A great many things go into effective, efficient office cleaning, but none of them more critical than very good people receiving very good training. Of course, other factors impact service and pricing. But without proper training you can be sure that you aren’t going to get the level of services you need in your facility and you certainly are not going to get real value for your maintenance budget. Open communication, preemptive solutions to common problems, and solid management practices are all a direct result of proper training. It isn’t your job to train your cleaning staff, but you better believe that if they haven’t been trained, you’re going to have a constant stream of problems that land squarely on YOUR desk. The primary reason to outsource you commercial cleaning service is to save you time and money, not to create more issues for you to sort through. Fortunately, there are a couple of red-flags you can be on the lookout for to save yourself from companies that don’t know what they are doing or how to train and manage their employees to succeed in your facility.

The State of the Janitorial Closet Mirrors the State of Your Office Cleaner’s Training

If there has ever been a quick visual sign of the quality of a company’s training it is most certainly the janitorial closet. If there are dirty mop heads and buckets lying about, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that is what is being used in your facility. Proper organization and safety practices go a long way in improving efficiency and the quality of your cleaning service. Chemicals should be stored safely and cleaning equipment should be put away in such a way that facilitates ease of access to more commonly used items. The janitorial closet should also feature up-to-date Data Safety Sheets. Failure to keep equipment clean, chemicals properly labeled and the Data Safety Sheets in view and updated is a hazard and an unnecessary liability. Office cleaning companies that focus on effective, comprehensive training instruct their teams on the importance of keeping a neat, clean and organized janitorial closet from the perspective of safety, ease of work and client perception. The janitorial closet can be like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, if the janitorial closet is in disarray, it is a sign that there are far bigger problems that you CAN’T see.

Is the Only Consistency From Your Office Cleaning Service Inconsistency?

Even the most professional office cleaning companies will occasionally drop a ball. But if your office cleaners drop more balls than they catch or drop the same balls over and over again, there are most certainly training and management issues in play. When your office cleaning service misses the same tasks over and over again, it's a safe bet to assume your cleaning company’s training is incomplete. Any commercial office cleaning company worth their salt has a systematic process for ensuring that daily tasks are consistently completed correctly. A digital checklist can work wonders for keeping everything running smoothly. Mistakes are going to happen, but a properly trained cleaning staff and accountability can help reduce the amount of tasks that are missed so that you don’t need to be chasing down daily disappointments in the form of uncompleted work.

Does Your Office Cleaning Company Have New Faces Every Day?

The office cleaning industry has a pretty high turnover rate, still, there are things the most effective office cleaning companies do to help attract, recruit and retain good staff. When companies experience a constant revolving door of staff, no one has the chance to learn the ins-and-outs of YOUR building. On top of that, companies with high turnover often don’t have the time to give new employees proper training and throw them into your facility trying to fill holes in service. Not only does this affect the quality of the service, it perpetuates the cycle of turnover. Employees that haven’t been given proper training tend to feel out of their depth or that their work isn’t important resulting in their leaving. Companies that don’t offer competitive wages, benefits and incentive programs will almost always have this problem. As with any service industry, people are a company's most important asset. If they aren’t treated as such by being provided with the training to succeed, you are likely to see too many new faces in your facility making you feel like your facility is the unwitting training ground for your office cleaning company.

Open Communication is the Key to Any Successful Relationship

Communication issues can plague the office cleaning industry. If your needs are not being communicated down to frontline cleaning staff, was there really a point to telling their management? Being forced to repeat the same requests is frustrating and a waste of your time that creates tension in your relationship with your cleaning company's management staff. This is another issue that can be completely addressed by proper training. Open communication is key to any functional business relationship and as such professional cleaning companies will take it very seriously. Many have success with a communication log book so that you can easily pass information back and forth while keeping a record of it in case it is ever needed. These open book communication practices help foster accountability, reliability and make things run smoother for everyone involved.

Best Practices Are Nowhere to Be Seen

Companies that take training seriously will design their training programs around industry best practices. If your commercial cleaning company isn’t keeping up with industry innovation, you’re not getting the level of service you and your facility deserve. For instance, the commercial cleaning industry can have issues with cross-contamination. It is easy to accidentally use the same rag you used in the kitchen that you used in the bathroom. Color coded microfiber cloths for specific areas were introduced to help combat this issue and have been incredibly effective at reducing the risks associated with cross contamination. By assigning a specific color cloth to specific areas, it is easy to see which rag you need to get to clean the surface in question. If your office cleaning company doesn’t both follow industry best practices and train their teams according to these practices, they put the health of you and your employees at risk and lower the overall quality and value of the service you are receiving.

Show Me Don’t Tell Me

The surefire way to avoid these massive issues is to understand how janitorial training is supposed to be done and to check to see what your prospective cleaning service is actually doing. Certainly, every company is going to tell you that they have a comprehensive and robust training program in an attempt to secure your business, but can they show you? Any professional cleaning company that actually takes their training seriously will be more than happy to show off how they go about preparing their teams to deliver results in your facility. A documented training program and quality assurance systems to keep cleaning technicians up to date on industry best practices goes a long way in demonstrating competency and an ability to correctly service your building.

CIMS Certification: A Powerful Tool In the Search For Your Next Office Cleaning Company

Now, most Facility Managers are busy people and looking under the hood of every prospective commercial cleaning company probably isn’t feasible. Fortunately there is an alternative, the ISSA’s CIMS and CIMS-GB certification program is a powerful tool for identifying which companies have solid training programs and that place an emphasis on industry best practices. CIMS certification is a robust, industry specific certification done through a neutral third-party designed as a tool for companies that go above and beyond industry standard to separate themselves. Just seeking out the ISSA’s certification programs demonstrates a level of commitment to industry best practices. Companies that possess the CIMS certification have demonstrated a consistent level of excellence in every aspect of commercial cleaning, including training and staffing practices.

As you know, any office janitorial company is only as proficient and capable as their frontline staff. The level of consistency and quality you receive is a direct reflection of their training and management. If it seems like your office cleaning company might not be cutting it anymore, contact us here at Stathakis to see how we can help you.

Managing the Often Unmanageable

With the ridiculous amount of work that goes into being a Facility Manager, even seasoned Facility Managers can get overwhelmed with the amount of work that can pile up. We all know that the job is a careful balancing act and even little things can send upend the most carefully laid plans. An unplanned failure here and an unexpected expense there and suddenly, poof, the plan is out the window. We all know to expect the unexpected. Things are going to come up, whatever the cause, one of the best ways to help address this all too common overload is to proactively work with a commercial handyman service to help you save time, money, and reduce your workload to something a little more manageable. Any commercial handyman service worth its salt will help deal with day-to-day issues before they become overwhelming so that you can effectively manage your time and turn your attention to other projects and goals around the building.

