Is a Constant Influx Of Complaints Piling Up?

When your inbox is bombarded by complaints about cleaning, cleaning that has not been finished and restrooms that haven’t been cleaned properly, it’s a pretty good indication that you have a problem with your commercial office cleaning company. As Facility Manager, you likely outsourced your cleaning to what you thought was a professional office cleaning company so that you wouldn’t have to deal with such problems, not to make them more frequent. If it seems like your office cleaning company has been asleep at the wheel, and your inbox is a steady stream of grievances against your office cleaning company, it is time to find a real solution.

How To Tell If Your Commercial Cleaning Company Is A Mess In Itself

Are unclean restrooms and low performance noticeably reducing the quality of service in your facility? The problem could be related to the turnover rate of your professional cleaning service provider. If your commercial office cleaning services have a constant influx of new staff replacing more experienced staff, you’ll find that the quality of your office cleaning is reduced significantly. It takes time to train new employees and even longer for them to become acquainted with your facility and its specific needs. The most effective commercial cleaning company is proactive rather than reactive. A proactive office cleaning service will perform inspections regularly to keep an eye on their own people. Further, if they see a trend of poor service as a result of high turnover, poor training or poor fit, they will take steps to address the problem before it becomes an ongoing issue. The most effective cleaning companies in the industry have solid communication skills to address problems.

Where Office Cleaning Companies Go Off Track

Some Detroit office cleaning companies are just after your money with little thought to excelling at service, but typically, the common problems of cleaning come down to a lack of systems in place to assure quality rather than a lack of good intentions. Being a professional in the office cleaning industry is no easier than any other business and as such should never be left to the inexperienced. Still, startup costs of office cleaning can be on the lower end, creating the overcrowded marketplace you are bound to see when looking for such a company. Still, office cleaning requires no less skill or care. Partnering with inexperienced office cleaning companies will almost always yield the same result. You will get unclear pricing as they are still learning to accurately price their services, inconsistent results, high turnover, poorly trained employees and a lack of communication. Every cleaning company has been there but the more experienced among them have already worked these kinks out.

Finding the Office Cleaning Company That Really Stacks Up

When company after commercial cleaning company delivers consistently poor levels of service, it can feel like they are all the same. In reality, however, they are not. In fact, there are a number of quality commercial cleaning companies that consistently deliver the highest levels of service. So, what is the trick to finding office janitorial service that measure up to what your facility needs? First, you have to look for value over cost. Naturally, you don’t want to over pay for your cleaning service and you have budgets to meet, however, no amount of cost savings can make up for a company that simply isn’t doing the job. Second, the most effective and most professional Michigan office cleaning services should have procedures, processes and systems in place to assure effective, consistent, responsive office cleaning service, including:

• Regular inspections of janitorial and commercial cleaning services in your facility
• A thorough understanding of the security needs of your facility as well as a clear, well documented employee screening and training system
• A comprehensive Green cleaning solution that fits in your facility
• A complete system and set of procedures to make sure your cleaning service is meeting its commitments
• The ISSA’s CIMS certification or another relevant industry accreditation to demonstrate a commitment to a high level of service
• The manpower to meet your changing needs
• Solid communication skills to address problems and changes as they come up

When Is It Time to Sack Your Office Cleaning Company & Start Over?

If your office cleaning service isn’t meeting their commitments or just generally causing headaches in your facility, it is time to make a choice. One path you could follow is to sit down with your current service provider and rework your contract so that you can get your cleaning plan back where it is supposed to be. This usually works best with companies that started with a quality service and slowly went off track. However, if you have been unsatisfied with the performance of your office cleaning company for some time now and you have already communicated that with little or no change in service, it is time to find a new company. Finding the right company for your facility to ensure a consistent level of service is probably the smartest decision you can make for your facility.

