cleaning companies are experienced in tailoring their cleaning solutions to your facility and determining how green cleaning best fits into the specific needs of your building. The fusion of all these green cleaning techniques, technology, solutions and training is what makes the best Detroit cleaning services miles ahead of the competition. By going green you not only get access to better cleaning products and cleaning equipment, but you get the benefit of better trained teams and specialized cleaning built for your facility and its unique needs. Not only will you get a superior cleaning, but it will be environmentally responsible and better for you and your staff. The right green cleaning companies use green practices, green products and green technology to drive a better, more efficient service at a better price.

Using CIMS-GB To Find The Right Green Cleaning Company

While green cleaning is top of mind for many a facility manager, is can be a challenge to find a green office cleaning company that has a serious commitment green cleaning that goes beyond marketing buzz words. More often than not, you are going to run into companies that try to use green cleaning as a way to get your business and take your money rather than giving you the effective green cleaning service you seek. Fortunately for you, there is a good way to sift through the many cleaning companies looking for the shining stars among them. CIMS certification makes that sifting process much, much easier. CIMS certification is a comprehensive industry certification done by an independent auditor and examiner that verifies that a company holds up the industries best practices. On top of this, the CIMS-GB is a sub-certification specifically for green cleaning. Starting your search for a new commercial cleaning company is much easier and more likely to net the right partner when you limit your search to companies with CIMS certification.

Is There a Trade Off Between Green Cleaning & Price?

We all want to protect the environment, but at the end of the day, we need our facilities to be cleaned properly and at a reasonable price. There is a trade off between environmental stewardship and our janitorial and commercial cleaning budget. Fortunately, with the rapid advance in cleaning technology, you can get an effective green cleaning that fits your budgetary requirements if you partner with the right Michigan commercial cleaning service.

It can be helpful during your search for janitorial service to ask prospective companies about their green cleaning programs. Do they have real practices, policies and systems behind them or are they just empty promises? If you are in search of green commercial cleaning services in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Royal Oak, Farmington Hills, Farmington, Dearborn, Livonia, Troy, Auburn Hills, Novi, Plymouth, Downriver, please reach out to us at Stathakis. With over thirty years serving the businesses of southeastern Michigan, we are a respected and trusted part of the business community.

The Monsters In The Closet Of Office Cleaning

You partner up with a office cleaning service in the hopes that they will be able to keep your facility clean without the nightmare of trying to manage each aspect of making sure it gets done. In fact, this offloading of management duties should be a significant benefit of outsourcing your commercial cleaning to an industry professional. As such, you go out and scour the janitorial marketplace for a company that meets your needs and sign a contract on the promise of responsive, effective, and professional cleaning services.

So when the office cleaning company you thought was going to be a dream turns out to be a nightmare, it’s disheartening. Perhaps this has happened more than once, the unfortunate truth is that the industry is filled with cleaning companies that just can’t deliver on their promises of service. Many of the Facility Managers that we partner with had enough bad experiences that they cane to believe that it was nearly impossible to find office cleaning services that could provide a quality service for a reasonable price. All too often we hear that every cleaning company is the same. While there are plenty of bad companies that are the stuff of nightmares, there are some quality service providers just right for your facility that will make it easier to sleep at night knowing your facility is in good hands.

Why Inexperienced Office Cleaning Companies Are the Stuff of Bad Dreams

Commercial cleaning companies will vary in size, type, and levels of experience leading to a diverse, sometimes tricky marketplace to navigate. As such, finding the right commercial cleaning service can be one of the scariest parts of the process. Many of these companies are startups, fly-by-night operations, and small companies trying to grow outside of their markets. While every business needs somewhere to start, many of these office cleaning companies simply aren’t going to be able to meet your needs in any capacity. It takes time to master skills and to adjust services in order to offer the professionalism and responsiveness customers deserve. No matter how enthusiastic startups and young companies are they just can’t make up for a lack of experience. Further, many of these cleaning companies have an idea of what it takes to run a successful office cleaning company that isn’t firmly based in the reality of the work. They will often pursue contracts thinking that they can service your facility only to find out they have bitten off more than they can chew leaving you with a cleaning service that can’t do their job. This will almost always lead to them asking for more money or them cutting down on service. Either way, their inexperience creates major problems for you.

