Yes, and it isn’t just your janitorial services company’s problem. High turnover from janitorial companies costs customers on many levels. From price to value to safety to the quality of work being done, to employee health and wellness, the costs of a continual stream of new faces adds up quickly. In fact, there is not an area of your facility maintenance that s NOT impacted by high turnover from your janitorial company.
In the janitorial industry, employee turnover averages about 200%. This level of turnover is “normal” but it shouldn’t be because it doesn’t have to be. Yes turnover is generally higher in the service industries and higher in lower waged, less skilled labor. Still, while these factors may increase turnover, they aren’t the only factors responsible for it. Janitorial turnover tends to run high in large part because of a lack of best practices from commercial janitorial service companies themselves. There are simply so many janitorial service contractors from industrial janitorial services to national janitorial services that fail to develop and adopt industry best practices that directly impact employee turnover. They don’t see or don’t care how the way they do business impacts janitorial jobs in Michigan and overall industry turnover.
How does turnover hurt your facility and business? High turnover from your janitorial services in Michigan doesn’t just create headaches for you, it has a real impact on the bottom line. It can mean substandard service delivery, forgotten duties, missed items and worse. New people require new training and you and your facility bear the brunt of the learning curve every new person comes with. For your janitorial company, high turnover means increased onboarding time and administrative expense. The reality is that a cleaning trainee likely covers significantly fewer square feet during their shift than a more experienced office cleaner. Trainees are more likely to miss things, damage equipment and overuse supplies. Think your national janitorial services company is absorbing these costs, think again. These costs are passed along to you meaning you will pay more for less, further decreasing the value of what you are getting.
One of the biggest issues with high janitorial turnover is safety. When a constant stream of new faces come in and out of your building, it conveys a message of inconsistency to your building’s occupants. Additionally, with so many new employees, the chances that your janitorial company isn’t doing the needed screening goes up. Think about the costs involved with recruiting, interviewing, reference checking, drug screening, criminal background checks and more. These things all take time and money and janitorial companies that don’t make low employee turnover a priority may very well be taking shortcuts in other places too.
Not only is safety compromised but if your janitorial services company has high employee turnover, it will increase the cost and reduce the value of your facility maintenance. The numbers doesn’t lie. When you pay more for less experienced office cleaners, the overall value of what receive is reduced. Why would you willingly pay more for less when there are experienced commercial cleaning companies that operate with janitorial turnover well below the cleaning industry average?
While the janitorial industry does have, at first glance, higher overall average turnover, many commercial cleaning companies operate at even higher levels of turnover. Think about it, if 200% is the average janitorial industry turnover, than some companies are below that line and some janitorial services are above that line! Why do some janitorial service experience increased turnover? If your janitorial services company provides little or no training, low wages and almost no coaching, employees will become burned out and disillusioned. Really, many low wage employees jump faster from a bad job because the perception is that there are plenty of lower wage jobs available and they wont lose much in the move from one to another. The reality is that most workers, even low skilled, low wage workers, want the same things: competitive pay, the training and tools to do their jobs well, some opportunity for advancement, effective management, some opportunities for recognition or rewards and a culture of inclusion and appreciation. None of these things are easy or happen by accident. They really require that a commercial cleaning company embrace best practices. The best janitorial services make low turnover a priority.
The best janitorial services fully understand how big an impact high turnover has on their business and that of their customers. Therefore, they work hard to keep janitorial turnover as low as possible. What do these janitorial service companies do differently?
At Stathakis, we make hiring great people a priority. We understand that our success is due to the great people who comprise our teams. We know how important carefully screened and trained janitorial teams are to our level of service delivery and our reputation. In fact, people look to us for janitorial jobs in part because of the strong reputation we have built in our community. Attracting and hiring great people has helped us grow into a strong local Michigan building services contractor with a solid reputation. Because of our ongoing efforts to continually refine and improve our processes and organization, our turnover of less than 40% blows away the industry average turnover of 200%!
We endeavor to take on each task from the large, complex jobs to the smaller ones with attention to the details that matter most and a level enthusiasm and care that our customers appreciate. We make work fun and rewarding and this keeps our best team members from seeking greener pastures. We don't just thank our teams, we reward them with competitive pay and benefits, programs like Open Book Management , incentives, recognition opportunities and more. At Stathakis, we offer the best value in janitorial, cleaning and maintenance services. Our competent and highly trained staff, our low turnover and our consistent drive to provide Complete Customer Care, make us one of the most respected companies within our organization and right here in Michigan. Can we help you?