Finding an Office Cleaning Company That Will Deliver

If you have gotten this far then you have decided it is time to start from the top and partner with a new commercial cleaning company. As such, you must be wondering, “how do I find an office cleaning company that fits the needs of my facility, my budget and will help me avoid frequent complaints I am getting about facility cleaning?” The process of finding a new cleaning company can be daunting, especially because there are so many cleaning companies that come in all different types and sizes. You have everything from your national janitorial companies to your mom and pop cleaning services, and everyone in between. Sure, you can ask around, check references and do the due diligence it takes to weed out the fakers but that all takes time, the one thing we are pretty sure you don’t have enough of. If you are anticipating a changing of the guard with your office cleaners, you should know about the ISSA’s CIMS or Certified Industry Management Standard. The CIMS accreditation is an industry specific certification wherein the research needed to vet prospective cleaning companies has been done for you. Looking for this certification can help you find the partner that will provide a high level of service in your facility and help cut down on the number of complaints that you have been getting.

The best way to make sure that your office cleaning delivers is to have a professional, effective, and most importantly responsive Detroit office cleaning and janitorial company. Here at Stathakis, we work with all types of businesses to keep their workplaces clean and healthy. We utilize industry best practices to offer our customers an exceptional level of service. We also understand that the people that clean your facility are as important as how they clean your facility. As such, we go well beyond industry requirements when it comes to screening, hiring and training our teams. Can we help you? If you would like to learn how we help Facility Managers just like you with effective janitorial services all while staying on budget, please contact us at (800) 278-1884.

Stathakis proudly serves the Southeastern businesses of Ann Arbor, including Detroit, Royal Oak, Farmington Hills, Downriver, Farmington, Dearborn, Livonia, Troy, Auburn Hills, Novi, and Plymouth.

How Michigan’s Rising Minimum Wage Will Change Janitorial Pricing

In the state of Michigan, legislation has pushed up the minimum wage resulting in the small but impactful raise from $8.15 in 2015 to $8.50 in 2016 to $8.90 in 2017 to $9.25 which went into effect January of 2018, and now again $9.45 for 2019 starting in late March. This is all while the federal minimum wage is just $7.25 an hour. As an industry that is largely pinioned on its employee base, pricing can be severely impacted by an increase in such costs. While we can try to absorb these changes to limit the impact on your business, it is easy to see how challenging manage operational cost increases without passing along some of this price to you, the customer. That being said, you as the Facility Manager are still under pressure to keep your janitorial budgets under control. Let's look at a couple of ways that commercial cleaning companies are responding to higher labor costs to make sure that your cleaning budget isn’t further impacted while maintaining an effective level of service. For many of the most experienced, consistent, effective cleaning companies, it is a combination of some of the industry's best practices like:

• Smart Cleaning
• Open Book Pricing
• Time Saving Cleaning Equipment
• Team Cleaning
• Employee Retention Practices

The Difference Between Team Cleaning & Zone Cleaning

Team cleaning has been demonstrated again and again to be strictly more efficient than the traditional zone cleaning. To zone clean is to divide a building up into areas, assigning a specific cleaner or cleaning team to each respective area. While this may seem like a common sense approach to cleaning it can present a couple of problems, namely duplication and specialization. Take for example the process of cleaning one floor, it must be vacuumed or mopped (or both), dusted, surfaces cleaned, trashes emptied, and restrooms cleaned. This requires a large amount of equipment, consumables, and other products for each cleaner to do their job. Further, to properly complete these tasks, each cleaner must be familiar with the specifics of each task that goes into cleaning a whole section of a building. This is a challenging task and can often lead to incorrectly completed work. Team cleaning instead sends a group of people, each with assigned tasks to do throughout a facility. Each person is a specialist in their own right working on one specific item or process for each room. This way, each individual is better trained in their task and doesn't have to move large amounts of equipment from room to room helping to increase efficiency and decrease overall cost. Similarly, if you have a vacuum specialist, a floor cleaning specialist and a restroom specialist, for example, you do not have to outfit each individual cleaner with the equipment and supplies to do a variety of tasks. It is cheaper and far more efficient.