Overly Low Janitorial Bids Should Frighten You

We have all heard the saying ‘you get what you pay for.’ Many of us discard it as anachronistic wisdom, but there is a lot of truth to it when it comes to hiring commercial cleaning companies. The largest hard cost to any service company is the cost of labor and labor hours, so when looking at a bid that seems too good to be true, think about what that might really mean:

• Illegal hiring and subcontracting that often avoids taxes and insurance
• Intentional or unintentional underestimating the number of labor hours needed to completely clean a facility to artificially deflate prices. This will usually be followed by a request for more money or a downshifting of service
• Below market pay and a lack of training or benefits that both reduces service quality and increases employee turnover.

Are Hazy Office Cleaning Quotes Giving You Bad Dreams?

While suspiciously low cleaning quotes should give you pause, high prices from a prospective office cleaning is no guarantee of dream service. On either end of the spectrum, price doesn’t always align with value. The trick is to look for good deals over great deals. The goal should be real value built into a price that fits your budget. Ask yourself, am I getting the services I need to maintain the facility at the level I need and is it priced in a way that makes sense and fits my budget? Look for clear, transparent pricing and janitorial quotes that are specific to your facility. The more specific a quote and the clearer the price point, the easier it will be to compare your quotes apples to apples style to decide what is best for your facility. Another important characteristic to look for when shopping commercial cleaning companies is company culture and employee practices.Office cleaning services that have established, proven practices for recruiting, hiring, and training are more likely to have lower janitorial turnover and better service. Not only will this help ensure a higher quality of service, but companies that actively invest in their staff are likely to be more experienced and will ultimately offer you a better cleaning.

Finding An Office Cleaning Company That Won’t Give You Nightmares

The right office cleaning company can make your life so much easier but the wrong one can be a nightmare. But finding the most professional, effective and responsive office cleaning companies can take a lot of leg work. Imagine not having to spend hours of your already busy day trying to determine whether a prospective cleaning company sufficiently screens their employees, or illegally subcontracts or has sufficient liability coverage or is going to still be in business months from now. Fortunately for you there is an easier way to do this, and better yet, it is entirely free to you. You can quickly narrow down prospective cleaning companies by looking to see which have the ISSA’s CIMS or CIMS-GB certification. This intensive industry specific accreditation is a good way to determine which companies are committed to industry best practices, innovation, responsive customer service, and offering observable systems and practices that assure a higher level of service.

At Stathakis, we work to recruit, screen, train, and properly manage our staff to provide a quality cleaning experience. We dedicate ourselves to the highest level of cleaning and customer service and continue to innovate in our industry to offer our customers continua improvements and cost savings. And, of course, we are CIMS certified because we are committed to quality. If you need office cleaning services and your business is in the Southeastern Michigan service area, please reach out at (800) 278-1884 and let us make your life easier and your facility shine. Proudly serving Genesee County, St. Clair County, Macomb County, Oakland County, Livingston County Wayne County, Washtenaw County and Monroe County.

Poor Restroom Cleaning Spells Disaster

It may not always seem critical, but restroom cleaning is one of the most important aspects of proper maintenance and cleaning. Restrooms, more than any other area of your building, are going to get used, abused, and are quite often the first areas to need your cleaning service’s attention. Not to mention the restrooms you are dealing with are not like your average home bathroom with a few users, but rather  full blown high capacity public restrooms with a steady stream of people in and out all day long. If you don’t slice through the layers of dirt, filth, and odor with regular and deeper cleaning, your restrooms are going to look like a scene out of a horror movie. And just like every horror movie, once things start going downhill, they go downhill fast. The last thing you need as a busy facility manager is to have an inbox filled with complaints about poorly cleaned restrooms. So how do you go about keeping your restrooms presentable? How do you find a commercial cleaning company that can do their job properly?

Are Restroom Odors Sharp?

If your commercial or janitorial cleaning company isn’t up to par, odds are that this isn’t the first time you’re hearing about it. Maybe you are constantly inundated with complaints about the state of your restrooms. Or maybe service is hit or miss and you can see that there simply isn’t a plan in place to keep your restrooms looking their best. If there is one thing that needs to be done correctly, it’s restroom cleaning. It sends a message to your customers and employees alike about the atmosphere and culture of your business. Not only can dirty restroom present a major image problem, the much larger concern is the health hazard an unclean bathroom poses. Any area that is regularly used and touched by large amounts of people is going to come with the risk of housing pathogens. The office restroom is the perfect spot for disease and infection to spread at record speed. When it comes to the health and safety of your facility and everyone in it, your commercial cleaning won’t cut it if they can’t keep your restrooms cleaned and stocked. Poorly cleaned restrooms will cut your reputation to shreds and ultimately slice right through your bottom line.