How Much Do Commercial Handyman Services Really Cost?

All too often we see companies that put of or simply ignore critical maintenance because it is often expensive and time consuming. Maybe they worry that they cannot afford preventative maintenance or a dedicated commercial handyman service. Maybe they get so busy putting out fires they struggle to make time to prevent the fire in the first place. If any of these sound like issues you have faced, consider a few things. First, when you partner with a commercial handyman service, both of you are benefiting. Your handyman service gets a steady stream of business, and you get the reliability and affordability of a single company offering you a multitude of building services solutions.

Second, preventative maintenance is always going to be an upfront expense. But it is almost always going to be cheaper than dealing with the problems that crop up as a result of ignoring it. Have you ever had your HVAC system break in the middle of July on a weekend? With a little inspection and upkeep, you can avoid the enormous bill that comes with fixing it and you save yourself the hassle of finding someone to do it. Third, using in-house maintenance isn’t a workable solution for most businesses. Not only do you need to consider wages, but also screening, hiring, training, drug-testing and criminal background checks along with insurance and compliance issues. One of the primary advantages of outsourcing building maintenance is that you can avoid the trap of trying to run what is essentially a business within a business and instead, let your commercial handyman provide you with effective, efficient, affordable services focusing on your own core competencies.

One And Done

Finding a qualified, affordable, dependable commercial handyman service can take some time and patience. But once you have a working relationship with a commercial handyman that you trust, you can skip all the upfront work that goes into finding a contractor and instead get right to business getting the work you need done when you need it. When a problem comes up in your facility, you want a solution, not to spend hours finding someone who can and is available to do the work then negotiating a price that fits your budget. Having someone at the ready to handle whatever issues comes up without having to worry about pricing or the quality of their work is always going to be preferable. Why pay more for a less consistent service when you could have a true partner less and always go to the front of the line?

The Tasks Your Professional Facility Maintenance Service Can Offer

If you are considering outsourcing maintenance, you may be wondering what kind of services a commercial handyman service can assist you with. Obviously every company is different and some will be more capable of doing certain things for you while others less capable, especially with more complicated tasks. Generally, the more specialized the task, the fewer companies that offer it, which can be a useful way to narrow down who you are looking at. But most offer a base level of service, so here is a sampling of what might be offered:

• Roof Inspections
• Carpentry Repairs
• Wall repair
• Painting & touch-ups
• Plumbing Repairs
• Flooring restoration
• Electrical repair
• Carpet/Tile Repairs, Restoration & Replacement
• Caulking & Glazing
• Ceiling Tile Repair/Replacement
• 24/7 Emergency Repairs
• HVAC preventative maintenance & repairs
• Lock and Door Repairs
• Office Furniture Moving & Assembly
• Remodels/Alterations
• Group Relamping
• Ballast Replacement
• Door/Hinge/Hardware Repair
• Carpet cleaning
• Construction Clean up
• Painting/Wallpapering
• Exterior power washing
• Comprehensive building inspection
• Water Clean Up
• Light bulb changes/Light fixture installations

Just As You Would Expect, A Team Of Professionals Makes Things Easier

Partnering with an experienced commercial handyman service means that you can get your issues fixed as they come up, extend the life of your company's expensive assets and work to help better structure maintenance around your budget and around your facility’s needs. Having a single partner means that your needs are prioritized. A commercial handyman service will also potentially offer you a high level of consistency because the commercial handyman team will become acquainted with you, your staff and your facility. Don’t deal with all the problems that come along with many independent contractors, instead outsource for an easier, cheaper and less painful building maintenance experience.

Customization Is Always An Option

More often than not, we see two different types of Facility Manager: those that want to outsource their handyman services but think that they don’t have enough work to offer, or those that worry a professional service will hurt their already slim budget too much. Fortunately for you, most handyman services have worked with people like this and can customize their service to fit your needs. Not every building is the same and the best companies know that. Your best bet is to communicate your needs and work with your prospective company in order to build a plan that fits your needs and your budget.

Stathakis Does The Job Right

If you feel like your to-do list is getting larger than you’d like or that you are stuck in a never ending game of catch up when it comes to your facility maintenance, it might be time to consider outsourcing maintenance tasks to a commercial handyman service. It may require some upfront effort, but finding a solid maintenance company will benefit you and your facility long term. You’ll be spending less money, getting more reliable service and you can change it as your needs change. Make outsourcing commercial handyman services work for you and your organization by choosing a building services contractor with a solid reputation and over 35 years of experience. To get more information or to schedule a free consultation, call Stathakis at 1-(800) 278-1884.

What is the Real Impact of Green Cleaning on Your Budget?

Assuring that your building is always operational and in its best condition is one of the many tasks required of a Facility Manager. Among the others include staying within budget and reducing operational costs without reducing the overall quality and condition of your facility. Green cleaning is a solid goal to have but simply won’t work if it is priced well beyond your budgets right? Your green cleaning objectives must be in line with your facility’s bottom line. Most Facility Managers want to see progress in their company’s commitment to green building objectives and practices, but that cannot come at the expense of value. Your commercial cleaning services company can help you grow your company’s commitment to green cleaning while protecting your bottom line and delivering value.

Sealed Construction is Great, But Can Be Tough On Clean Air

Many office buildings feature sealed construction. This in itself isn’t a bad thing, after all, after all, it helps create significant efficiencies and reduced energy costs. The problem is that while it is effective at keeping heat out/in, it can also keep pollutants trapped in your building. Fortunately, a solid green office cleaning company knows how to improve indoor air quality by reducing allergens and other pollutants in the air. Similarly, these same companies use green cleaning chemicals in order to reduce the overall chemical load in your building while continuing to assure you have a clean, healthy, and breathable facility.

Cleaning the Right Things Can Make All the Difference 

The most effective commercial green cleaning companies understand how touch points, hotspots, and dwell times work. Green cleaning isn’t just a buzzword, it is a style of cleaning backed by decades of scientific research. If your janitorial services company doesn’t know what they are doing, you’ll benefit significantly by outsourcing your cleaning to a cleaning company that does. So what exactly are touch points, hotspots, and dwell times and why are they important? Touch points and hot spots are areas that see a lot of people traffic so they collect and transmit more pathogens than any other place in your facility. By targeting door knobs, switches, phones and others, your green cleaning company can effectively reduce illness and absenteeism while increasing productivity lost to otherwise sick staff. Dwell times are manufacturer recommended usage times for chemical cleaners before they are able to do their job killing germs and sanitizing surfaces. If chemical cleaners aren’t allowed to sit on surfaces for long enough, they will not be as effective in eradicating and reducing germs. Failure to observe dwell times leaves behind bacteria and other pathogens that have the potential to get employees sick and negatively impact your business's bottom line.

