The Message Your Restroom Sends About Your Office Cleaning Services

A well-cleaned restroom is one of those things we take for granted until we are faced with the reality of using a restroom that is less than clean. And in your facility, you might not get the opportunity to visit restrooms and see for yourself just how much your office cleaning company measures up. It can be all too easy to overlook subpar office restroom cleaning, but be sure that your employees, tenants, visitors and customers are NOT overlooking it.

The restroom is one of the most critical areas of your facility for creating a good overall impression of your facility, company, practices, and staff to your customers. No one wants to walk into a restroom with overflowing trash cans, empty toilet paper rolls or the noticeable stench that can be among the telltale signs that your restrooms are not being adequately cleaned. If your office cleaning service isn’t sufficiently cleaning your restroom and making sure that they smell clean and fresh and are constantly stocked, your restroom is going to impart an overall negative impression to the people in your facility.

How do you know if your restroom is giving people the wrong idea? Consider asking yourself a couple of important questions. Is the restroom consistently stocked with towels, toilet paper, soap and any other necessary amenities? Are the stalls dirty, damaged and/or have any type of graffiti or gunk on them? When you walk into the restroom, is there an obvious, unpleasant odor? Does everything seem to be perpetually damp, especially your floor and countertops or visible water collected in places? Are mirrors clean and free of water spots, smudges and worse? Is the floor inside and outside the stalls clean and free of any type of grime, build up, dust, debris or stains?

Professional Office Cleaning Must Include Professional Restroom Cleaning

Everyone likes walking into a restroom that is clean and smells fresh, but as far as your bottom line goes, do clean restrooms really matter? The answer is yes and it matters more than you may think. What are the real costs of poorly maintained restrooms? Obviously we all want a clean restroom simply for the fact that it is less unpleasant and more hygienic to use. But how much does having dirty or less than effectively cleaned restrooms really hurt your business?

There are a number of hidden costs that come with not giving restrooms the attention they need. First, poorly cleaned restrooms are a breeding ground for bacteria and can make your employees ill increasing turnover and absenteeism. Second, a lack of clean restrooms has been tied to lower rates of employee satisfaction. Third, insufficient restroom maintenance will reduce employee productivity and increase worker apathy. Simply put, failing to keep up with your restrooms is going to put a significant dent in your overall business and bottom line.

The Restroom Checklist to Keep Your Office Janitorial Service Checked In

No one wants an office cleaning company that is checked out. So how do you make sure your office cleaners are checked in? A restroom cleaning check list! Now, if your office cleaning company is already performing up to your standards, they probably don’t need a list. But if you suspect that your office cleaning service isn’t up-to-par there are a number of things that you can check to evaluate them and help get them back on track. At least by communicating your needs with your office cleaning company you can figure out if the partnership can get back on track or if it is time to start looking at different office cleaning companies. Here are the core areas that we feel any Michigan cleaning service should be focusing on to keep your restrooms looking their best:

• Your restroom can’t reek of toilet odors, toilets and urinals must be cleaned well and often to assure a fresh, clean smell.
• Urinals need to be sufficiently cleaned including being wiped down, cleaning handles, screen and replacing the urinal block regularly.
• Office cleaners need to observe manufacturer recommended dwell times to make sure their chemical cleaners are clinging to surfaces long enough to be effective at eradicating germs.
• If your cleaning company isn’t using best practices, what are they doing? Using the right chemicals, agitation and extraction can insure that walls, toilets, sinks, urinals, mirror, floors are completely clean.
• Mirrors should be clean, spot free and lint free, and shiny corner to corner.
• Your office janitorial service provider should place a heavy emphasis on “hot spots”, “high contact”, and “touch points” to drastically cut down on the spread of infectious pathogens.
• Hard to reach areas such as the backs of toilets need to be cleaned regularly in order to cut down on grime and odor.
• Trash receptacles need to be emptied regularly, the general rule of thumb is that they should be empty before they are full, not after.
• All consumable products should be regularly restocked and monitored so that they never run low or run out.
• No one likes mystery moisture. All surfaces that can get water or other liquids on them should be regularly cleaned and buffed so that they don’t have any liquid staining and aren’t sticky.
• The vents should be cleaned regularly.
• Maintaining restroom partitions so they are free of the three G’s—grime, gum and graffiti.
• The restroom should be regularly inspected to make sure that fixtures, paper and soap dispensers, as well as toilet paper dispensers are in working order.
• Make sure that all the light bulbs are in good working order.
• Details are as important as the core cleaning, the corners, baseboards, and ceiling all need to be kept clean.
• Feminine hygiene dispensers should be cleaned and restocked with new liners put in place as needed.
• The restroom needs undergo periodic deep cleaning in order to keep issues from piling up and to help protect your building assets.
• Any grout and tile lines should be clean.
• After every cleaning the restroom should be visually inspected to note any follow up cleaning or maintenance.
• Using effective, quality adds to both quality and efficiency.
• The restroom cleaning supplies should always be well stocked, organized, and stored with proper labeling and safety procedures in place.
• The cleaning equipment needs to be properly maintained, stored, repaired, and replaced as needed.