Industry Innovation Can Help Keep Prices Low

Like every industry, the janitorial industry has gone through a number of technological advances in the past few years. As a result, commercial cleaning has become increasingly more effective and more cost efficient. As an example of, the Clarke’s Boost floor cleaning machine, through case studies, has been shown to reduce labor costs by over 80%. While investing in this technology has a high associated cost, the efficiency it offers and reduction in hours can help keep janitorial and commercial cleaning prices down despite a rising minimum wage. Another technology that drastically changed the industry is HEPA filtration backpack vacuums, which allow cleaning staff to cover more than twice the area in a facility in the same amount of time as before. Additionally, the HEPA backpack vacuums also helped reduce repetitive motion injuries as well as improve indoor air quality compared to traditional vacuums. As you can see, not only does innovation in the commercial cleaning industry reduce labor hours, it also improves the health of your building by implementing greener, more sustainable technologies.

How to Use Smart Cleaning to Keep Prices in Check Without Letting Go of Quality

Implementing Smart Cleaning in your facility can help you keep costs down while living with the rising cost of labor in Michigan. To Smart Clean is to strategically target certain services while reducing others to help reduce the overall cost of cleaning while maintaining a similar, livable level of quality. Strategicallyis of course the key word. If your level of service suddenly drops off you are sure to be flooded with complaints and numerous other ancillary problems. The key to effective Smart Cleaning is two things: first, use a cleaning company that is experienced enough to know what can be cut back on and what cannot. Second, find a company that is willing to take the time to understand the ins and outs of your building as well as your specific needs so as to best implement Smart Cleaning in a way that works well for you and your facility. Smart Cleaning isn’t just a phrase that you can throw at your commercial cleaning company and expect results, it requires forethought, innovation, customization and above all, commitment. By cutting tasks that can go undone intermittently, you can significantly reduce your cleaning costs. When applied by an experienced company, you'll find you can reduce your cleaning hours and cost without drastically lowering the quality of your cleaning.

Janitorial Turnover Can Hurt Your Cleaning and Your Wallet

Any service businesses’ single greatest resource is their people, this is in part why rising labor costs have a big impact on Michigan cleaning companies. Employees are key to delivering quality service but the commercial cleaning industry can be notorious for its employee turnover. So, when you come across a janitorial company that actively works to reduce their turnover rate, you are very likely to benefit from their endeavors. Why is that? Mainly because the cost of bringing in new employees with any degree of frequency is a very large expense as it entails recruiting, screening, hiring, and training among other things. Add to that newer employees are more inefficient as they are learning and mastering their responsibilities. This is of course unavoidable, but if your cleaning company is a revolving door of new hires, they are really always in training mode reducing the quality and value of the cleaning services you are receiving. The higher the turnover rate is, the higher the cost is going to be to you, not to mention that the quality of your cleaning will be reduced by the constant changing of the staff that is cleaning your facility.

Use Open Book Pricing to Your Advantage

Open Book Pricing is when a janitorial company literally opens their books and shows you how they break down costs and profit. The benefit of this type open communication is that you can see exactly what it is your paying for and exactly what the hard costs are for your janitorial company. What you should be expecting to see when it comes to hard costs is the following:

• Direct Costs (often in the form of consumables like cleaners and other paper products)
• Labor
• Taxes
• Management Fees
• Employee Benefits
• Insurance
• Profits

In terms of expenditures, the highest expense will always go to staffing, and with the increase in minimum wage, this number will only go up. The best companies in the industry will look to position their business model in such a way to avoid passing on the cost to you by utilizing techniques like Smart Cleaning and by investing in efficient equipment. However, if you need fixed hours, the cost is going to go up. Taking advantage of industry innovation can help keep prices level, but understand how the rising wage impacts the price of your janitorial and commercial cleaning service provider.

Managing a Rising Minimum Wage Without Sacrificing Service

Inevitably, Michigan’s rising minimum wage will have an impact on costs in a number of industries and the janitorial industry is no exception. Still, there are things to be done with both you and your janitorial company making adjustments to try to keep costs as level as possible and still keep your facility well maintained. Are you looking for better service? Better value? More consistency? Reach out and let us show you how we can make your facility services work for you rather than against you.

