One day you come in and your building looks good. You think, finally, your cleaning company has figured out how to best service your building. Then a few days later you come in only to find major tasks incomplete. Maybe there is a new team member you think, and you make a note to call your Michigan cleaning company. But when you check on things a few days later, they seem to be ok. If you are a Facilities Manager, you can probably relate to this scenario. It can be hard to be caught in the push-pull of a less than consistent cleaning service. You understand mistakes happen and things sometimes get overlooked or new people may need training, but your cleaning service is all over the place. Maybe it’s not so bad that you are ready to fire them, but the lack of consistency is leaving you feeling very unsatisfied with your cleaning services.
Do you as a Facilities Manager ever feel like getting your cleaning company to deliver consistent service is an impossible task? If the answer is "yes", you are not alone. Read on to get a handle on the three crucial steps in getting to consistent service out of your Michigan cleaning services.
1. Communication Is Key!
All buildings are different no matter how much experience the Cleaning Company has taking care of buildings like yours. It is your responsibility as the Facilities Manager to communicate those differences and your specific needs to your cleaning service so that they can adjust their cleaning plan accordingly. A building is a living organism that has requirements that may change on a daily basis. Things like parties, moves, construction, or any other types of events in your building can change the cleaning plans on any given night. If you communicate such changes your Cleaning Company, they should be able to offer you a good level of responsiveness and adjust services that night to accommodate your needs.
2. Systems And Procedures Are A Must.
Who among us doesn’t work better with a plan? Your Michigan Cleaning Service should be providing detailed work plans to their staff. Anything less simply leaves too much to chance. Work plans should include a schedule for each employee that states areas, times and procedures each employee is responsible for completing. A well thought out plan will make sure that everything is getting covered to your specifications including any special requests. Likewise, a detailed plan offers both you and the management of your cleaning service a clear picture of accountability when things are not up to par. How can you assess the services you are getting if there is no benchmark to measure against? A detailed plan and systems in place will help you get what you want out of your Michigan cleaning services and help your cleaning company understand exactly what they need to do to make you a raving fan.
The only thing certain is change, so when things change in your building, so should the plan. But without a good starting point it is very difficult for your Cleaning Service to make adjustments to accommodate your needs. You should not have to come up with the plan on your own; a quality professional cleaning service should be able to formulate the plan with your input. A cookie cutter approach is unlikely to get you the level of work and results you expect so be prepared to voice your needs. Even the best cleaning company in Michigan is unlikely to meet expectations they are unaware of.
Another component to a good plan is the systems your Cleaning Service has in place to back that plan up. Good ideas and good intentions are of little use if there’s no system to make sure they translate into action. There are many things as a Facilities Manager you can do to insure you find a cleaning service that offers the operational fortitude to deliver on their promises to you but they can involve a great deal of legwork and time on your end. For the typically over extended facilities manager, looking at factors like CIMS certification can offer you a timesaving short cut to doing the research on your own.
CIMS certification is evidence that a building services company has the management systems to adequately support the cleaning plan in your building. The ISSA, a professional organization for the building services industry, offers certifications that set established, professional cleaning companies apart from less committed providers. Professional organizations and certifications like CIMS offer a solid path to find the best cleaning service providers in less time. You can streamline the process because when you choose to work with an ISSA CIMS Certified Michigan Cleaning services company, you can rest assured that your cleaning company is held to the highest industry standards. The Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS) certification program requires businesses to meet or exceed specific standards of excellence, including training and systems.
3. Remember We Are All Human.
A cleaning service is only as good as its people and people work best with systems that set the expectation of quality service. So great people and solid systems go hand in hand when you are looking for good cleaning services. Cleaning companies that are well versed on finding the best staff are going to deliver better results more consistently. When looking for the right Michigan cleaning service provider, look for companies that have a solid recruiting and training plan to find those people who are going to be more likely to be successful in the job. Likewise, never underestimate the importance of doing mandatory drug test and police background checks, as this will improve the chances of getting better service and protect everyone involved.
Still, at the end of the day, we are all human beings with human problems. Even a top-notch employee who has performed perfectly for three years may crumble in the fourth year because of family problems. And even good people working in a cleaning company with major internal issues may at some point suffer from burnout from management issues, a lack of appreciation or unfair compensation. For these reasons and more, finding a Michigan cleaning company that values their people and treats them fairly translates into better service for your facility.
Tom talks about how Stathakis has brought consistency to his building:
A good Cleaning Company respects employees as individuals and will work through such crisis to both support the employee and make sure that service does not suffer in your facility. At Stathakis, we use a philosophical approach called UBUNTU to direct how we work together as an organization of individuals. The cornerstones of Ubuntu provide a solid foundation for success. What are some of ideas we take from Ubuntu that we think help us find and nurture a great team and deliver on our promises to our customers? We use problem solving over blame placing when dealing with issues. We engage our people and our customers with civilized dialogue to get to the problem quick and get it solved. We show respect for every individual on our team, which in turn creates an expectation of the same between our team and our customers. We cooperate, collaborate and work to develop the full potential of our people. Likewise, we offer fair compensation, real rewards for performance, benefits that make long-term hires possible and the feedback to help get the best from our valued employees.
Getting good cleaning service is very subjective based on your needs and the employees your cleaning service uses to deliver through their systems and procedures. So there is always a chance that something may not go as planned. Expect issues to arise because sometimes it is unavoidable. Mistakes happen, but the larger concern is how does your cleaning company responds to your needs and handles problems when something goes wrong. Are they responsive? Do you get the sense that your cleaning company cares about doing a good job? Do you think they have the systems in place to make that positive intention a real, palpable action? At the end of the day, any business that involves service and people is bound to have bumps in the road. However, a solid Michigan cleaning services company will have a steadfast commitment to finding the right people and establishing the right systems to most consistently deliver solid result to you and your facilities.
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