How Restroom Cleaning Cuts Apart Your Bottom Line

We all know that filthy restrooms are some of the least pleasant places on the planet, but this isn’t the only cost to you. A dirty restroom has a real and measurable impact on your business. First and foremost, filthy restrooms are one of the largest contributors to employee absenteeism and subsequent employee turnover. Even if your employees don’t leave, restrooms that aren’t cleaned properly have been traced back to lower employee satisfaction rates and productivity cutting apart your bottom line. No matter what kind of business you run, unclean restrooms are going to hit where it hurts most. You’ll notice increased employee turnover, reduced sales, and a much more difficult time attracting industry top talent. On top of this, when your employees perceive that you take shortcuts with insufficient cleaning, it sends the message that shortcuts and subpar performance is acceptable.

Is It Clear Your Restroom Cleaner Isn’t Making The Cut?

You probably know the risks and danger associated with poorly kept restrooms. And you can definitely see and smell a poorly maintained restroom. But how can you really tell if your cleaning service is not cutting the mustard? Here are a couple of red flags that indicate your cleaning service isn’t cutting it:

• Mirror are cloudy, spotty, wet or dirty
• Sinks are grimy with dirt and muck collecting around drains and handles
• When you walk into the restroom the smell is the most overwhelming feature
• Amenities like soap, toilet paper, and towels are low or out of stock
• Your stalls have been less that creatively decorated with graffiti and unpleasant markings
• There is visible sediment and soils that have built up on the base of urinals or sit-down toilets
• Your trash cans and other disposal receptacle are filled or overflowing
• The door handles and other switches are dirty or broken
• Restroom floors are dusty, dirty, wet or sticky

No cleaning company is going to be perfect, but if you are seeing these things frequently in your restrooms it is time to have a talk with your cleaning company or to start looking for a new janitorial contractor.

Restroom Cleaning Services That Make the Cut

The difference between an effective, successful commercial cleaning service and subpar cleaners isn’t such a big one. It is often the small details and consistency that set them apart. While these changes are small, they make all the difference in how people perceive your facility. The most effective cleaning companies understand cleaning for health and are well versed in deciding how to best deal with pathogens in different settings. They will not only make your restrooms look their best, but they will actively reduce the bacterial load and take preventative measures to keep your restrooms and overall workplace clean and healthy. They take advantage of the industries best practices like a color-coded rag system to prevent cross-contamination, they observe dwell times, and their employees are well trained an equipped to effectively clean restrooms. So what do these best practices look like when they are applied to your office restrooms? Here a couple things you’ll notice when you have an effective, consisten restroom cleaning service:

• Their rags and mop heads are color-coded so that they keep cross-contamination to a minimum helping reduce the bacterial load in your restrooms and throughout your facility.
• They keep stalls graffiti free and well cleaned so there is never anything suspect on them.
• All sinks and toilets are left completely clean.
• All counters and other surfaces are kept well cleaned so that dirt and other filth isn’t allowed to build up on them.
• They are familiar with your restrooms touch points and spend extra time making sure they are properly disinfected.
• When you walk into the restroom you are not hit by a thick miasma of restroom odor.

Looking for the right restroom cleaning service and commercial office cleaning company to keep your facility looking its best? Here at Stathakis, we provide consistent, responsive, effective service and a solid value for businesses all across southeastern Michigan. With more than 30 years in business, we have developed a consistent standard of service that our customers have come to depend on. We will work hard to develop a lasting partnership with you and your facility as well as to deliver the highest quality of service to your facility. If you are a Facility Manager in Royal Oak, Ann Arbor, Detroit, Farmington Hills, Farmington, Dearborn, Novi, Livonia, Troy, Auburn Hills, Plymouth, Downriver and you are looking for commercial cleaning services, office cleaning, school cleaning, industrial cleaning, medical cleaning or a janitorial company, please contact us so we can help your facility look its best and work to meet your specific needs.

'Tis the Season....For Colds & Flus

‘Tis the season for holiday cheer, merriment and celebration, but it is also flu and cold season. When a cold or flu gets a foothold in your facility, it can really dampen holiday spirits. According to the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this time of year has much higher rates of influenza and other respiratory illness than any other. Not only is the flu’s intensity much worse than any other time, the CDC tells us that “between December and peaking in January and February we expect to see the highest rate of respiratory illness and positive tests for respiratory influenza.”