Stathakis proudly serves the Southeastern businesses of Ann Arbor, including Detroit, Royal Oak, Farmington Hills, Downriver, Farmington, Dearborn, Livonia, Troy, Auburn Hills, Novi, and Plymouth.

Crystal Clear Pricing Is A Must For Any Successful Partnership

So often janitorial bids are confusing and difficult to understand when in reality cleaning prices should always be crystal clear and certainly easy to compare. We know that finding the right janitorial company to partner with can be a difficult task, especially given how many companies there are here in Michigan from which to choose. Not only are is it a crowded janitorial marketplace, there are so many different level providers and so many other factors to consider when trying to decide what company will be the best long term fit for your facility.

What Makes Up A Janitorial Bid?

No matter how much we would all love if effective commercial cleaning and janitorial services were easy to find, effective and affordable, that just isn’t the case. Deciding upon your next cleaning company doesn’t have to be a shot in the dark if you are armed with good information. First, what’s really in a bid? Every service industry, janitorial companies included, must account for hard costs like insurance, taxes, labor, benefits, cleaning supplies and more. As is with any service business, the largest hard cost is the price of labor, especially considering the changes to minimum wage here in Michigan. Aside from this, you also have your facility’s needs to consider. For instance, budgetary requirements, your building’s traffic, and maintenance needs among a host of other things. In order to provide you with the most accurate information about the cost of cleaning your facility, your prospective janitorial company is going to need to know these factors as well as information like square footage, the number of restrooms, floor type and any other details that can help them build an accurate quote. Site visits can also be an important component of accurate janitorial bids.

Too Low & Value Falls Apart

In an era of ever tightening budgets, we are all looking for a way to trim costs. Still, keep in mind when negotiating costs that there needs to be a balance between reducing the cost to you and making sure your prospective company is still turning a healthy profit. Go too low and your commercial cleaning company simply won’t be able to do the work you need. Janitorial companies have hard costs especially with regard to labor hours. They need to be able to cover their costs in labor, equipment, administration, supplies, and most importantly, net a reasonable profit margin. Without that they won’t be in business for long. So, when looking at prices for your commercial cleaning company, you have to consider what it costs your janitorial services company and what it costs you and strike a healthy balance.

Don’t Use Price As Your Only Gauge

If you are using lowest price as the sole basis for deciding on a Plymouth janitorial company, you are not likely to like the results. Getting a company that fits your bottom line but doesn't do the work promised or the work you need isn’t a good deal at any price. Getting your facility's needs met is the first priority of any potential partnership between you and an Ann Arbor cleaning service. This doesn't just mean that they sometimes provide the level of service required, it means that they consistently deliver on their promises to you and adjust according to what you need. While price will always factor into choosing a contractor, it should never be the only factor.

Beware the Very High & Very Low Prices

There is an important distinction that needs to be made between price and value. If you are receiving poor or inconsistent service at a rock bottom price, you might like the price but you aren’t getting what you need. Another way to think out about it is paying to have your facility not cleaned. No one would ever say “Hey! That is a great deal on not having my facility cleaned!” And the flip side of this is that high prices are not a guarantee of better service. You have to look beyond price t determine if you and your facility are truly getting value. All too often you will ask for a number of janitorial quotes and the prices will not actually reflect the reality of what your facility needs, value or what you will really end up paying. Many companies simply don’t know how to accurately price their services. Low prices can be a way of securing your contract and then boom, you are hit with hidden charges and fees and high prices are usually a result of inexperienced bidding. As Facility Manager, you should be looking for the company that offers a reasonable and clear price that falls within your janitorial budget. As such, you deserve to get clear bids and transparent pricing to help you make the best decision for your facility.