Better Green Cleaning Equipment Should Ultimately Save You Money

Innovation in the green cleaning industry is never ending and the last few years have been no exception. Green cleaning technology has grown exponentially, but rather than make everything more expensive, as new tech often does, green cleaning innovations are helping reduce costs and create significant efficiencies. So how can you save money with the latest and greatest in green cleaning equipment and methods? A solid green cleaning service can cut down on the number of labor hours spent servicing your facility, the single greatest expense in any cleaning service. On top of that, better green cleaning equipment means fewer man hours, less water, reduced chemical usage, all costing you less to get your facility cleaned. Finally, the improved health and air quality of your facility will mean more productive staff helping to improve your bottom line.

Green Cleaning & Smart Cleaning Go Hand-in-Hand

With ever shrinking maintenance and cleaning budgets it can be challenging as a Facility Manager to find ways to cut costs without slashing service. Fortunately, the intersection of green cleaning and smart cleaning can be an excellent way to help meet your budgetary goals. So what is Smart Cleaning? Smart Cleaning is working with your professional cleaning service to identify essential areas of service in your facility and non-essential areas so that you can target and stagger work in a way that best serves your facility’s precise needs. This can help you reduce costs without costing your reputation to your staff, customers and other visitors. You and your janitorial services provider should be asking:

• “Are there better, more efficient ways to do those things we must do?”
• “What must you get even on a reduced budget?”
• “Are there things that perhaps don’t need to be done anymore?”
• “What are you doing, does it make sense?”
• “Are there things that could be done less frequently?”

Outsourcing to Save Money on Expensive Equipment

Another great reason to outsource you commercial green cleaning is because you can give away the responsibility of acquiring, repairing, and running expensive green cleaning equipment. In fact, much of this equipment is so expensive that if you tried purchasing and maintaining it yourself, you’d quickly find that you could not keep up with the advances, innovations or maintenance. The focus and size of your commercial cleaning company allows them to absorb these costs, especially because it adds to their business model. Don’t settle for out of date, inefficient equipment, outsource your cleaning to someone that will put the latest and greatest green cleaning equipment in your facility.

Green Cleaning is the Future

Finding the right green office cleaning company for you and your facility can make all the difference both in your quality of service and your budget. Green office cleaning shouldn’t be thought of as a premium service that only a very few can afford. Effective green cleaning services should offer you a reasonable price for the service and consistent, effective services you can count on.

At Stathakis, we offer green office cleaning, green medical cleaning and more to Southeastern Michigan businesses just like yours. We work hard to provide our valued customers with the latest and greatest in green cleaning without the sticker shock. With more than thirty years serving our local community, Stathakis understands the demands put on the facility managers we work with. If you are interested in green office cleaning or other building maintenance services, please contact us today to get started at 1-800-278-1884.

There are a variety of benefits to carpeting areas within your facility. First, carpet can help dampen sound. It can also reduce slips and falls as it offers more traction and provides traction hard flooring does not. Carpet can serve as an insulator and contributes to a quality, lush atmosphere for your customers. As such, many Facility Managers use carpet in strategic areas throughout their facilities for its various advantages. But of course, along with its obvious positives, carpet is not without maintenance.

There are some myths that float around about carpet and its cleaning and maintenance that not only are not true, but could both cost you money and shave years off of your carpet’s usable lifespan. If you have carpet in your facility or are considering its installation, there are some critical pieces of maintenance advice you should be aware of so that you can keep carpets cleaned effectively and protect the longevity of this beautiful, yet costly building asset.

Myth: It doesn’t matter HOW your carpet gets cleaned.

Busted: There are many different cleaning methods that area commercial cleaning services might use to clean your carpets, but that doesn’t mean they are all effective or safe. Different cleaning techniques are designed for different surfaces and carpet cleaning techniques have come a long way in recent years. The wrong methods not only won’t get carpets their cleanest, they are very likely to reduce carpet lifespan. The wrong tool or poorly maintained carpet cleaning equipment can spell disaster for your facility’s carpets.

The best example of this is the Bonnet carpet cleaning method. Being originally developed for hard flooring, “carpet cleaning method” is a rather deceptive misnomer. Not only does Bonnet carpet cleaning do a poor job of actually cleaning carpets, it can cause a lot of unnecessary damage that may dramatically shorten carpet’s life expectancy. As it turns out, a high speed pad soaked in carpet cleaning solution while good for many types of hard flooring, does little more than grind at fibers that hold the carpet together while distributing the dirt and grime that was already in it across the carpet’s surface. And it isn’t even typically a cheaper method for cleaning carpets.

Instead, you should be looking to companies that use truck mounted hot water extraction cleaning or portable hot water extraction cleaning to get a better, greener, safer clean. Both are considered the industry standard for safe, green, deep cleaning that isn’t damaging to your carpet. By taking advantage of very high temperatures and powerful suction, your carpet cleaning service can use minimal chemicals, less water and as an added bonus, have to wait less time for the carpet to dry. In between deep cleanings, you can also use the Whittaker encapsulation method (dry carpet cleaning) to help keep everything clean and get carpets back in service quickly.

Myth: The best time to clean a carpet is when it starts to look dirty.

Busted: Of course who wouldn’t want to stretch their budgets out and save a little money by delaying carpet cleaning as long as possible? Sure, you can try to extend the time between cleanings a bit in order to make a tight building services budget work for you but you shouldn’t wait until carpets are noticeably, obviously soiled to do so. Why? Superficially, this can seem like a great way to save money, but unless you interested in replacing your carpet years ahead of schedule this is only going to create expensive problems.

Without regular vacuuming and deep cleaning, the particles that get trapped in the carpet get ground in and destroy the fibers that hold the carpet together. Not doing regular cleaning drastically reduces the life expectancy of your carpet because of how much damage the dirt and grime that gets into it can do if left unchecked. Dirt and particulate matter are actually quite sharp and jagged if you looked at them magnified. Allowed to rest in your carpet and then mixed with high foot traffic, dirt cuts and tears at carpet fibers causing dullness and damage. It is so problematic that most commercial carpet warranties stipulate at least cleanings in order to assure coverage. Even if the carpeting does not appear to be dirty, it requires regular cleaning to safeguard it and keep it looking its best for the long haul.

Myth: Unless you can tell the carpet is dirty, it is clean enough.