The cold and flu season is a long one and can have a major impact on workplaces throughout the country. Federal and State governments spend a large amount of time and money trying to minimize the impact of colds, flus and other communicable illnesses, but what can YOU do to protect yourself and your employees to minimize the impact of the cold and flu seasons on your bottom line and staff? Absenteeism is a large problem on its own, so it can be especially damaging when it is exacerbated by illness. What steps should you be taking to mitigate the effects of colds and flus in your workplace and what can you do yourself to protect yourself and your employees?

Enlist Your Office Cleaning Company to Help Prevent the Spread of Illness in the Workplace

When your facility is getting cleaned, especially during cold and flu season, it cannot simply be to make it look nice. Your office cleaning company isn’t very effective if your office looks good but is teeming with disease causing germs. Your cleaning company needs to actively invest in making sure your facility is properly sanitized to protect you and your employees from the various colds and flus that makes their rounds this time of year. Cleaning for health has measurable, positive outcomes in your facility that can affect the morale, productivity and attrition rates of your staff.  Cleaning for health has very specific meanings with methods and procedures attached to it. So, what kinds of things do commercial cleaning companies do when they clean for health?

1. Cleaners observe dwell times and other relevant product instructions so that cleaning products work as intended to eradicate disease causing germs.
2. They use a color-coded rag system that helps minimize cross-contamination between different cleaning sites.
3. Cleaners are familiar with different areas of your facility and apply the correct cleaning method to each area.
4. Cleaners understand the importance of touch points and hotspots and how to properly clean them to reduce the risk of illness around the workspace.

But what are touch points and how does a color-coded rag system help reduce the spread of disease? First, touch points are areas around the office that are touched more often than any other. Some examples might be: light switches, work phones, computer mice, and door handles. Because of the high traffic they receive, they store exponentially more bacteria and other pathogens than other surfaces and are responsible for the majority of illness around the office. Understanding which objects are touch points and how to clean them is critical to employee health. Second, the color-coded cleaning cloth system is as simple as it sounds. Your cleaning staff has a number of different colored rags that are designated for specific areas around the office so that the rag used on the toilet seat isn’t used on the conference room table. While not the only methods your commercial cleaning company should be using to protect your health, they are both good starting points for keeping you and your employees healthy during the cold and flu season.

What Definitely NOT to Do When You’re Sick

Many of us feel that missing a day of work is unthinkable, especially with large workloads and important deadlines to meet. But coming to work sick is a pointless endeavor. Not only are you going to be unproductive and get little work done, you are risking getting your peers sick and further reducing productivity in the office. No one will think that you are tough or strong willed when you come to the office sick, when your feeling sick, stay home and rest so that when you come back your ready to work.

What You CAN Do to Prevent Illness in the Workplace

“Make sure to wash your hands” is a phrase most of our mothers harangued us about constantly, but it isn’t bad advice at all. What's unfortunate is the number of adults that never learned how and when to wash their hands properly. Your hands are the perfect carrier for all manner of bacteria and other pathogens that make people sick. So, it is important to wash them before eating, after using the restroom, and after touching high traffic objects. Effective hand washing should be your first line of defense against workplace illness and should be done by all employees throughout the day. Another important step to keeping you and your staff healthy is coughing or sneezing into your arm instead of your hand. While you shouldn’t be at work if your coughing or sneezing with any degree of frequency, this simple change in habit can help protect others from illness.

Knowing that hand to hand contact is such an easy way to spread illness, another common sense thing to do is keep your hands away from your eyes and mouth at all costs. It is impossible to make sure one's hands are clean all the time and putting them near your mucous membranes is the perfect opportunity for bacteria to invade your body. Finally, when a sink and soap aren’t available, make sure that you have some hand sanitizer on hand (no pun intended). Hand sanitizer solutions with a least 60% alcohol content are effective at removing all manner of bacteria from your hands and can help keep you clean when you can’t wash your hands. Keeping in mind these simple tips about your hands can help spare you and your co-workers illness during the peak of flu season.

When in Doubt, Vaccine it Out

Another basic step you can take to help keep yourself healthy during the cold and flu season is the flu vaccine. While it isn’t and never has been a sure fire way to completely protect yourself from the flu, it has been shown to be upwards of 90% effective. It's a cheap, safe way to protect yourself against the season so it might be a good idea to ask your doctor if the flu shot might be right for you. Getting the flu shot can help protect you from the most prevalent strains of influenza as well reduce your chances of getting your co-workers sick.  