Why The Cheapest Price Is Not Likely The Best Value

Cheap prices are always going to be tempting, especially if your budgets are tight to begin with. Unfortunately, very low prices are often a red flag for activities like illegal hiring, subcontracting, low quality service, and pricing games. Still, it is all to often the Facility Managers convince themselves that as a result of their budget that they have to partner with a bottom of the barrel commercial cleaning company in order to make ends meet. Never settle for a company that isn’t going to provide a consistent level of quality in their work regardless of their price. The best cleaning companies in the industry understand that many Facility Managers are in the same position and actively work to come up with custom cleaning solutions to make sure that your facility gets cleaned properly without going over budget. By taking advantage of industry proven practices like Smart Cleaning and Team Cleaning, you can streamline your cleaning to only include the essentials while removing other expensive services that your facility does not really need in order to operate effectively.

Some Janitorial Companies Understand How To Do More With Less

Experienced, professional janitorial companies know which services can be cut and which cannot in order to help you meet your bottom line numbers. They know that cutting service to areas without thought and planning will immediately cause an influx of complaints and calls that will cause all kinds of problems. Cuts have to be smart, strategic and planned. For instance, maybe the conference room can be cleaned once or twice a week, while restrooms must be cleaned every evening. The right commercial cleaning company will be able to work directly with you to make these calls to get the core areas of your building serviced without showing an appreciable loss in service to your tenants or employees. For smart cleaning to be effective, however, your cleaning company needs to have a detailed and complete understanding of the ins and outs of your facility. This means that you need to do a complete walk-through and sit down to create a plan based on traffic patterns and unique building requirements. Smart Cleaning, done correctly, will give you the tools you need to still get a high level of consistent service without going over you cleaning budget.

Don’t Settle For Overpriced Services That Don’t Deliver, You Can Do Better

It is always a balancing act between a reasonable price and a reasonable level of service when it comes to commercial cleaning. You don’t want to overpay for your cleaning service but at the same time you don’t want to accept the first unbelievably low bid you get as you likely won’t like the results. The goal of course is value, that point where price and quality meet to give you the most bang for your janitorial buck.

Here at Stathakis, we deliver janitorial services and building maintenance services to Southeastern Michigan including: Genesee County, Livingston County, Washtenaw County, Monroe County, Wayne County, Macomb County, St. Clair County. We offer effective, professional office cleaning services to the cities of Detroit, Ann Arbor, Farmington Hills, Dearborn, Farmington, Livonia, Plymouth, Downriver, Royal Oak, Southfield, Troy, Auburn Hills, Novi and more.

The Myth Of The Perfect Commercial Cleaning Company

While finding the right commercial cleaning company for your facility isn’t always going to be a fairytale with the perfect happy ending, it is certainly a worthy quest to embark upon. Still, it can feel like a futile pursuit. Maybe this is in part because many cleaning companies will offer promises of service that seem straight out of mythical stories where they are the one and only hero cleaning company that can vanquish dirt in your facility. Finding a company that not only makes promises but can actually deliver on them is quite a feat. While finding a janitorial company that can and will deliver effective, consistent, high quality service is the goal and we have a couple of tips and tricks to make sure that you can find the right company for you and your building without having to go on an epic, lifetime journey slaying monsters and dragons along the way. Don’t give up on your quest to find the best commercial cleaning company just yet.

Blind Bids & Cloudy Pricing Don’t Lead to Happy Endings

It happens all too often that a Facility Manager will accept a less than clear cleaning contract thinking. Maybe they are mesmerized and hopeful about finally getting the service they need but all too often they find that promises disappear in a poof of air or worse, that it was all a devious trap. Many cleaning companies will offer unbelievable, mythical prices, too good to be true as some would say, and it can be easy to convince ourselves this is what we need. However, these low, unclear prices are often a sign of two things. The first is inexperience, a company that lacks experience in janitorial and commercial cleaning will often not know how to properly construct a bid leading to inaccurate, unclear pricing. Second is that a cleaning company is trying to hide fees and charges in order to get your business now and get more money out of you later. By having an unclear bid, they can effectively obscure these charges. Never partner with a company that can’t or won’t produce a clear janitorial bid for your building. You deserve to know exactly what you are getting and what it is going to cost.