Busted: Carpets are surprisingly deceptive when it comes to being “clean.” One of the reasons they are such a good flooring is they tend to look clean even when really, they are pretty grimy. Carpets may look good, but they are excellent are hiding dirt, pollen, dust, fungi, bacteria and all other types of filth and grime. Left unchecked, not only is this bad for the carpet’s lifespan as mentioned above, a carpet that isn’t cleaned periodically will be detrimental for indoor air quality. Regular exposure to poor quality air can cause and exacerbate a number of health problems, especially for those individuals that already suffer from allergies or have other breathing problems like asthma. Regardless of how clean your carpet looks, you need to establish a regular cleaning schedule to maintain the air quality in your office and to keep bacteria and other pathogens in check.

Myth: All carpet cleaning companies do the same thing, so they all must be the same, right?

Busted: Just like every industry driven by service, you’re going to find a wide variety of companies delivering all levels of service from five stars to “don’t even.” This is especially true in the commercial carpet cleaning marketplace. Instead of trying to sort through the myriad companies, an excellent way to narrow down your search for a worthy prospective commercial carpet cleaning company is to startyour search with the ISSA’s CIMS and CIMS-GB certification. This industry specific accreditation program is a robust and difficult to obtain certification that demonstrates that the company in question is committed to performing above and beyond the industry standard. Carpet cleaning companies that have achieved CIMS certification are leaders in professionalism, communication and industry innovation. Not every CIMS certified company is going to be right for you, but this can be a powerful tool to start your search with the best the industry has to offer.

Myth: The lowest price is the best price, right?

Busted: The lowest prices aren’t automatically the best value and the highest price isn’t necessarily going to guarantee better service. The best price is where you get the services you need at the best price available, that’s value. High priced cleaning services don’t automatically correlate to a better clean and super low prices almost always result in poor service and cut corners. Professional, experienced cleaning services tend to provide a solid cleaning for a reasonable price. You want to be looking at companies that use quality equipment, train their teams, and utilize techniques to deliver a high quality service. You’ll get far better results with prospective cleaning companies if you start looking at what you want to get out of them before you start comparing prices.

Hopefully with some of the most common myths about carpet cleaning busted you’ll be in a better position to find a commercial carpet cleaning service that delivers the results you and your facility deserve. With carpets being such an expensive asset, it isn’t worth taking a risk with the wrong cleaning service. Here at Stathakis, we offer every company in the Southern Michigan area carpet cleaning solutions tailored to their needs and budget. We strive to offer the best in carpet cleaning and constantly pursue less abrasive and more effective techniques for keeping your carpet clean and in its best possible condition. We utilize industry best practices: truck mounted hot water extraction carpet cleaning, low moisture carpet cleaning and portable machine carpet cleaning to make sure that you are getting the best possible service throughout your building.  If you are interested in learning more you can contact the Stathakis Special Projects Manager at #800-278-1884 to get started.

The Season of Sneezing

We all know the time of year, the one when nearly everyone seems to be suffering from allergies and sneezing, running noses, and runny eyes are rampant. Dust in the air, pollen at its peak, during allergy season with so many things already working against you, you don’t need anything else making it worse. Unfortunately, many cleaning companies ignore the challenges of allergies, indoor air pollution and clean air issues when it comes to your facility’s cleaning and some even make indoor air quality worse.

People with allergies are going to suffer more than people without them during allergy season, but they will certainly suffer MORE in a poorly cleaned building. And employees that suffer from allergies as a result of a poorly cleaned building are going to get less work done and absenteeism is going to be higher.

What Are Allergens & How Should I Deal With Them?

An allergen is any molecule of substance that can cause mild to severe irritation if inhaled or if it gets into mucous membranes. These particles tend to hide themselves along surfaces or even flooring. In your building this can be anywhere, like surfaces like chairs, desks, plants, soft furnishings, fixtures and more. These particles are easily dislodged from their temporary homes by normal air flow, dusting and other movement and have a tendency to cause all sorts of problems for anyone in the vicinity.

Cleaning cannot just be about a surface level clean that makes things look good, it must be about cleaning for health. It isn’t as simple as dusting and vacuuming occasionally, especially during peak allergy season. Not only will a professional janitorial service make your building much cleaner, it will help protect your employee’s health.

Why Should I Care About Allergens in my Building?

Healthy work environments have been shown to support employee’s motivation level and the perception of the expectation of quality, and thus their productivity. That being said, cleaning for health goes well beyond simply improving employee productivity. Allergens can cause and exacerbate serious problems and present a real health risk to anyone that spends any length of time inside your building as we discuss below.

The Risks Associated with Poor Cleaning

Allergens are such a problem, especially during this time of year, that they have their own measurement, IAQ (indoor air quality). Buildings with a low IAQ score cause all sorts of problems for the people that occupy them. Working adults often spend as much time in their office building as they do at home and a poor IAQ can exacerbate and create serious health issues.

According to the CDC: “Allergies are an overreaction of the immune system to substances that generally do not affect other individuals. These substances, or allergens, can cause sneezing, coughing, and itching. Allergic reactions range from merely bothersome to life-threatening.” Continuous exposure to such allergens can cause asthma, lung disease, heart disease, and in some cases cancer. Allergens are so problematic that they are a significant cause of absenteeism and low productivity in the workplace.

On the flipside, healthy work environments mean healthy staff, which is correlated with higher productivity and better work in general. By working with a cleaning service dedicated to improving your IAQ and the overall health of your building, you can take responsibility for your employee’s health all while increasing productivity and improving your bottom line.

The most important step in improving your IAQ is to identify and control the primary source of allergens in your building. By identifying the main sources of allergens, you can help reduce the number that make it into your facility. The best way to do this is to work with a professional cleaning service. By taking advantage of effective services and even a green cleaning program, you can get an environmentally responsible solution to your allergen problem.

By taking advantage of industry innovation, you can get an effective, budget-friendly clean and make sure your building stays clean without sacrificing your IAQ. Partnering with a professional is the best long term solution to air quality, but there are some things that you can do to help combat allergens in your facility without our help:

• Limiting the number of office plants is always a good place to start, while everyone likes a little green, plants offer the perfect place for mold and bacteria to grow unchecked
• Try to keep the restrooms dry, moisture can be one way ticket to mold. Of course, changing the restroom air filter is always a must as well
• Vacuuming regularly can help remove large dust and dirt particles that build up over time, but be careful not to do it too frequently because superficial vacuuming can sometimes do more harm than good by agitating smaller particles back into the air.

What is really comes down to is taking a little time to work on allergen problems in the workplace. They are as important to your health as they are to your bottom line.