If you need help with medical cleaning, day porter services, school cleaning, commercial handyman services, restroom sanitation services or more, please call Stathakis at 1-800-278-1884.

Knowing how to deal with your facility’s unique and often complex set of industry requirements and compliance issues is a must in order to be an effective Industrial Janitorial Company. With out this industry specific knowledge a commercial cleaning company just won’t be able to deliver the results you and your facility require. Not only is the work required more stringent and industry specific, it should be performed at a consistently high level to meet your compliance and safety requirements. With the varying needs of different distributors and manufacturers, along with their job specific tech and buildings, it is no wonder that your janitorial cleaning service needs to have a deep and complete understanding of the individual needs of YOUR facility.

Is Your Industrial Cleaning Company Is Doing What’s Best For You

As you are well aware, industrial cleaning clients have their own set of objectives and industry specific compliance issues to manage. So you should not settle for a company that offers any “one-size fits all” proposals. The best industrial cleaning companies will take the time to learn the ins and outs of your building and business to make sure that your facility is kept in the best possible condition. Companies that fail to adapt to niche or specific buildings and industries can’t stack up to those industrial cleaning services that change and fine tune their service to your building.

The Quality Of People Dictates The Quality Of Industrial Cleaning

As you would expect with service businesses, the most important resource a company has is their staff. This is never more true for commercial industrial cleaning companies. As frontline service providers, your cleaning company’s people are going to be in and out of your facility delivering service that company management promised. The ability of their staff relates directly to the quality of the service you will receive. Knowing this, be sure to inquire about your prospective cleaning companies screening, hiring, training and managerial techniques so that you know their staff will be the best fit for your facility. You can’t expect a high level of service from a company that takes shortcuts with their staff, or simply doesn't screen or train new employees.

Understanding The Requirements And Regulations of Industrial Cleaning

There are measurable differences between industrial cleaning and general office cleaning, but this isn’t to say that they don’t share some important commonalities.  There will always be floors that need cleaning, bathrooms that need restocking, and the ever important janitorial budget that makes the entire system work. While industrial cleaning brings along a complex and important set of regulations, health concerns, and safety measures, the central tenets stay the same. The difference between commercial cleaners that can and cannot handle your individual facility is if they make it their responsibility to get to know your specific needs. When looking into prospective janitorial companies, ask the important question about their teams familiarity with your industry and how confident they are that they can train their teams to clean your facility in a way that works for you. Finding out what kind of processes they plan to use and the way that they want to tailor their services to your building can reveal a lot about how solid a business partner they will make. Any Detroit industrial cleaning company invested in best practices will be eager to share what they can do for you and specifically how they achieve that.

Looking At CIMS To See A Commitment To Best Practices & Industry Standards

As a seasoned Facility Manager, you likely know the right questions to ask, but looking for that needle in a haystack is not the best use of your time. You likely have a long list of things to do and most certainly do not have the time to vet every commercial cleaning company in line for your business. Fortunately, there is a way for you to sift through contenders to find a reliable Detroit industrial cleaning company. ISSA’s CIMS certification is a respected accreditation program that helps cut through the numerous commercial cleaning companies to find the best of the best. They find the cream of the crop so that you can spend more time doing your job and less time identifying and scratching poorly qualified candidates off of your list. 

What is the CIMS certification and why should you trust it? For a company to be CIMS certified, it is required to demonstrate their ability to service at the highest level in a number of job critical categories. CIMS, or the Cleaning Industry Management Standard showcases a company's ability to adhere to the cleaning industry’s best practices and even to excel and pioneer their own. These best practices have been shown time and time again to correlate with effective, quality service. While CIMS certification is not an automatic slam dunk, any company that meets CIMS standards is at least worthy of being in the running for your business.

Looking For Your Next Industrial Cleaning To Get High Quality, Effective Service

Having a consistently high level of service in your facility is never something that happens by chance. Rarely do we see Facility Managers really rave about their commercial cleaning services unless they did a great deal of work up front to thin the herd. The most effective commercial cleaning companies in Michigan work hard to deliver results and create raving fans. They don’t take shortcuts with people, they utilize and advance industry best practices, they invest in innovation and technology and they pursue industry certifications that set them apart.

At Stathakis, we are an  ISSA CIMS-GB certified building services company and have been providing business services for over 35 years. CIMS assures our customers that our processes are among the industry's best. Not only do we follow industry best practices, we set them. If you are looking to outsource your industrial cleaning or need to upgrade your current industrial cleaning, please contact us to speak with a member of our team to get your questions answered and see if we might be able to help you and your facility shine.