Communication Must Be a Part of the Story

The next critical aspect of any successful commercial cleaning service is a quick system in place to respond to problems and customer issues. Now of course, when you ask if there is such a system in place, every company will answer with a resounding yes. But, not every company can back this assertion up.  The key here is to ask to see their plan, to walk you through how they handle issues now. The best commercial cleaning services will have a clear written plan/policy on how they respond to customer requests, complaints and other issues. The truth of the situation is that not even the oracle of all cleaning companies can operate with peak performance in your facility without some feedback. After all, you know your facility the best. As such, regular communication is key to your satisfaction as well as receiving a high level of consistent cleaning service in your facility year after year.

People Are Key

The cornerstone of any successful service business is their frontline staff, as they are the people that represent them. You can’t have an epic story without the very best characters. One significant problem when it comes to the janitorial and commercial cleaning industry is the high turnover rate that often leads to an influx of new people servicing your facility. This can bring with it a couple of major problems. The first is that no matter how good a company is at training their cleaning staff, nothing can make up for experience and getting acclimated to the unique needs of your facility. So, with a constant revolving cast of characters, what you’ll find you are missing is practical experience reducing the quality of service. The second issue that will come up is that of security in your office. With new staff constantly entering and leaving it can be difficult to properly screen employees, putting you building at risk or giving tenants and employees the impression it isn’t safe.

Require A Regal Reputation

When it comes to protecting your kingdom from the dragon that is dirt and germs, you want to have the right dragon slayer for the job, right? So how do you find a this almost magical, mythical cleaning company? You don’t want the man that boasts about his skill but rather the one that has a reputation for quality dragon slaying. Finding the right commercial cleaning company for your building can really come down to who you know. Recommendations from other industry professionals and trusted Facility Managers are great if you can get them. While no one is perfect, these companies consistently provide a high level of service earning them a reputation for their solid work ethic, professionalism, easy to understand bids and quotes, open communication lines, and proven practices.

Check Certifications

In lieu of a trusted recommendation, you can use the ISSA’s CIMS and CIMS-GB certification to separate the princes from the frogs. This particular industry certification requires companies to hit a series of benchmarks in service, people, training, communication, green cleaning and other core areas to ensure that if you partner with this company, that they will deliver the highest quality cleaning service. Essentially, going with the commercial cleaning service that has secured professional certification from an industry organization is like magic to save you the time of doing all of the due diligence from the start. Of course you still will want to determine that they will be a good fit but you at least start well ahead of the game.

Getting Your Happily Ever After

Get your fairy tale ending, or at least pretty close by finding and partnering with a commercial cleaning company that will service your building most effectively for the best possible price. Any janitorial company that invests and values their staff, offers clear, easy to understand janitorial bids, and has a solid reputation is likely to keep your building looking it’s best. As an added bonus, you can quickly identify companies like this by taking advantage of the ISSA’s CIMS certification to quickly sort the pros from the nos. As long as you know where to look, there are truly professional commercial cleaning services and finding one for your facilities is possible and will make your job and life much easier in the long run getting you closer to happily ever after.

Here at Stathakis, with over 30 years in, we have carefully developed and refines our standard of service that meets or exceeds that of our closest competitors. We have achieved CIMS certification through hard work and determination and continue to meet CIMS certification year after year. We have also worked hard to create lasting relationships with our customers and offer the businesses of southeastern Michigan the service they deserve by adhering to and even expanding janitorial best practices.

Are you searching for commercial cleaning services in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Royal Oak, Farmington Hills, Farmington, Dearborn, Livonia, Troy, Auburn Hills, Novi, Plymouth, Downriver or surrounding areas? Are you looking for commercial cleaning services, office cleaning, school cleaning, industrial cleaning, medical cleaning or other building services and need more than the same old song and dance, please contact us to learn more about how we can assure you get the service you and your facility require.

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.