Restroom Cleaners Must Be Truly Professional

Today’s science has shown us that we need to go a little further than just surface cleaning in our restrooms, especially office restroom cleaning where restrooms see a great deal of traffic. Companies that are stuck in the past and that ignore industry best practices, systems, and equipment are in no position to keep your office restrooms healthy, clean, safe and looking their best. With dramatic improvements in cleaning products, equipment and methods, we can now expect cleaner restrooms faster and for less money. If your commercial office cleaning company isn’t delivering on their promises to you, you aren’t getting the quality or value you and your facility deserve. If they aren’t using the restroom checklist, have poor recruitment and training programs or are generally inexperienced, it’s time to start looking for a new commercial office cleaning service provider. You owe it to yourself and your restrooms to have a more responsive, customized commercial office cleaning service.

Commercial Office Cleaning Services That Deliver

Not only are clean restrooms good for your reputation, but they promote a healthy, productive atmosphere. The good news is the office cleaning marketplace is jammed with different companies to pick from, the bad news is there are a lot of duds in the mix. So how can you tell the difference between the professional and the less than professional without wasting hours of your time on a seemingly wild goose chase?

Your best option is to look for those companies that offer a transparent a clear price coupled with a site inspection. Your can then look at how said companies hire, train and retain their staff. The office cleaning industry is a service industry, the quality of the work you receive is entirely dependent on the type of people doing it. Finally, relevant industry certifications can be a great way to see which companies are just average and which go above and beyond.

The ISSA’s CIMS and CIMS-GB certification are rigorous and stringent industry accreditations that demonstrate a company’s willingness to not only match but surpass the industries best practices. Looking at such certifications can be your first line of defense against companies that are going to leave your restroom cleaning lacking.

A Clear Price Point is Critical to a Lasting Partnership

Finding an office cleaning company that can provide you with quality service at the right price may at times feel unattainable. The office cleaning marketplace is filled with different providers all claiming to be the best, and many of them don’t clearly price their services making them nearly impossible to compare. As if that wasn’t bad enough, if you choose the wrong company you are likely to get slapped with all kinds of upcharges and hidden fees without the benefit of professional, responsive office cleaning services. Finally, in order to get a meaningful and well-informed quote in an RFP (request for proposal), you need to have accurate information about the specifics of your facility and budget. Fortunately, there are ways of working with the janitorial marketplace to assure you start with a qualified, capable pool of choices and narrow down from their to pick a cleaning partner that shines.

What Your Commercial Cleaning Company Needs to Know

A good partnership with your prospective office cleaning service starts with a good RFP and accurate information. So what information should you be looking to provide to get the best possible service? First, you are going to need to give them accurate numbers on square footage broken down by flooring type. A common mistake is not to have information on floor type, because each flooring type has different care requirements that can significantly change your price point. Similarly, you should provide a rough estimate of the number of people in your facility so your cleaning company has an idea of how building traffic will impact cleaning requirements. This also helps give them an idea of the amount of consumables that your facility needs. That is to say, how much toilet paper, paper towels and trash bags are needed to keep your facility stocked.

No Site Visit, no Contract

A huge red flag we often see Facility Managers inadvertently overlook is companies that provide a quote without doing a site visit. A site visit is crucial to helping identify what your facility needs and how well your prospective cleaning company can fill those needs. On top of that, a site inspection can help you develop a Smart Cleaning plan, that is to say, cleaning more with less by identifying how often things need to be serviced and what is critical to your cleaning plan and what is not. Finally, a site inspection is the best time to get to know your Michigan office cleaning company and vice versa. Having a personal relationship with your office cleaning service provider will make it easier to communicate and to build a lasting mutually beneficial partnership.

A Bad Cleaning Company Still has Some Use

You may have had negative cleaning company experiences in the past, but you can use them to your advantage. Communicate to your prospective janitorial services provider what works for you and what doesn’t. The most experienced and professional companies will listen to your pain points and work to come up with solutions to make sure that they don’t make the same mistakes. If you had a problem with you previous company constantly switching out their employees impacting your quality of service, communicate this to your future partner. If your prospective Detroit office cleaning knows what they need to focus on, you will get services more tailored to your specific needs.

You Can Get a Clean Facility on a Reduced Budget

There is no shortage of facilities that just don’t have the budget to get everything done that that they would like. It is an all too common in this industry. Of course, cleaning solutions are never going to be perfectly budget friendly and it can be a challenge for even the most experienced office cleaning company to create a manageable budget without losing money. But with some finesse and communication, it can be done. With a complete site inspection and thorough analysis of what needs to be done and what does not, a cleaning plan can be made that gives you the services that are critical to the function of your office building without taking you to the cleaners so to speak. In a perfect world, we’d all love an unlimited budget we could spend on our lengthy to do lists without having to worry. Unfortunately, life rarely makes things easy. But with the right cleaning company, you can at least make sure that your facility is getting the cleaning and maintenance it needs even with a tight budget. By taking advantage of industry innovation and tapping into the immense amount of experience your office cleaners have, it is possible to trim out unimportant work without affecting the overall perception of service.

Experts Agree: Communication is Essential

The most common piece of relationship advice is never more true than in the cleaning industry, communication is key. Let's look at a simple example, office vacuuming. If you tell your building occupants that service is every Wednesday and Friday, you probably won’t receive angry calls about the lack of service on Tuesday. In the same way, letting your cleaning company know that on Monday it is easiest to clean because of a meeting or some other event, they can be more efficient and responsive to your specific needs With specifics like this, you can cut down on the work done to save money without actually reducing the quality of the service. As a Facility Manager, consulting with your tenants and cleaning company can help you get the most out of what you are paying for.

