There are a number of factors that a Facility Manager may use to find the right commercial cleaning company but so often, it can come down to price. Now, we aren’t suggesting that you bail on your budgets or not shop around for the best value for your facility, however, price is just one PART of the equation of a successful commercial cleaning program. Rather than shop on price, it can be better to cultivate a short list of the best and most effective commercial cleaning companies and THEN look at price among these proven janitorial contractors. So if the mistake is looking solely at price to make a decision on your janitorial services, what SHOULD you be looking for?
There are a few qualities and practices that point straight to exceptional cleaning services. While no single item is the defining one, taken together, these can predict a high level of effective, responsive, even affordable janitorial service. Let’s take a look at what you should be searching for in the search for effective, high value janitorial services.
Janitorial prices aren’t always easy to compare, but they should be. Far too many cleaning companies don’t put the time into visiting your facility and meeting with you to draw up a quote that reflects what you and your facility require. Maybe they don’t know how or maybe they think they can just come at you for more money down the road. Likewise, imprecise cleaning bids make it harder to compare ‘apples to apples’ so that you can find the work you need for the best possible price. Adding to that hurried, imprecise janitorial quotes don’t adequately weight your real needs leading to bids that may be cheaper without actually accounting for the real work needed to maintain your facility. Cloudy pricing and fuzzy janitorial quotes make it harder to compare, plan, budget and even hold your commercial cleaning services accountable to the work they promised.
Cleaning services are primarily a service business and thus, the people servicing YOU business must be safe. There’s a leap of faith that happens letting people in and out of your facility, often after hours. That leap of faith must be based upon the real security of knowing your janitorial company effectively screens their people. That means, at minimum, a thorough criminal background check and mutli panel drug screening. This helps assure you can feel comfortable with the people in and out of your facility and instills a level of trust and confidence in your commercial cleaning company that you should be able to count on.
Again, because it’s a service business, your janitorial company’s people must be given the training that will help them be successful on the job. That means a solid basic training structure that helps cleaners, office cleaners, janitors and custodians all understand what their job is and how to do it. Good training also means that the individuals cleaning YOUR facility are also trained on any sub specialties that apply like school cleaning, office cleaning, medical cleaning, industrial cleaning and more as ell as being trained in the areas that are unique to you, your facility and your needs. Employees that have the tools and training to succeed are much more likely to do good work, enjoy their jobs and stay put.
If your janitorial company doesn’t consistently have sound management, competitive pay and opportunities where employees are rewarded for stellar work, they are not doing enough to foster employee success and retention. A great deal of janitorial work falls under unskilled labor but there IS skill involved and some people are a better fit for the work and do better long term than others. So when a cleaning company works to identify and retain their best people through competitive pay, advancement opportunities, benefits and recognition, you the customer benefit. How? Janitorial turnover tends to be high within the industry but the best building services contractors have figured out how to shave down their turnover. Less turnover leads to fewer new faces in your building. And reduced janitorial turnover also reduces onboarding expenses in the hiring, screening and training areas. This translates to overall lower employment costs. So more competitive janitorial pay can actually translate into overall reduced costs for your janitorial company and yourself not to mention the service consistency you get from quality retention.
No matter how great your janitorial services company’s people are, they ARE people and people make mistakes. So however responsive and effective your Detroit cleaning company is, they will occasionally fail to meet your expectations. The best cleaning companies know this and have a solid communications plan in place BEFORE it happens. This way you can let them know in an easy way when something is needed, however big or small. The best companies want it to be simple for you to let them know when they are off track so they can fix it before they become a thorn in your side and the value of what you are getting slowly erodes.
Most employee want to be good at their jobs but the best companies are sure to implement systems and processes that assure reliability through accountability. Whether it’s detailed cleaning specs for employees to follow, regular janitorial inspections or Smart Cleaning plans that help Facility Managers manage reduced budgets in a smart way, in the most effective cleaning companies, nothing happens without a plan.
One of the ways your janitorial company can catch an issue before it becomes a real problem is through regular janitorial inspections. Far too many companies 'set it and forget it' but the reality is that even very good people need accountability and direction. Companies that perform regular janitorial inspections can course correct employees quickly before forgetting or mediocre work becomes habituated. And in both executing and communicating inspections to you as a Facility Manager, your cleaning company helps manage your expectations and fills the critical communication gap so you don’t end up having to manage your janitorial company’s people for them.
Green cleaning cannot simply be a feel good buzzword at your commercial cleaning company. It must be intentioned and have real meat behind it. Green cleaning and environmentally responsible cleaning has a number of possible applications from green cleaning products to reduced waste, increased recycling, reduced resource/energy consumption, protecting indoor air quality, using low noise equipment and so much more. So if green cleaning is an important part of your overall plan, you must work with cleaning services companies that share your commitment to advancing green building practices.
Part of green cleaning that people don’t often think about is the need for up to date equipment that is well maintained. The cleaning industry has made significant advances in just the last few years that have pushed green cleaning capabilities while cutting costs and increasing efficiencies. Rather than add a costly tech component to your cleaning services, these advancements can actually reduce janitorial costs by making things easier, faster, cleaner and more. New vacuum cleaners and lighter and thus easier on the cleaners themselves, quieter which is good for everyone and better at improving air quality and creating an overall, healthier work environment. Dated, poorly maintained equipment is slower, dirtier, less effective and can actually present risks to both cleaning staff and your building’s occupants.
Cleaning has definitely come into the 21st century. Even in the last few years, the advancements in the professional cleaning industry are nothing short of amazing. A tightening of belts and changing economy has had the benefit of creating impressive innovation that benefits everyone involved. Better cleaning can be done in less time offering both you and your cleaning company an ability to thrive even with tight margins and tighter budgets. No more is cleaning in the realm of a bucket and mop. There is a body of science based cleaning practices that we know works to create healthier work environments and improve solid business outcomes by things like improving productivity and reducing absenteeism and even attrition by reducing the spread of disease. If your janitorial company isn’t up to speed on the science of cleaning and new technologies, you are getting shorted on overall value and quality.
The cleaning companies delivering the most effective service likely do so because they set out to. As they say, if you don’t plan for success you plan to fail. Companies that set out to be leaders in their field offer their customers the best in terms of practices and methods LONG BEFORE those practices and methods become industry standards. Of course, everyone would like to work with the best of the best but often this is cost prohibitive. But with cleaning and janitorial, the field is so competitive and saturated even that the best cleaning companies are forced to get very lean and efficient as they have to be competitive with the market as so much of janitorial is selected based on price. The upshot for you as a customer is that the best service often costs little more than the worst service and delivers a substantially better value, never mind the reduced headaches and hassles.
Does your cleaning company have a company culture that strives to continually improve and offer customers their best? Is your janitorial services company committed to industry best practices? When searching for your next partner in maintaining your facility, make sure to look under the hood at what they really have to offer you and your facility.