How Do Your Office Cleaning Prices & Service Add Up?

Is the difficulty of trying to find a new commercial cleaning company beginning to feel reminiscent of your college algebra course? Does it seem like no matter what you do, you can’t ever seem to find the right solution? Finding the right office cleaning company for your facility can feel like a seemingly insurmountable task. For every professional, effective office cleaning company, there are probably at least twenty cleaning companies just treading water. Fortunately for you, although this task can feel Sisyphean or even impossible, there is a tried and true formula (no algebra we promise) for finding high quality, effective, responsive office cleaning without too much suffering on your part. By looking at a few core aspects of office cleaning and what takes it from poor to good to great, you can see what makes a company effective and those qualities that add real value to the service you receive.

Fuzzy Pricing is a Major Red Flag

Forget the algebra, this isn’t rocket science, but if you did the math on your prospective cleaning companies bid and things just aren’t adding up it might be time to look for another office cleaning company. An imprecise bid has a number of inherent problems with it. First, if the pricing isn’t clear, it can be difficult to see what it is your actually paying for. Without being able to determine the value of a service, it can be difficult to decide if a commercial cleaning company is right for your facility. Further, fuzzy pricing can be a function of hidden fees and other upcharges, which can further damaged an already reduced budget and throw careful planning into a tailspin. Second, without a clear price point it is impossible to compare different companies to each other. As a Facility Manager, you are always looking to get the best deal for your company, so not having the tools to do so can create a significant handicap. The most experienced, professional companies will always give you a detailed and crystal clear bid. They want to set a benchmark and consistently perform at that level so that you continue to give them business.

The Equation is Fairly Simple, Good People = Good Service

Any service business’s most important asset is the people that they employee. The best commercial cleaning companies understand this concept and work around the clock to attract, hire, and retain the best staff for getting your facility cleaned properly. A good gauge of the quality of any prospective commercial cleaning company is their understanding of the value of their staff. Ask them how they attract, screen, hire, train and retain their top talent. The best companies will show you clear, well thought through and developed processes that make them shine above the rest of the competition. What is even more encouraging about these companies is that they didn’t just stumble across their techniques to this particular challenge. Any company that dedicates themselves to finding the right employees and implementing pre-qualifications such as background checks and drug checks is going to take cleaning your facility just as seriously. Partnering with a company that shows a passionate interest in the quality of their company culture is always going to perform better than a company that is not interested in the people that they hire.

The Solution Lies in the Right Office Cleaning Company

Communication is another important trait of any successful commercial cleaning service provider. These companies recognize the need to have the right people in place in order to deliver the most effective service as well as respond to your requests and suggestions as they come up.  As you likely know as a Facility Manager, being responsive to your customer’s requests is one of the foremost priorities of any service business.  The reality is that people are performing a service and people are only human after all. Even the most effective, professional office cleaner will need some feedback to fine-tune their work to your particular requirements. It is never a question of if your commercial cleaning company is going to make a mistake, it is a question of how they are going to address it and how smoothly the issue can be resolved. The cream of the crop companies will communicate how they are going to solve the problem and then quickly implement their solution.

Take Advantage of a Couple of Industry Shortcuts

Finding the right cleaning company as a Facility Manager can seem like a giant headache full of numbers, computations and promises that may or may not hold water. Fortunately for you, there is a useful shortcut you can take advantage of to help cut down on the time you have to look for the right company. As a Facility Manager, why wouldn’t you avail yourself of any and all advantages you could in finding and hiring a solid, consistent and quick to respond office cleaning service? One means to get to the answers to your office cleaning problems faster and more effectively is to put industry certifications to use in creating your short-list of qualified, professional office cleaning companies. Taking advantage of such certifications as the ISSA CIMS offers an effective way to winnow down this list given the rigor and prestige of such a certification. Companies that are CIMS certified are often the best in their industry committed to excellence and innovation. When looking for your next partner in cleaning, take advantage of this free tool to help make the search for your next office cleaning company easier and more effective.