Have Realistic Expectations, But Don’t Settle

If you are having problems with office cleaning or levels of service, your budget ‘optimizations’ might not be cutting it or your current budget may simply not be able to support your facility. To get the most out of a tight budget, you need to talk with your office cleaner and set realistic expectations. Smart Cleaning isn’t some miracle solution that you can fix any budget with. The trick to Smart Cleaning is making tactical decisions to minimize resource usage while maximizing the benefit of using them. A commercial cleaning company does exist that you can work with to get the most bang for your buck. But understanding what is and is not feasible on your budget is important when trying to build a workable plan to keep your offices in tip top shape.

CIMS and CIMS-GB Certified Companies are a Great Place to Look

So we know that clear pricing is critical. We also understand that Smart Cleaning is by no means easy, it requires extensive experience and a lot of innovation to construct a solid cleaning plan on a reduced budget. Not every office cleaning company has what it takes to help you keep your facility looking its best well within budget. A good place to start looking, however, is with the ISSA’s CIMS and CIMS-GB certification. Tools like CIMS certification give you good information to make sound choices regarding your office cleaning services. The ISSA (International Sanitary Supply Association) provides a rigorous, high-level certification that a company performs at the highest level in the industry, repeatedly demonstrating cleaning excellence and a commitment to their customers. Any medical office cleaning company or office cleaning service that can meet and exceed these rigorous, varied and stringent benchmarks will be infinitely more likely to be able to properly service your facility on a tight budget.

Aren’t Cleaning Companies Supposed to Make Your Facility Cleaner?

The whole point of a commercial cleaning service is to make your facility clean and visibly appealing, not to make it dirtier, right? Yet all too often we see janitorial companies through poor methods and a lack of standards, simply spreading bacteria around your facility. One of the leading causes of illness in the workplace is cross-contamination, and if your cleaning service is not using a color-coded cleaning cloth system to prevent it, they are ignoring industry best practices. Your employees are going to all be touching the same surfaces such as computer mice, door handles and phones, so when you commercial cleaning company comes and uses a rag to clean one of those surfaces and then somewhere else, they are spreading the hotspot of bacteria around your building. We all know that touching a commonly touched surface can be a one way ticket to getting sick, so imagine what a filthy towel or rag can do. It only takes one rag being used in the restroom and then somewhere else to start a pandemic in your office. The last thing you need is lower productivity, higher absenteeism, and even the risk of higher turnover rates. Your commercial cleaning company choosing not to protect you and your employees health by ignoring the best janitorial practices is a major red flag and it might be time to start looking for a new cleaning company if this is the case.

Is Your Office Cleaning Company Using the Same Rag to Wipe the Toilet & Your Lunch Tables?

It so easy to pick up the office phone or use the mouse at your desk without thinking what might be lingering on it. Help reduce the risk that these simple actions get your employees sick by having your cleaning service invest in a colored rag system to reduce cross-contamination. Not only is it an easy and affordable solution to implement, designating tools like rags and mop heads for specific jobs is a great way to prevent cross-contamination in your facility. It is a relatively simple concept, you assign a color like red to rags used in high risk areas, yellow to lower risk areas like sinks and mirrors, blue for general cleaning such as dusting and green for anything food related. Of course you don’t have to pick these colors but by having a clear visual indication of what should be used where you help drastically reduce cross-contamination in your facility to prevent the flu and other illness all throughout your facility.

It Is Simple, Cheap & Effective, What Is Not to Love?

Color coded tools aren’t some secret technique, they have long been a staple of proper janitorial cleaning and if you cleaning company is choosing to ignore it you aren’t getting the quality of service you deserve. It's easy to use and costs almost nothing so there is no excuse not too. Cross-contamination is a real problem and contributes to reduced productivity and absenteeism as well as employee turnover. So, make sure that your cleaning company has a clear visual coding system to protect you from said cross-contamination. It will help keep your facility cleaner and provide for a much healthier workplace without affecting your budget.

New System Needs New Trainings

Often it is the case the implementing a new system requires time to train employees with. This isn’t the case for the color-coded towel system. It simplifies the cleaning process and can make it much easier to know what to use where. It does, however, require some reinforcement and supervision. It may be a good idea to provide a chart for which color goes where so that it can be easily checked and there is no room for error. Most office cleaning companies want to protect the health of your facility and this strategy is a clear and simple way to do it. Color coded towels and cloths can even offer employees a sense of responsibility and engagement by enlisting them in the fight to safeguard the health of your facility’s occupants.

Accountability Is Key

The color coded rag system can help reduce work for your cleaning staff as well as provide a powerful tool for management. Having brightly colored rags and other tools allow you to quickly get a sense of if individual teams are cleaning as you expect. By simply looking at laundry, you can see how much of each area is getting cleaned and get a general sense of what takes the longest and what isn’t as time consuming. For instance, if you notice a drop off in the number of red mop heads you’ll know that something happened with bathroom cleaning and can follow up to make sure that there are no issues that need to be corrected. While this isn’t the only quality assurance system that should be in place, it can be a powerful tool to keep your cleaning teams on track.