Stathakis is Here to Help

Here at Stathakis, we have taken the time to become an ISSA's CIMS-GB certified professional cleaning company and having been providing service for over 35 years. Our CIMS certification is intended to demonstrate to our customers that we take our work seriously and are committed to the industry’s best practices. The “Green Building” part of the CIMS-GB certification is an addition we made to help our customers look towards a green future by adding LEED-EBOM points to their building. We are committed to helping our customers ‘breath a little easier’ both in our commitment to indoor air quality and working directly with Facility Managers to manage budget concerns and deliver results. Call us at 1-800-278-1884 to see how we can help you.

Successful businesses all have one thing in common, they share strong and open communication with their customers. A solid and lasting partnership with customers based upon trust and a mutual understanding of needs is always preferable to fumbling around in the dark hopingthings all work out for the best. Do you trust you commercial cleaning service with the keys to your building when no one is around to see what they do? Do you believe they are working hard for you and care about the level of service they provide? Do you believe they are doing their own due diligence with employees, insurance and more to assure safety and minimize liability for all involved? If the answer is “no” or “I’m not sure”, then here is a list of important questions you should be asking prospective cleaning companies to find out if they are the right fit for you:

How long has the janitorial service been in business?

If you are looking for trained staff and someone you can trust and rely upon, then you need a company that has years of experience to back up their promises. Yes all companies must start somewhere but you do not want your facility to be a cleaning company’s training ground.

Is the commercial cleaning company bonded and insured?

Any professional service based business will have insurance that covers both them and you in case of damages to assets or any issues of liability. It is a demonstration of professionalism, forethought and care when it comes to safety and safeguarding risk. On top of that, insurance is a good sign that your prospective company employs best practices including legal hiring of their staff. 

What type of services des the building services company provide?

Every cleaning company is different, and as such they all provide different services. While most offer basic cleaning services like floor cleaning, housekeeping and restroom service, some will offer specialty services. Theses companies that go above and beyond often provide extras like: hot water extraction carpet cleaning, painting, janitorial maintenance, window cleaning, medical cleaning, construction cleanup, and even 24-hour emergency clean ups.

What hours do they work? How many people do you need?

As discussed above, each business is different with their services, so look for a company that best meets your cleaning needs with a timeframe that compliments your facility’s schedule. Your office cleaner should work around you, not the other way around. Likewise, the needs of your facility may shift seasonally or situationally, your best bet is a janitorial company with flexible staffing to have the capacity to shift up or down as needed to help you get the service and value you require.

Does the janitorial company conduct both basic and specialized training of their employees? 

The well known MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) has been changed requiring that the chemical manufacturer or distributor provide Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) for each hazardous chemical.The information offered in the new SDS is much the same as the older MSDS. The main change is that the new SDSs are must be written and offered in a consistent user-friendly, 16-section format. This makes it easier for employees to familiarize themselves and understand the safety requirements of any chemicals they use. Not only does proper handling of such chemicals protect you and your cleaning staff, it is required by law. It cannot be stressed how important it is for cleaning staff to know what they are working with and to have the proper training to handle each respective hazardous substance.

Does the commercial cleaning company conduct background checks before hiring?

Any cleaning service worth their salt knows how important it is to conduct thorough background investigations on potential hires. Background checks aren’t just limited to criminal history. In order to get the best service, education, reference verifications, professional licenses, employment history and medical records should be taken into account to protect both you and them.

Are they ISSA CIMS Certified?

CIMS-GB is a certification from the ISSA that requires a building services company hit a number of high level business benchmarks that directly correlate with high levels of service for customers.  CIMS-GB certified cleaning companies are the cream of the crop when it comes to building services contractors. Not only does having a CIMS-GB accreditation guarantee that a company is dedicated to performing at or above the cutting edge in industry standards and innovation, but to even be considered for accreditation they need to meet 100% of all required standards and at least 60% of recommended standards. If you are in the Detroit, Michigan area let us know how we can help you! Stathakis offers custom janitorial, painting, and maintenance services for the entire Southeastern Michigan area. Whether you have a simple question or would like a no-obligation quote, feel free to give us a call at 1-800-278-1884.

With Outsourcing Cleaning, Can You Do More With Less?

With economy uncertainty a veritable certainty, building owners and facility managers continue to look for cost saving measures. But budget cuts that result in a noticeable service decline cause as many problems as they solve. The question is, of course, how do you do more work with less money? How do you get quality cleaning and maintenance with a tight janitorial budget. Can you actually do more with less? Or can you at least reduce services in a way that doesn’t impact the overall quality or perception of your facility maintenance?

In an effort to answer these questions, many companies are turning towards outsourcing commercial office cleaning to get a more cost effective office cleaning solution. Outsourcing your professional office cleaning presents a number of benefits, not all of them financial. Outsourcing janitorial can help you understand and manage costs, improve building services as well as protect your buildings assets. Outsourcing your cleaning to an office cleaning services provider can help you save money, reduce operating costs, and on the whole create a safer, cleaner and more comfortable work environment.

The Dollars and Sense of Outsourcing Office Cleaning Services

Of course, the primary incentive in outsourcing your building maintenance to an office cleaning company is to save you money. First, having an experienced, trained and resourced office cleaning service will immediately save you money. This savings is accomplished in part by scale, cheaper bulk cleaning supplies and equipment and the like, as well as hiring, onboarding and training systemized because unlike you, your janitorial company engages in this process all the time. Larger janitorial companies are well established and have a lot of bulk purchasing power so that they save money on equipment, supplies, consumable goods, among other things, savings that are passed along to you.

Outsourcing your office cleaning services saves you all the money and time that go into recruiting, training, screening and managing cleaning staff. Looking at all the money that goes into paying for management, benefits, healthcare, screening and other time consuming administrative and management tasks and it is easy to see the benefits of outsourcing to a professional office cleaning company. Finding the right office cleaners for your building will get more value you for your dollar. Any experience office cleaning company is able to provide a better service for less money (and fewer headaches for you). Cleaning isn’t part of their business, it is their business.

With Maintenance, It All Comes Down to Experience

Work on anything long enough and your going to build some mastery of it. The same is true for your office cleaning services company. It is possible to manage your own in-house office cleaning service, but is it really worth your time and money? Is that where your energy is best spent? Having an in-house cleaning service is no small feat, it is most literally like running a business inside of another business. Do you really want to spend time and money learning the ins and outs of the commercial cleaning industry when you could simply pay less for a company that has already mastered them in addition to offloading the responsibility that comes along with it? What it comes down to is that office cleaning companies have years of experience and a singular focus that you likely do not. With all of their resources, time, and money directed towards providing a solid office cleaning experience, they will always outperform an in-house cleaning service.