The Benefits of a Carpet Maintenance Program

The cool winter months are often one of our biggest motivators to stay inside, and that’s why these months are often the hardest on your buildings hard flooring and carpet. Not only do the cooler months come with rain, snow, and sleet, they also come with salt, dirt, water and grit carried into your facility impacting your flooring. Needless to say, this isn’t optimal for your building’s flooring. Michigan’s winter months can really make it challenging to keep your facility looking good throughout the year. So it is important to make sure that your flooring and carpets are getting the attention they need. A commercial carpet cleaning company can keep your carpets looking in their best, prolong their lifespan, and keep your work environment healthier and the air cleaner. Is your carpet cleaning company doing all they need to in order to meet your goals this season and beyond?

Consistent Carpet Cleaning Protects Your Investment

Unfortunately for us, we can’t hit the gym once a year and spend the rest of the time chomping chips and slurping soda and expect to stay in peak shape. Much like you, your carpet can’t get a once a year cleaning and stay in its best condition the remainder of the year. Regular maintenance is the best way to keep your carpets looking their best and can greatly extend its lifespan. Spot removal and deep cleaning are important, but consistent daily vacuuming of carpets to remove dust, debris and more is a significant part of keeping your carpets looking good. For instance, daily vacuuming helps carpets last longer by removing the often sharp and jagged dirt that can actually cut, tear and wear at carpet fibers if left to be walked upon and ground further into your carpet. Another good way to safeguard your carpet is with a well designed mat program. Mats that are placed at your buildings most traversed entry points will reduce the amount of dirt and other particles tat make their way into your facility and that wear away at your carpet’s fibers as well as protecting people from falls.

Treating Stains & Wear Patterns Without Delay

We’ve talked at lengths about the importance of regular maintenance, but we cannot neglect the other critical factor that affects your carpet’s health: spot removal. Removing stains quickly and with the right tools and solutions is an important factor in keeping your carpet looking its best.If you partner with a commercial carpet cleaning company that is knows their business, you can utilize them for periodic carpet stain removal. These companies are aware of the right practices and stain removers that make all the difference in the end result. Working with an knowledgeable, effective and professional commercial carpet cleaning service will ensure the best outcomes and that your carpet always looks fresh and clean.

Planning and Budgeting Become Easier with a Good Carpet Maintenance Program

A good carpet maintenance program targets the heavily trafficked areas in your facility like walkways, hallways, lobby areas, waiting rooms, and dividers between floor and carpet that can show wear and tear much faster than other areas of your facility. These high-traffic areas are likely to require maintenance long before the rest of your building’s carpeted areas need cleaning. Further, standard maintenance in these areas can help you delay carpet cleaning longer and budget for more regular, ongoing carpet maintenance. Intermittent cleaning can utilize the dry carpet cleaning methods like Whittaker’s encapsulation carpet cleaning. A chemical solution is used on the carpet that rapidly dries and crystallizes particles in the carpet making it easy to vacuum up. As an added bonus, because this method is dry, carpets can be quickly used again after cleaning.

When Do Carpets Need Deep Cleaning?

While the dry cleaning method can be effective for intermittent maintenance, every once and a while a deep cleaning with the hot water extraction method can go a long way. As per your carpet’s warranty, we recommend doing this once or twice a year to remove even the most deeply ground in grime and dirt. This carpet cleaning method utilizes the truck mounted hot water extraction cleaning for the best results everywhere possible in your building. And, for areas that are perhaps not accessible with the truck mounted system, a portable hot water extraction carpet cleaning machine shines. This method uses a very hot water emulsion that is pushed into your carpets to bring up dirt and other particulates that have taken up residence in the depths of your carpeting to leave your carpet looking brand new.  

How Carpet Cleaning Creates a Healthier Workplace

While it's important to keep your carpet clean to make sure your facility looks presentable, it’s even more important to assure a healthy workplace. Your carpet catches dirt and dust that it continues to circulate in the air as people walk around. In a sense it acts as an air filter as long as it is regularly cleaned and well maintained. By keeping your HVAC working and your carpets clean, you can significantly improve the air quality in your facility.

An Industry Professional You Can Count On

At Stathakis, we offer the businesses of Detroit and southeastern Michigan expert commercial carpet cleaning and floor maintenance. Using the latest in proven technologies such as hot water extraction carpet cleaning, low moisture carpet cleaning, Whittaker Carpet cleaning, and portable machine carpet cleaning, we offer your carpet a way to improve its appearance, extend its longevity, and improve the air quality of your facility. Not only can you save money and time on trying to schedule cleaning with various different services, your carpets will be treated by certified industry professionals. For more information on how you can keep your floors cleaner than they have ever been, please contact us at #800-278-1884.