Partner With a Company that Takes Health & Safety Seriously

Using a color-coded cleaning system may be a new way of doing things for your commercial cleaning company, but it is a strict improvement to your cleaning system. Not only is it an easy to learn system, it should be relatively inexpensive while safeguarding the health of your building. There is no facility that would not benefit from having a color coded rag system. Everything from medical cleaning to school cleaning to office cleaning are exposed to the risk of cross-contamination and therefore need a way to reduce it. Help control illness in your facility and get the level of service you deserve from your janitorial cleaning company and implement a color coded cleaning system. Stathakis, we use the color-coded cloth system company wide in an effort to further reduce the risk of cross contamination and systemize efficient, health conscious cleaning practices.

Has Your Commercial Office Cleaning Company Fallen Behind

We often see office cleaning companies that start a race strong with a commitment to delivering the highest quality service and slowly lose steam and sight of that commitment. Maybe you have noticed your office cleaning service slowing down, or maybe they were never running a good race to begin with. If you are considering looking into a new office cleaning service, there are some things you should be on the lookout for to help you find an office cleaning service that will help you finish strong. 

In order to know the right direction to go, you must be equipped with better information when it comes to selecting from the crowded and often confusing janitorial services marketplace. It can be all too easy to convince yourself that all office janitorial services are the same when you’ve seen company after company that can’t keep a steady pace and deliver on their promises. And even if you were to find a professional office cleaning service, could you even afford it? Lucky for you, effective, professional, responsive office cleaning companies do exist and with the right information you can find one that meets your needs and your budget.

The Mistake Of Too Many Mistakes

People make mistakes and your office cleaning company is made up of people, so mistakes are bound to happen. The critical point is when your office cleaning company goes off course, do they course correct or just keep going off in the wrong direction? And at what point are mistakes being made so frequently that it is detrimental to your service and not worth the money you are paying? The following are some big red flags that we hear from Facility Managers all the time that might tell you that it is time to start looking for a new office cleaning company.

Fuzzy Office Cleaning Prices Are A Bad Sign

The first sign your office cleaning service isn’t capable and/or committed to delivering on what they promised is if it's difficult to tell what they promised in the first place. Fuzzy pricing can make it challenging for you to compare different bids and get an idea of what is best for your facility. On top of that, not having a clear plan in place of what your prospective cleaning company has agreed to do makes it difficult to hold them accountable. Don’t get thrown of course and settle for a company that can’t offer a clear and detailed bid.

Don’t Stand For A Slow Response Time From Your Office Cleaning Service

Another significant problem Facility Managers frequently deal with is a lack of responsiveness. Of course mistakes are going to happen from time to time, but if your Detroit office cleaning company isn’t quick to alert you of them and take control of the problem, things can spiral out of control in short order. All too often office cleaning companies will brush off problems only to have them come up again and again. It isn’t your job to micromanage your cleaning company, so don’t settle for an office cleaning company that will force you to do so. Any solid commercial cleaning company will have a system in place to handle problems and to allow easy communication between you and your cleaning company. Those that do offer a sign that they take your business seriously and know how to handle problems in an efficient and professional manner.

You Can’t Win the Race Without The Right Equipment

You wouldn’t start a marathon in work boots or high heels would you? To be effective you must have the right equipment. In the last decade, the cleaning industry has made huge strides in more effective, green, and efficient solutions and equipment. Having the right equipment for the job can save you time and money and more often than not, older equipment simply doesn't do the job as well. So, if your office cleaning service isn’t using up to date, properly serviced equipment, you aren’t getting the cleaning that you should be.

Keep Your Personal Problems Out Of The Office

Like many other businesses, the quality of the service you and your facility receive is dictated by the quality of the people that your cleaning company employs. If your office cleaning company takes shortcuts when it comes to their hiring and training process, you can be sure they will take shortcuts in any other number of areas. Further, far too many commercial cleaning companies will turn to illegal hiring, illegal subcontracting and subpar employee screening to try to make their numbers work. This not only sets you up for poor cleaning, but has major security implications as well. Having poorly screened cleaning staff in your building after hours is a recipe for disaster. It is the responsibility of your commercial cleaning company to provide full background and drug tests, not yours. Finally, poor hiring practices often increase turnover rates, further reducing the level of the service you receive. Paying employees under the table and not providing benefits is a good way to burn out staff quickly. So, before you partner with a prospective office cleaning company, for the sake of your service and safety, ask about their hiring and training practices. If they are in it to win it, they will be happy to share their plan and practices with you.

What Is Professionalism And Why Should I Care?

It may seem like common sense but professionalism isn’t guaranteed even when it’s promised. So, what does professionalism look like in the office cleaning industry? It starts with having well trained and well equipped teams that take a serious and effective approach to cleaning you building properly. It's also having open lines of communication to help deal with problems as they come up and to keep you in the loop about what is going on. It is having a thorough screening system and easy to identify uniforms and badges. It’s offering great people the training and management to really win at work. A company that does not operate on a professional level is bound to have other problems that bleed into your service.