In-House Office Cleaning Can’t Compete With Outsourced Services

It is difficult to balance an in-house office cleaning service and your actual business. The problem is, if you don’t manage your in-house office cleaning service as a professional business, you aren’t going to get the same level of service. Outsourcing your commercial office cleaning eliminates the problems that come with using your staff to handle maintenance and general cleaning and trying to run the ‘business within a business’.

As a Facility Manager, you know how much time comes with managing a team and trying to get what you want from them. On top of that, no matter how much work you put into it, it will never scale. All the training and equipment you have will never be used outside of your building. You don’t generate extra income from competent cleaning staff, in fact, you might actually lose it because of the cost of equipment, supplies and consumables. This isn’t the only problem either, here are some of the core administrative and management responsibilities inherent in managing office cleaners:

• Health insurance
• Liability insurance
• Equipment costs and maintenance
• Cost of other cleaning products and supplies
• Direct supervision expense
• Employee Vacations & Absences
• Cost to maintain equipment
• Payroll taxes
• Employee turnover & retraining
• Workers comp claims
• Direct payroll expenses

Outsourced Office Cleaning Companies Can Manage Change

One frequent concern we here voiced about outsourcing is “how will we get coverage during times that are particularly busy?”. Certainly not with in-house cleaning! Unlike your in-house cleaning service, commercial office cleaning service providers have enough staff to cover you when their staff get sick or when your experiencing unanticipated higher than normal needs. These companies know that you will sometimes need more service and sometimes less and as such they are equipped to change and adapt according to your needs.

Outsourcing Can Help Shield You From Liability

Having an in-house office cleaning service means that you also get all of the liabilities and problems that come with one. As you’ll find in almost any service industry, office cleaning comes with a number of liabilities. Fortunately, when you contract with a commercial office cleaning services provider, you don’t need to worry about them because you are no longer responsible for dealing with them. In fact, many office cleaning companies will insure their own employees as well as you as the facility owner to shield you from third party litigations. It is the same as always, a company whose sole goal is to provide a solid office cleaning experience is always going to perform better, such is the nature of specialization. 

Don’t Waste Your Time Managing Something Someone Else Can Do

As a Facility Manager, you probably already have enough managing to do. Outsourcing your office cleaning to the right contractor will help give you less to deal with because you can trust them to deal with problems, both small and large. You get to offload all of the traditional managerial tasks to your contractor so that you can focus on other, more important duties. Instead of dealing with the headache of hiring, training, purchasing equipment and products, repair and maintenance among other time consuming things, your cleaning company will shoulder the responsibilities.

Make Your Life Easier In More Ways Than One

Another thing that your larger, professional office cleaning company can do for you is deal with integrated facility solutions. Many office cleaning service providers include an umbrella of services like electrical, plumbing, painting, HVAC, construction cleanup and carpet cleaning among other things. This allows you to get regular maintenance done around your facility without having to go through another contractor or doing any additional due diligence work. If you already have a commercial office cleaning company you trust it can save you a lot of time to take advantage of their services and trained technicians.

Sometimes You Need the Best Equipment to do the Best Job

Another way that outsourcing your office cleaning to a professional saves you time and money is through equipment costs. Professional office cleaning companies invest in newer, better, more efficient equipment much more regularly than you would with cleaning service operated in-house. This is because their business is cleaning and arming themselves with effective, efficient equipment advances their bottom line. Due to scale and repetition, everything from equipment to technology to green cleaning to chemical usage is improved with a professional janitorial company.

The Real Cost of Using In-house Cleaning Services

What it boils down to is how the math adds up. Will outsourcing your office cleaning to a building services contractor save you time and money or not? It can be easy to compare the full suite of services that a commercial office cleaning company can offer to the payroll of your in-house office cleaning. But this isn’t a fair comparison, if you really want to compare the two you need to consider everything that goes into it:

• Employee vacations & absences
• Scheduling and vacation
• Insurance & Worker’s Comp
• Employee hiring, training & turnover
• Payroll expense
• Cost of equipment, cleaning chemicals, & cleaning supplies
• Payroll taxes
• Benefits administration
• Direct supervision expense
• Cost to secure, service, store and maintain equipment

Between these different things, the cost in time and money begins to add up. Figure out what in-house cleaning is costing you and compare it to what a prospective office cleaning service can offer. The decision should be clear.

Specialization Beats Generalization Every Time

Just because you can do everything doesn’t mean that you can do everything well. Like with many other things, statistics bear out that specialization in cleaning services is better and more efficient than generalization. So team cleaning, or cleaning where duties are grouped and performed by a specific team member throughout the building, are significantly more effective than zone cleaning, or cleaning where one person cleans one area taking on a multitude of tasks.

The more duties you give to a single cleaner, the more likely they are to forget tasks or do some tasks poorly. Especially in bigger, more complex facilities, cleaning by zone or floor can result in a single cleaner doing many different tasks, all with their own supplies and equipment resulting in higher equipment costs and less effective cleaning.

Cleaning like this, also known as zone cleaning, each cleaner is required to carry all the required equipment for each task and often causes problems with storage and maintenance all while adding to cost to the service as a result of lost labor hours.

When it Comes to Large Facilities, Team Cleaning is Your Best Bet

While some smaller facilities really only need a single cleaner, team cleaning is often a better solution for medium to large sized buildings. Team cleaning has significant efficiency and cost advantages opposed to single cleaners in larger areas. With team cleaning, a single individual handling a small group of tasks with the specialized equipment for it will perform better and use fewer labor hours reducing costs. There are further cost savings because employee training is more focused and efficient, managing and evaluating work is easier and there are reduced costs associated with equipment maintenance and storage.

Team Cleaning Is Better For Your Facility & Better For Your Budget

If you are in a budget crunch, you are not alone. Fortunately, team cleaning not only improves cleaning, it can help reduce costs. With team cleaning, individual cleaners perform a small set of tasks all throughout your facility. This might mean only dusting or only emptying trash cans while another person exclusively wipes down counters and windows or cleans restrooms. Many of these teams include a number of specialists depending on the size and needs of your facility. This specialization of cleaning duties helps reduce cross-contamination and also insures that the task is done the right way, every time. This also makes quality control a lot more straight forward because what each person is responsible for is crystal clear. Having a single person vacuum  your entire facility as opposed to a team of many juggling the task between each other is always going to be more efficient. Similarly, one person vacuuming means one vacuum, less equipment cost, maintenance and storage.

