It's likely that as a Facilities Manager, you do not want to spend your time micromanaging your janitorial service’s employees. You don't want to have to keep an eye on when they come and when they leave. You certainly don't want to be responsible for double-checking whether someone showed up or not. Isn't that what you hired a professional janitorial service for? All you want is the work done and done right. But if you janitorial services company isn't really putting in enough hours, there is no doubt that the job you're getting will suffer. Good cleaning and great janitorial service takes real time and effort, there are simply no shortcuts. If your current janitorial company isn't putting in the time required to keep your facilities clean and running smoothly, then you are getting shortchanged.
How Janitorial Employees Are Paid & Why It Matters
There are two ways that janitorial and cleaning companies can pay their employees. They can pay them by the job or an hourly wage. Many professional janitorial companies use Telephone Timekeeping Systems that have been around for nearly twenty years. These systems use caller ID to make sure that employees are clocking in and out from their job site and NOT from their living room. The most professional, customer-focused cleaning companies utilize Telephone Timekeeping Systems to make sure that their customers are fully receiving their promised services and the best value for their investment in maintaining their building. Many smaller or less well established janitorial companies either can’t or won’t invest in these types of systems to insure their employees stay on track and their customers stay customers.
Why Paying By the Job Doesn’t Offer Value for Cleaning Customers
Believe it or not, there are many Janitorial Service Companies that still pay by the job. Though it might seem easier to manage, this kind of pay system just doesn’t deliver results. At the start of a partnership with a new account, a janitorial company may budget for a four hour shift and agree to pay employees a set amount based upon four hours expected work. The problem is human nature and it gets even the best of us. Over the years, I have seen employees with the best of intentions start out like gang busters and do a great job sometimes even cutting a half an hour off their shift by working very, very hard. But as time goes by they move from three and half hours, to three hours, to two hours, and ultimately fifteen minutes on a four hour shift. Or perhaps a normally diligent employee leaves early one day because of a childcare crisis, sure it happens but without getting dinged for working less, it is bound to happen over and over again. We are all busy and have obligations outside of work, when it is too easy to cut corners, many of us will take it. Fair pay for fair work requires that you actually work the time agreed upon. There is no way a four hour job can get done in fifteen minutes or even an hour. And all too often, a less professional janitorial company will get complacent and pay people for showing up, whether they do the promised work or not.
A Competitive Hourly Wage Nets You Better Service
A competitive hourly wage is far more likely to get you consistent service from your janitorial service company. It is for that reason that here at Stathakis, we only pay employees for the hours they work to insure that they are spending enough time at a facility to properly do their jobs. Our teams want to work and are satisfied knowing they are being paid for their dedicated efforts. We pay a competitive wage with benefits and we incentivize our team to out perform. This also helps keep one employees slacking or inconsistency from spreading like a bad cold to the rest of the team. It can be a real motivation killer to watch someone else shrug off work and responsibilities with no consequences.
Is Your Cleaning Company Conducting Regular Inspections?
In order to keep our teams motivated and our accounts running smoothly, we also follow-up and do regular inspections to make sure that our people are working to bring value to our customers. It is a great deal easier from an administrative view to pay on the honor system paying everyone by the job, but I really don't believe that is delivering the best value to our customers. By paying for the hours worked using a timekeeping system that verifies that they are onsite, ready to work and conducting regular employee inspections, we have created an atmosphere of accountability, as well as delivering real value for our customers!