Professional Office Cleaning Requires Professional Training

Marathon runners don’t just show up for marathon day without any training. Can you imagine? It would be a disaster. Cleaning has evolved from the time of the mop and bucket, it is now built on the foundation of science and the knowledge of what creates a clean and healthy workspace. To be an effective cleaner, you need this general knowledge of how to clean for health and specific industry training. Cleaning for a school versus a hospital versus a general office or industrial plant are all drastically different from each other. Whether it’s best practices, safe chemical use and storage, effective Smart Cleaning strategies or more, solid training benefits you the customer and changes the way people feel about their work, which in turn fosters a more professional attitude. Everyone wins!

Commercial Office Cleaning Services Require Accountability        

No matter what you are paying for, even if your budgets are below where they perhaps should be, you can still secure solid, professional office cleaning services. It all comes down to how your cleaning service holds their staff accountable to the work they agreed to do. The best office cleaning companies will often conduct regular janitorial inspections to make sure the work is being done consistently and to the highest possible level. On top of that, they will often meet with their customers to adjust what they are doing to better meet their needs. You and your facility deserve responsive service and accountability from your office cleaning company.

Partner With The Company That Knows How To Be A Professional

You are going to come across many commercial cleaning companies that just can’t get it right no matter what they do. Fortunately, there are companies that are professional and effective cleaners that will set you up to finish strong. What are these companies doing to help you get to the finish line? They know how to communicate and how to be responsive to your needs. The best commercial janitorial services know that people are the starting point of effective service delivery and they make their people processes a priority in order to find, hire, retain and manage great people who are a natural fit for the work. They know that investing in high quality equipment and cleaning solutions will benefit you and them in the long run along with improving the quality of their cleaning and the health of your facility. They perform frequent inspections of their frontline staff to make sure they deliver consistently high quality results. Finding an office cleaning service like won’t be easy, but it will be worth it.

Many of your fellow Facility Managers have already likely determined the solid benefits of having an effective, professional, reliable commercial office cleaning service provider. Unfortunately, there are still Facility Managers who have all but given up hope of good service settling instead for a below-standard janitorial company. Is it that they don’t want better cleaning services? Fewer complaints? A better value? Of course not, it’s likely more a function of either feeling like all commercial cleaning companies delver poor service or not having an understanding of how to tell the good cleaning companies from the bad.

Why is it worth putting in the extra time and work to hire a professional, reputable commercial office cleaning service? With ever tightening budgets, you can’t afford to throw good money out the window on a cleaning service that just isn’t delivering. With a more effective building services contractor, not only can office cleaning be affordable, if can even save you money by increasing employee productivity, morale and helping to attract new customers. Having a commercial cleaning company that you trust and that provides real value is a excellent way to save money in the long run and keep your facility looking its best. As such, being saddled with an incompetent commercial cleaning service may end up being what costs you.

Don’t Try to Give Your Employees Cleaning Duties

If you are already running on tight budgets, it can be tempting to delegate some cleaning to your staff. This eliminates the need for a commercial cleaning company, right? Especially in smaller offices, far too many managers will try to enlist help from certain employees to keep the facility cleaner. As it turns out, your receptionist won’t be particularly happy to have to clean up the toilets after colleagues use them. Now cleaning isn’t any more or less important than any other job, but for an employee that was hired specifically for one set of tasks, it may feel that way. On top of this, cleaning tasks are always going to be put on the back burner for the work that your staff was hired to do. This leaves most building cleaning and maintenance poorly done or abandoned all together. Often this will lead to an unclean work environment that stems from a lack of proper cleaning causing higher absenteeism, lower job satisfaction and generally more problems between employees.

An In-House Cleaning Service Gives You More Work Without Tangible Improvements

You may also be thinking that it would be a better idea to hire your own cleaning team for your facility. At least then you have some control over it right? Sure, if you really prepared to wholeheartedly take on another full time job of cleaning management, background checks, training, firing, as well as all of the administrative work that goes into managing cleaning staff? More often than not, you will be certainly be better off devoting this time and energy into improving your own chosen business and bottom. Between healthcare costs and the money and time involved in administration of more employees, there are significant costs associated with employing over contracting. Similarly, running a cleaning service is going to have some very different skill sets and responsibilities than your chosen industry. Even if you understand what it takes, it is likely better to devote your limited time towards other important areas.

Find the Right Commercial Cleaning Company & Let Them Do What They Were Hired To Do

Successful business people understand that there are major advantages to hiring an expert. The more experience a business accumulates, the more they know. It is as simple as this. When you partner with a professional, effective cleaning service, you will get professional, effective cleaning in your building. As an added bonus, such cleaning might even be cheaper than you think it is. As it turns out, more experienced companies know how to more accurately price their service and have had years to work with other Facility Managers on a budget.. As such, they have honed their service to be effective even when your cleaning budget is less than optimal. Similarly, through scale they get cost saving measures you would not running a smaller in-house cleaning operation. Another important aspect to consider is that a professional, experienced commercial cleaning companies have a more clear understanding of federal and state regulations that govern them. While it may seem obvious, this means that you don’t have to waste time familiarizing yourself with these various regulations.