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year… to Help Your Office Cleaning Company Help You

We all know that the winter months and bevy of holidays be a time of shifting needs with regard to our office cleaning. This time of year can present both challenges and opportunities for both you and your commercial office cleaning company. Often you will find that with more employees taking vacation time, your needs shift. You may need less service or even more service from your office cleaners depending on the nature of your business. And sometimes, with so many people out of the office, it is a good time to get some deep cleaning done. But there are some factors that can get in the way of a clean building and even your office cleaner’s ability to make the most of the seasonal down times. How can you take advantage and make the most of the downtime in your building to make sure you offices look their best?

#1: Keep Desks Organized to Help Out Cleaning Staff

Your commercial cleaning company can’t clean the desks if they are covered in paperwork and other important things that they don’t know what to do with. Further, any trash, cups or other items can make it near impossible to get to the surfaces beneath. As Facility Manager, it can be helpful to remind your employees to clean their desk and other communal areas before they leave for holiday to allow the cleaning staff to effectively get their job done and get as deep and thorough a cleaning as possible.

#2: Prevent the ‘Holiday Fridge’ From Becoming a Biohazard 

When people start leaving for the holidays, your communal refrigerator can quickly becomes a biohazard if some steps aren’t taken to prevent it. How often have you looked into the office fridge post holiday party to find a Jenga of foil cartons threatening to tumble and assorted sundries left behind after the merriment si over? The danger (not to mention the smell) of the three-week-old salmon and the platters of party goodies that no one took with them in the haste to start their holidays can quickly become ideal hosts for molds and other unpleasantness. If you ignore this problem your office fridge may become the worst smelling thing in the office. The trick to solving this all to common problem, is getting employees to take responsibility for the week old Chinese or half finished soda. The most effective solution, we have found, is to create a regularly cleaning schedule so that anything that isn’t claimed within a certain time period is disposed of before it can become a problem. This eliminates any risks associated with leaving food in the fridge for too long and gives cleaners an opportunity to deep clean and minimize odors.

Tip #3 Winter Means Cold and Flu

The holiday season also coincides with another less pleasant season, cold and flu season. As such, your Michigan janitorial company should be doing everything in their power to keep touch points and hotspots regularly cleaned to help reduce the risk of bacterial and viral infections and assure you have a healthy work environment. Is your office cleaning company cleaning for health?

It isn’t solely on your cleaning service, their are some things that you should remind your employees of:

• Wash your hands correctly to stop the spread of pathogens
• Don’t come to work sick, you won’t be an effective employee and it can potentially get other people sick
• Regularly use hand sanitizer and wash hands as well as to keep hands away from the face. It may sound like something you here in a kindergarten classroom, but science has shown time and time again that this is the most effective way to prevent illness
• Understand practices that help reduce the risk of spreading disease such as how to cough and sneeze

TIP #4:Use Winter Downtime to Your Advantage to Get Some of That Deep Cleaning and Maintenance Done

Most offices are busy, bustling places so deep cleaning and other intensive maintenance tasks are often pushed to the side or delayed longer than they should be. However, during the holiday season, take advantage of the reduced number of people to catch up and even do some preventative maintenance to prepare for the busy months ahead. Many office cleaning services not only offer cleaning but other services such as HVAC care, plumbing painting, electrical, carpet and window washing, among other things that you can use to care for your facility. Need carpets cleaned? Need floors stripped and recoated? Need some other extras? The holidays present a rare opportunity to get these things done, unobstructed by high traffic.

Tip #5 It is the Season of Giving, so Give Yourself an Effective, Professional Commercial Cleaning Company

The holiday season is a time of giving, so give yourself the right office cleaning service provider for your facility. Maybe you’ve had it with your current cleaning company and are looking to try something else. Or, perhaps you are new to the janitorial market and are trying to decide who can help keep your facility looking fresh and clean. Either way, if you are looking for quality, consistent, responsive, professional service for you and your building, there is a company out there that can fill your needs.

The winter holidays can present a good time to transition to a new, better office cleaning company. So often in talking to Facility Managers we are finding that as budgets remain tight or even reduced, demands go up leaving many Facility Managers struggling to get their buildings cleaned effectively AND within budget.

The time of reduced office budgets have been here and it doesn't look like it will be changing anytime soon so you need a company that will give you value for your dollar and that will be committed to working with your budget and giving you consistent, effective services. Thoughtful winter maintenance, planning and even bringing on a new more adept office cleaning company can be the answer to assuring your office is clean and ready to go during winter months and all through the year.