Do you know what a Day Porter does? If not, don’t worry, many Facility Managers aren’t entirely sure either. A Day Porter isn’t the same as a day cleaning service, but it does include day cleaning in part. Add to the confusion that a Day Porter is a highly customized position so what a Day Porter can do to help you in your facility may look very different from what the Day Porter duties look like in another building. Essentially, a Day Porter helps clean areas of your building that need attention throughout the day while picking up extra tasks that help your building look better and run smoother. Your Day Porter can help make sure your entry doors are always sparkling, your reception area never becomes a holding area for abandoned, half empty coffee cups and your restrooms are never without important supplies and frequently emptied trash cans. With a solid Day Porter service, you never have to wait out the nighttime cleaning crew again for issues that are important right now. Essentially, day porter services are designed to help you and your facility with basic janitorial needs during normal daytime business hours and other related tasks that keep your building running smoothly.
Because Day Porter services are so customized, they can really help your facility shine. Often very good Day Porters, while primarily managed by your Building Services Company, become an extension of your own staff. That is without all of the many things involved in having an employee. They can also become a valuable intermediary between you and your evening cleaning service. Likewise, it can be so helpful to get your building’s needs addressed immediately and in person rather than try to communicate a specific or special need to a night time cleaning service you never or rarely see face to face.
The single most important element in the success of your Day Porter program is the individual your building services company places in your facility. In part, this is because it is a service position and in part because it is a highly personalized and even specialized position. In order to get the most from YOUR day porter, they must be a good fit for the position and a natural fit in your facility. An effective day Porter program is directly linked to the amount of time and care your janitorial company puts it into finding the right individual for your specific needs. This not only means finding a good fit overall, but also your commercial cleaning company must do all of the standard due diligence including criminal background checks and drug testing. If you are thinking about adding a Day Porter program to your current roster of services, you should ask what your janitorial services company does to assure their people are screened, trained and managed to assure the highest level of success in your facility.
Day Porter programs offer a way to get a high level of personalized help in your facility; however, there are some common problems that can keep you from getting the most from your day porter. First, because a Day Porter has a variety of duties, it is critical that you help them prioritize their workload and requests. Frequently, many people in your facility will make requests of your Day Porter, it is easy for a day porter to become overwhelmed with duties and not know which ones are a priority and which they should reroute through you or a supervisor. Ideally, requests for help should come through you or a point person who can approve any work that will take your Day Porter away from their everyday responsibilities. Likewise, if your Day Porter has a huge and growing workload, it is normal that they would focus on those duties they enjoy most so having help prioritizing work and managing outside requests for help can help your day porter focus on the things YOU need most and be effective and successful in their position.
In order to avoid issues between the day cleaning and night cleaning teams, you need to be aware of some common issues. A problem that can arise with even the most professional and effective day porter programs is responsibility shifting between the day porter and the nighttime cleaning people. Day Porters, especially very good day porters, get busy during their work day with a growing list of responsibilities. Often they will begin to shift some of their cleaning responsibilities to the evening cleaning team. Likewise, rather than communicate your needs to the night cleaning crew, sometimes they get in the position of trying to manage the evening cleaning team which is more likely to create tension than respond to your specific needs. You can head off these common challenges by being very clear about your Day Porter’s duties and your expectations, and again, managing the extra requests for help that can leave your Day Porter with more work than time. Ultimately, if there are issues with or between your Day Porter and nighttime cleaning crew, it is your janitorial company’s problem to fix. After all, that is one of the major benefits of outsourcing your commercial cleaning.
A Day Porter Program can become an essential part of maintaining your facility at the highest levels, around the clock. The extra help can not only help you facility run smoother, it can help you focus on your business by having a go to person to respond in real time to issues that may arise. 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. Whether it’s unobtrusively working in heavy traffic areas to keep busy areas of your building spotless, or replenishing paper supplies in the restrooms, or even running packages upstairs or helping a person move offices, your Day Porter can be an amazing asset in helping you keep your building looking good and staying on course. For more information on Day Porters and whether one might be right for your facility, please contact us for a free, no obligation consultation.