Commercial Cleaning Equipment Presents a Cost You Don’t Need

When a company is primarily focused on cleaning as their core business, they have likely spent the time and energy needed to secure the best prices on the quality supplies and equipment to keep your offices sparkling clean. As such, you can avoid expensive chemicals and cleaning equipment that can cost you thousands for even the most basic models and let your commercial cleaning company handle it. Even better, it means that you are not responsible for servicing, repairing and storing said equipment. Of course, you are going to need to work with your commercial cleaning company at first to get things running smoothly and work out any kinks. However, the most professional cleaning companies will quickly get on their feet and do their best work in your facility. On top of this, many of these companies will have added services that can be really useful. For instance, carpet cleaning, hard floor stripping and resurfacing, drywall repair, painting, carpet cleaning and more. It can be very helpful and efficient as you have a one-stop-shop for the bulk of your building maintenance needs. 

Your Time And Effort Belongs To Your Facility

For many Facility Managers, running a commercial cleaning company isn’t a lifelong dream just waiting to be realized. Let a solid, professional commercial cleaning company meet the maintenance and cleaning needs of your facility. Having your own cleaning staff is time consuming and requires a lot of resources that are better directed towards your facility. Hiring a commercial office cleaning company will give you and your employees more time to focus on tasks and issues central to your business and the bottom line.

Finding the right office cleaning company to partner with in your facility can be a big ask. CIMS can help clear a path that while not making the process easy, at least makes it easier. Here at Stathakis, we have spent over thirty years developing a standard of service delivery. We have worked hard to create lasting relationships with our customers and offer the businesses of southeastern Michigan the service they deserve. We are proudly CIMS certified and committed to the continual improvement that has made us a valued partner to the businesses of southeastern Michigan.

If you are a Facility Manager in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Royal Oak, Farmington Hills, Farmington, Dearborn, Livonia, Troy, Auburn Hills, Novi, Plymouth, Downriver or surrounding areas and you are looking for commercial cleaning services, office cleaning, school cleaning, industrial cleaning, medical cleaning or other building services, please contact us to learn more about how we can help make your job at least a little easier and make your facility shine. To find an office company in your area ISSA CIMS-GB certified, visit the ISSA here.

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.

'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.

How Do Your Office Cleaning Prices & Service Add Up?

Is the difficulty of trying to find a new commercial cleaning company beginning to feel reminiscent of your college algebra course? Does it seem like no matter what you do, you can’t ever seem to find the right solution? Finding the right office cleaning company for your facility can feel like a seemingly insurmountable task. For every professional, effective office cleaning company, there are probably at least twenty cleaning companies just treading water. Fortunately for you, although this task can feel Sisyphean or even impossible, there is a tried and true formula (no algebra we promise) for finding high quality, effective, responsive office cleaning without too much suffering on your part. By looking at a few core aspects of office cleaning and what takes it from poor to good to great, you can see what makes a company effective and those qualities that add real value to the service you receive.

Fuzzy Pricing is a Major Red Flag

Forget the algebra, this isn’t rocket science, but if you did the math on your prospective cleaning companies bid and things just aren’t adding up it might be time to look for another office cleaning company. An imprecise bid has a number of inherent problems with it. First, if the pricing isn’t clear, it can be difficult to see what it is your actually paying for. Without being able to determine the value of a service, it can be difficult to decide if a commercial cleaning company is right for your facility. Further, fuzzy pricing can be a function of hidden fees and other upcharges, which can further damaged an already reduced budget and throw careful planning into a tailspin. Second, without a clear price point it is impossible to compare different companies to each other. As a Facility Manager, you are always looking to get the best deal for your company, so not having the tools to do so can create a significant handicap. The most experienced, professional companies will always give you a detailed and crystal clear bid. They want to set a benchmark and consistently perform at that level so that you continue to give them business.

The Equation is Fairly Simple, Good People = Good Service

Any service business’s most important asset is the people that they employee. The best commercial cleaning companies understand this concept and work around the clock to attract, hire, and retain the best staff for getting your facility cleaned properly. A good gauge of the quality of any prospective commercial cleaning company is their understanding of the value of their staff. Ask them how they attract, screen, hire, train and retain their top talent. The best companies will show you clear, well thought through and developed processes that make them shine above the rest of the competition. What is even more encouraging about these companies is that they didn’t just stumble across their techniques to this particular challenge. Any company that dedicates themselves to finding the right employees and implementing pre-qualifications such as background checks and drug checks is going to take cleaning your facility just as seriously. Partnering with a company that shows a passionate interest in the quality of their company culture is always going to perform better than a company that is not interested in the people that they hire.

The Solution Lies in the Right Office Cleaning Company

Communication is another important trait of any successful commercial cleaning service provider. These companies recognize the need to have the right people in place in order to deliver the most effective service as well as respond to your requests and suggestions as they come up.  As you likely know as a Facility Manager, being responsive to your customer’s requests is one of the foremost priorities of any service business.  The reality is that people are performing a service and people are only human after all. Even the most effective, professional office cleaner will need some feedback to fine-tune their work to your particular requirements. It is never a question of if your commercial cleaning company is going to make a mistake, it is a question of how they are going to address it and how smoothly the issue can be resolved. The cream of the crop companies will communicate how they are going to solve the problem and then quickly implement their solution.