Reducing Janitorial Costs Means Reducing Labor

In the service industry the highest costs come from labor. So if you want to reduce costs, you have to reduce the amount of labor hours needed. This has always been the case, but an increase to minimum wage in Michigan coupled with changes to healthcare requirements and coverage have compounded such costs to make commercial cleaning more costly than before. The next most expensive category in the cleaning industry is equipment. If a cleaning service is able to effectively combat those costs, a lot of their savings will get passed along to you. Team cleaning is one of the best ways to do this as it minimizes labor hours and the amount of required equipment without sacrificing the quality of you cleaning. How do they do this? Here's a list:

• Easier training results in cleaners quickly ready to do THEIR set of tasks well.
• Reduced onboarding cost of employees means lower costs to you the customer.
• Efficient use of required labor hours means reduced overall costs.
• Ease of supervision as accountability is straight forward.
• Absences easier to cover with more specialized task training.
• Team cohesion as everyone understands his or her responsibilities.
• Easy customization to the needs of your individual facility.
• A higher quality of cleaning performed in less time saving you labor hours and cost.
• Fewer equipment costs/servicing resulting in lower costs for you the customer.
• The more simple the system, the greater chance of sticking with it.
• Directives and outcomes like Cleaning for Health & Smart Cleaning are more likely.
• Better bottom line for both janitorial companies and their customers.

Don’t Settle for a Company that Doesn’t Care

If you aren’t completely happy with the quality and price of your current janitorial services provider, than it may be time to start looking for a new one. Any company that makes a conscious effort to offer industry best practices including Team Cleaning, Smart Cleaning and looking for alternatives to save you the customer time and money is going to be a better partner than your average service provider.

Here at Stathakis, we deliver consistent, responsive, effective service and real value for businesses all over southeastern Michigan. With over thirty years in business, we have developed a standard of service delivery that works, just ask our customers. We work hard to create lasting partnerships and offer the businesses of southeastern Michigan the quality, cost-effective janitorial services they deserve. If you are a Facility Manager in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Royal Oak, Farmington Hills, Farmington, Dearborn, Livonia, Troy, Auburn Hills, Novi, Plymouth, and surrounding areas and you are looking for commercial cleaning services, office cleaning, school cleaning, industrial cleaning, medical cleaning or a janitorial company, please contact us to learn more about how we can help make your job at least a little easier and make your facility shine.

The Message Your Restroom Sends About Your Office Cleaning Services

A well-cleaned restroom is one of those things we take for granted until we are faced with the reality of using a restroom that is less than clean. And in your facility, you might not get the opportunity to visit restrooms and see for yourself just how much your office cleaning company measures up. It can be all too easy to overlook subpar office restroom cleaning, but be sure that your employees, tenants, visitors and customers are NOT overlooking it.

The restroom is one of the most critical areas of your facility for creating a good overall impression of your facility, company, practices, and staff to your customers. No one wants to walk into a restroom with overflowing trash cans, empty toilet paper rolls or the noticeable stench that can be among the telltale signs that your restrooms are not being adequately cleaned. If your office cleaning service isn’t sufficiently cleaning your restroom and making sure that they smell clean and fresh and are constantly stocked, your restroom is going to impart an overall negative impression to the people in your facility.

How do you know if your restroom is giving people the wrong idea? Consider asking yourself a couple of important questions. Is the restroom consistently stocked with towels, toilet paper, soap and any other necessary amenities? Are the stalls dirty, damaged and/or have any type of graffiti or gunk on them? When you walk into the restroom, is there an obvious, unpleasant odor? Does everything seem to be perpetually damp, especially your floor and countertops or visible water collected in places? Are mirrors clean and free of water spots, smudges and worse? Is the floor inside and outside the stalls clean and free of any type of grime, build up, dust, debris or stains?

Professional Office Cleaning Must Include Professional Restroom Cleaning

Everyone likes walking into a restroom that is clean and smells fresh, but as far as your bottom line goes, do clean restrooms really matter? The answer is yes and it matters more than you may think. What are the real costs of poorly maintained restrooms? Obviously we all want a clean restroom simply for the fact that it is less unpleasant and more hygienic to use. But how much does having dirty or less than effectively cleaned restrooms really hurt your business?

There are a number of hidden costs that come with not giving restrooms the attention they need. First, poorly cleaned restrooms are a breeding ground for bacteria and can make your employees ill increasing turnover and absenteeism. Second, a lack of clean restrooms has been tied to lower rates of employee satisfaction. Third, insufficient restroom maintenance will reduce employee productivity and increase worker apathy. Simply put, failing to keep up with your restrooms is going to put a significant dent in your overall business and bottom line.

The Restroom Checklist to Keep Your Office Janitorial Service Checked In

No one wants an office cleaning company that is checked out. So how do you make sure your office cleaners are checked in? A restroom cleaning check list! Now, if your office cleaning company is already performing up to your standards, they probably don’t need a list. But if you suspect that your office cleaning service isn’t up-to-par there are a number of things that you can check to evaluate them and help get them back on track. At least by communicating your needs with your office cleaning company you can figure out if the partnership can get back on track or if it is time to start looking at different office cleaning companies. Here are the core areas that we feel any Michigan cleaning service should be focusing on to keep your restrooms looking their best:

• Your restroom can’t reek of toilet odors, toilets and urinals must be cleaned well and often to assure a fresh, clean smell.
• Urinals need to be sufficiently cleaned including being wiped down, cleaning handles, screen and replacing the urinal block regularly.
• Office cleaners need to observe manufacturer recommended dwell times to make sure their chemical cleaners are clinging to surfaces long enough to be effective at eradicating germs.
• If your cleaning company isn’t using best practices, what are they doing? Using the right chemicals, agitation and extraction can insure that walls, toilets, sinks, urinals, mirror, floors are completely clean.
• Mirrors should be clean, spot free and lint free, and shiny corner to corner.
• Your office janitorial service provider should place a heavy emphasis on “hot spots”, “high contact”, and “touch points” to drastically cut down on the spread of infectious pathogens.
• Hard to reach areas such as the backs of toilets need to be cleaned regularly in order to cut down on grime and odor.
• Trash receptacles need to be emptied regularly, the general rule of thumb is that they should be empty before they are full, not after.
• All consumable products should be regularly restocked and monitored so that they never run low or run out.
• No one likes mystery moisture. All surfaces that can get water or other liquids on them should be regularly cleaned and buffed so that they don’t have any liquid staining and aren’t sticky.
• The vents should be cleaned regularly.
• Maintaining restroom partitions so they are free of the three G’s—grime, gum and graffiti.
• The restroom should be regularly inspected to make sure that fixtures, paper and soap dispensers, as well as toilet paper dispensers are in working order.
• Make sure that all the light bulbs are in good working order.
• Details are as important as the core cleaning, the corners, baseboards, and ceiling all need to be kept clean.
• Feminine hygiene dispensers should be cleaned and restocked with new liners put in place as needed.
• The restroom needs undergo periodic deep cleaning in order to keep issues from piling up and to help protect your building assets.
• Any grout and tile lines should be clean.
• After every cleaning the restroom should be visually inspected to note any follow up cleaning or maintenance.
• Using effective, quality adds to both quality and efficiency.
• The restroom cleaning supplies should always be well stocked, organized, and stored with proper labeling and safety procedures in place.
• The cleaning equipment needs to be properly maintained, stored, repaired, and replaced as needed.