Take Advantage of a Couple of Industry Shortcuts

Finding the right cleaning company as a Facility Manager can seem like a giant headache full of numbers, computations and promises that may or may not hold water. Fortunately for you, there is a useful shortcut you can take advantage of to help cut down on the time you have to look for the right company. As a Facility Manager, why wouldn’t you avail yourself of any and all advantages you could in finding and hiring a solid, consistent and quick to respond office cleaning service? One means to get to the answers to your office cleaning problems faster and more effectively is to put industry certifications to use in creating your short-list of qualified, professional office cleaning companies. Taking advantage of such certifications as the ISSA CIMS offers an effective way to winnow down this list given the rigor and prestige of such a certification. Companies that are CIMS certified are often the best in their industry committed to excellence and innovation. When looking for your next partner in cleaning, take advantage of this free tool to help make the search for your next office cleaning company easier and more effective.

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year… to Help Your Office Cleaning Company Help You

We all know that the winter months and bevy of holidays be a time of shifting needs with regard to our office cleaning. This time of year can present both challenges and opportunities for both you and your commercial office cleaning company. Often you will find that with more employees taking vacation time, your needs shift. You may need less service or even more service from your office cleaners depending on the nature of your business. And sometimes, with so many people out of the office, it is a good time to get some deep cleaning done. But there are some factors that can get in the way of a clean building and even your office cleaner’s ability to make the most of the seasonal down times. How can you take advantage and make the most of the downtime in your building to make sure you offices look their best?

#1: Keep Desks Organized to Help Out Cleaning Staff

Your commercial cleaning company can’t clean the desks if they are covered in paperwork and other important things that they don’t know what to do with. Further, any trash, cups or other items can make it near impossible to get to the surfaces beneath. As Facility Manager, it can be helpful to remind your employees to clean their desk and other communal areas before they leave for holiday to allow the cleaning staff to effectively get their job done and get as deep and thorough a cleaning as possible.

#2: Prevent the ‘Holiday Fridge’ From Becoming a Biohazard 

When people start leaving for the holidays, your communal refrigerator can quickly becomes a biohazard if some steps aren’t taken to prevent it. How often have you looked into the office fridge post holiday party to find a Jenga of foil cartons threatening to tumble and assorted sundries left behind after the merriment si over? The danger (not to mention the smell) of the three-week-old salmon and the platters of party goodies that no one took with them in the haste to start their holidays can quickly become ideal hosts for molds and other unpleasantness. If you ignore this problem your office fridge may become the worst smelling thing in the office. The trick to solving this all to common problem, is getting employees to take responsibility for the week old Chinese or half finished soda. The most effective solution, we have found, is to create a regularly cleaning schedule so that anything that isn’t claimed within a certain time period is disposed of before it can become a problem. This eliminates any risks associated with leaving food in the fridge for too long and gives cleaners an opportunity to deep clean and minimize odors.

Tip #3 Winter Means Cold and Flu

The holiday season also coincides with another less pleasant season, cold and flu season. As such, your Michigan janitorial company should be doing everything in their power to keep touch points and hotspots regularly cleaned to help reduce the risk of bacterial and viral infections and assure you have a healthy work environment. Is your office cleaning company cleaning for health?

It isn’t solely on your cleaning service, their are some things that you should remind your employees of:

• Wash your hands correctly to stop the spread of pathogens
• Don’t come to work sick, you won’t be an effective employee and it can potentially get other people sick
• Regularly use hand sanitizer and wash hands as well as to keep hands away from the face. It may sound like something you here in a kindergarten classroom, but science has shown time and time again that this is the most effective way to prevent illness
• Understand practices that help reduce the risk of spreading disease such as how to cough and sneeze

TIP #4:Use Winter Downtime to Your Advantage to Get Some of That Deep Cleaning and Maintenance Done

Most offices are busy, bustling places so deep cleaning and other intensive maintenance tasks are often pushed to the side or delayed longer than they should be. However, during the holiday season, take advantage of the reduced number of people to catch up and even do some preventative maintenance to prepare for the busy months ahead. Many office cleaning services not only offer cleaning but other services such as HVAC care, plumbing painting, electrical, carpet and window washing, among other things that you can use to care for your facility. Need carpets cleaned? Need floors stripped and recoated? Need some other extras? The holidays present a rare opportunity to get these things done, unobstructed by high traffic.

Tip #5 It is the Season of Giving, so Give Yourself an Effective, Professional Commercial Cleaning Company

The holiday season is a time of giving, so give yourself the right office cleaning service provider for your facility. Maybe you’ve had it with your current cleaning company and are looking to try something else. Or, perhaps you are new to the janitorial market and are trying to decide who can help keep your facility looking fresh and clean. Either way, if you are looking for quality, consistent, responsive, professional service for you and your building, there is a company out there that can fill your needs.

The winter holidays can present a good time to transition to a new, better office cleaning company. So often in talking to Facility Managers we are finding that as budgets remain tight or even reduced, demands go up leaving many Facility Managers struggling to get their buildings cleaned effectively AND within budget.

The time of reduced office budgets have been here and it doesn't look like it will be changing anytime soon so you need a company that will give you value for your dollar and that will be committed to working with your budget and giving you consistent, effective services. Thoughtful winter maintenance, planning and even bringing on a new more adept office cleaning company can be the answer to assuring your office is clean and ready to go during winter months and all through the year.

Don’t Take the Hit For Poor Office Cleaning

If your office is in a constant state of disorder, you’ll find that your employees attitudes tend to match. While office cleaning can seem like a insignificant part of your business, most of your employees appreciate when they work in a clean, fresh space. As such, when your facility is left in disarray or poorly cleaned, you are sending the message to your staff that subpar work is acceptable. 

It makes a lot of sense when you think about it, if you don’t require an acceptable level of service from your commercial office cleaning company, why would you require it from your employees? An unkempt office building can also impact the financial health of your business. For instance, try attracting high performing employees with a dirty building. Odds are, they will take one look at your facility and opt to align with a company that they perceive has higher quality standards.

If you care about having top talent, an engaged employee base, as well as reduced a and attrition, it’s important to assure that your office cleaning company is doing an effective job keeping your facility looking its best.

Are Your Office Cleaners Really Giving Everything They Got?

Does your office fridge look like something that belongs in a CDC lab? Do your restrooms look and smell more like stadium restrooms than office restrooms? Is a revolving door of office cleaners netting you ineffective cleaning as they are continually in training mode? What it comes down to is, are you and your facility getting the service that you need for the price that you are paying? Is your office cleaning company being responsive in managing issues in service you bring to their attention? If your commercial cleaning company is failing to deliver on contract promises time and time again, it may be time to look for a commercial cleaning company that can really deliver value for your dollar. With any service company, they should always strive to provide work that exceeds your expectations.

Are Your Office Cleaning Services Top of the Heap or Bottom of the Heap?

As you can imagine, professional office cleaning companies are all different. So, what is the difference between a solid office cleaner and one that performs below the bar? First, the best companies understand the need for security and put into place hiring and screening processes to make sure the people that make up their staff are a good fit for your facility. Companies that are committed to delivering the highest quality of service will often pursue the CIMS certification to show their ability to work using the industries best practices.

Professional companies will also demonstrate a track record and in-depth knowledge of their industry’s best practices. They don’t only promise quality work, they have systems in place to guarantee it. No one is perfect all the time and even the best commercial cleaning companies get it wrong sometimes. The difference is that when things go wrong, they are quick to address and rectify problems.

Where to Look to Get Effective Commercial Office Cleaning Services

Companies don’t just stumble into great service, there is always a plan involved. Even companies with the best intentions and the highest level of staff and equipment can’t compete with those companies that come prepared with a strategy. What good are intentions and equipment if there isn’t a clear path to implementing them. Think about it, there are so many things that can’t be done without a plan. For instance, how will your Detroit cleaning company find and keep good people? How do they create choice and set expectations for their customers with clear pricing? Are they committed to green cleaning, cleaning for health and using technology to advance their industry? Have they been awarded the CIMS certification? While it isn’t easy, asking questions will help you avoid getting saddled with a company that does not know what they are doing.

People Are The Cornerstone Of Standout Office Cleaning Services

When it comes to any service business, it is their people that will make or break service. After all, the office cleaning staff, day porters, medical cleaners, janitors and other support staff are the ones directly caring for your building. As such, it is incredibly important that you commercial cleaning company work to recruit, train, and retain their staff. Ask your prospective commercial cleaning service provider how their people processes work and encourage them to show you how they have led to success. Ask about their janitorial turnover. Any company with a solid people system in place will have low janitorial turnover increasing the quality of the service you receive. Further, the companies that invest time and energy into their people will differentiate themselves from other companies by simply being better at what they do.

A Professional Office Cleaning Company Provides You With Transparent Pricing

When looking at your list of prospective commercial cleaning companies, the largest red flag any of them can give you is a cleaning bid that isn’t well-defined in terms of both services offered and clear pricing. One of the most important things a janitorial bid allows you to do is to compare different companies side by side. So, when you receive a bid that is confusing and imprecise, it takes away your ability to do this. Further, cleaning costs often take a large portion of your budget, so it is important to know exactly where your funds are going. On top of that, companies that don’t offer a clear price point are often trying to hide fees and other upcharges, or, simply aren’t experienced enough to give a proper bid. Either way, pricing problems start of the relationship with a new cleaning company on the wrong foot and point to trouble ahead.

Does Your Office Cleaning Company Have A Commitment to Industry Proven Practices?

Proper office cleaning isn’t just cleaning a surface so that it looks clean, it is cleaning a surface so that it is clean. If your office cleaners don't understand cleaning for health, rather than just cleaning for appearance, then you and your staff are at a higher risk for contracting any of the number of communicable diseases that make the rounds. The best commercial cleaning companies understand cleaning for health, touch points, hotspots, dwell times, green cleaning and the most common forms of bacterial transmission. They take advantage of industry techniques such as color-coded cleaning cloths, procedures to avoid cross-contamination and critical health based cleaning training for all their staff. Remember, a company that properly trains their staff to clean for health can keep your building sparking and help you maintain a healthy workplace. 

Make Life Just a Little Simpler With Effective Office Cleaning 

Finding the right commercial cleaning company for your facility is never going to be the easiest task in the world, but it can be done and better yet, it’s worth it. Getting referrals from other professionals you trust, asking the right questions and following up with your prospective cleaning and maintenance contractor can help ensure that you get a high quality service and value for your dollar. Understanding the processes the use to hire, train, and retain their staff as well as what systems they have in place to address and resolve problems is also important to consider. With a cleaning company that is right fit for your building, you will feel like you have a great partner in the care and maintenance of your facility.