Restroom Cleaners Must Be Truly Professional

Today’s science has shown us that we need to go a little further than just surface cleaning in our restrooms, especially office restroom cleaning where restrooms see a great deal of traffic. Companies that are stuck in the past and that ignore industry best practices, systems, and equipment are in no position to keep your office restrooms healthy, clean, safe and looking their best. With dramatic improvements in cleaning products, equipment and methods, we can now expect cleaner restrooms faster and for less money. If your commercial office cleaning company isn’t delivering on their promises to you, you aren’t getting the quality or value you and your facility deserve. If they aren’t using the restroom checklist, have poor recruitment and training programs or are generally inexperienced, it’s time to start looking for a new commercial office cleaning service provider. You owe it to yourself and your restrooms to have a more responsive, customized commercial office cleaning service.

Commercial Office Cleaning Services That Deliver

Not only are clean restrooms good for your reputation, but they promote a healthy, productive atmosphere. The good news is the office cleaning marketplace is jammed with different companies to pick from, the bad news is there are a lot of duds in the mix. So how can you tell the difference between the professional and the less than professional without wasting hours of your time on a seemingly wild goose chase?

Your best option is to look for those companies that offer a transparent a clear price coupled with a site inspection. Your can then look at how said companies hire, train and retain their staff. The office cleaning industry is a service industry, the quality of the work you receive is entirely dependent on the type of people doing it. Finally, relevant industry certifications can be a great way to see which companies are just average and which go above and beyond.

The ISSA’s CIMS and CIMS-GB certification are rigorous and stringent industry accreditations that demonstrate a company’s willingness to not only match but surpass the industries best practices. Looking at such certifications can be your first line of defense against companies that are going to leave your restroom cleaning lacking.

What Could A Day Porter Add In Your Facility?

We find not all Facility Managers are familiar with what a Day Porter is and why they might benefit from one. The answer to ‘what is a dayporter?’ and ‘do I need one?’ isn’t entirely simple as the service itself is highly customizable. A dayporter’s duties may vary widely from on service provider to the next. In simple terms, a day porter is responsible for the day to day cleaning and upkeep of your building(s), whatever that might look like. Day porter staff augment evening cleaning and pick up the odd jobs and tasks that keep your facility running smoothly. You can say goodbye to the abandoned plates and cups lying around your facility. You’ll never have to worry about going into the restroom and finding missing essentials or an overflowing trash can. A solid day porter service can attend to the day to day activities that should be done more timely than waiting on the night time cleaning service. Likewise, because your day porter works during business hours making sure your facility gets what it needs immediately, they are available to get more precise direction on what is most important to you making them a good fit for slightly more involved projects. A day porter can help fill everything from the basic to niche needs of your facility as they come up to make sure that every looks clean and runs as smoothly as possible.

Is a Day Porter the Right Solution?

Day Porter services are easy to customize and can really make your facilities look great and function optimally. A day porter is an extension of your own staff, if your staff happened to be comprised of trained cleaning and maintenance professionals. Day porters can offer complete lobby management services and pretty much, whatever your facility requires. Better yet, you get all the benefits of having a fully trained cleaning staff with none of the draw backs. They can serve as an important intermediary between night service providers AND offer you the more timely benefits of day cleaning. You can communicate your needs directly to them without having to manage all the facets of employing a cleaning staff yourself.

People Are the Key to a Successful Day Porter Service

Now not every day porter service is going to be as good as the next; it all comes down to the kind of individuals your building services company is putting in your facility. A successful day porter program requires good people. Obviously, a day porter is service work, but moreover, it is a highly specialized and unique position in your facility. The better the fit, the more you’ll get. For that reason, your day porter service needs to be comprised of a person or people that are well suited for the role. The best day porter service providers are going to put the majority of their time and effort into finding the right people to meet your facilities’ unique needs. This means recruiting and keeping competent staff. This also entails all the standard due diligence that comes with hiring for a service position like criminal background checks and drug screening along with anything else industry relevant. The best gauge of the quality of day porter is how they screen, train, and manage their staff. Nothing is a better indicator of competent and professional day porter than solid employee practices.

Maximize What You Get Out of Your Day Porter Program

As mentioned, day porters are a great way to get highly personalized care for your facility. However, there are a couple of problems that come up with day porter services that may keep you from getting the most from this service. Because a day porter service fills such a wide and varied set of roles, it is imperative that you identify which are most important to you. It is your job to help prioritize your day porter’s duties. We see all to often day porter services getting overwhelmed with the sheer number of services they are asked to provide because they can’t identify which are important and which can be placed on the backburner so to speak. Without clear direction, it is easy to constantly frontload projects that are easier or more interesting. Some dayporters will also begin delegating certain tasks to the nighttime cleaning service, which can cause issues and confusion. In order to maximize your day porter program, be prepared to communicate with your day porter about what matters to you most.

Finding a Balance With Your Day Porter & Nighttime Cleaners

If you have both a day porter service and nighttime service to handle your facility’s cleaning and maintenance, a common problem that can occur is the shuffling of responsibility between the two. It is entirely too easy to push responsibility to the next cleaning team. With an ever-growing list of responsibilities and time consuming work, more often than not, some things will not be finished. Instead, these responsibilities are pushed to the next cleaning team creating an ever-growing snowball of unfinished work. The key to managing the two is a very clear outline of what is expected of each group as well as communicating any issues with your cleaning company so they can resolve issues between the two. Again, communicate with your janitorial services provider, ultimately it is their job to manage issues as you are outsourcing your cleaning to them.

Advancing Facility Maintenance with a Reputable Day Porter Provider

With a little management and time, your day porter program can become an indispensable part of your building services. The near instant attention to your needs will keep your facility running smoothly and allow you to focus on running a business, not on trying to keep pizza boxes out of the conference room. When you utilize the services of a professional, reputable Detroit area commercial cleaning company, you can create a lasting partnership that serves you and your facility well. No matter what kind of cleaning you need, whether it be dealing with your high traffic areas with unobtrusive cleaning or restocking your bathrooms and office supplies, or moving things around your facility, a solid day porter service can be an effective, time saving solution to facility maintenance and cleaning.