Are You on a Winning Team With Team Cleaning?
INNOVATION HAS CHANGED EVERYTHING, INCLUDING JANITORIAL SERVICES
As the pace of technology and innovation has moved faster and faster, businesses have had to respond and adapt, often learning to be faster themselves. Janitorial services are no exception and the industry has had to respond to a variety of factors changing the way they do business including:
- Changes to the required minimum wage
- Changes in employee healthcare requirements
- Green cleaning goals of customer and company alike
- Reduced janitorial budgets
- Increased understanding of cleaning for health
What once required little more than a mop, a bucket and a custodian has leapt into the realm of high tech. Janitorial companies now use innovation not only to clean but also to adjust how they clean. The switch to team cleaning has been one of the most significant shifts.
Innovation has impacted not only what we use to clean, but the fundamentals of how we clean.
THE DOWNSIDES OF ZONE CLEANING
High tech equipment, green supplies and improved methods have transformed commercial cleaning. Yet a major recent shift — changing how we clean — has produced some of the biggest improvements in cutting waste, reducing cost and managing resources.
Before team cleaning, buildings were typically cleaned using zone cleaning. Buildings were divided into zones — sections or floors — and each cleaner was responsible for all tasks in their zone.
That meant every cleaner vacuumed, cleaned restrooms, emptied trashes, dusted and more. While this method was the standard for decades, it comes with significant disadvantages:
- Varied responsibilities make it easier for cleaners to miss things.
- Each cleaner requires their own equipment like vacuums and floor tools, drastically increasing costs.
- The high cost of equipment leads companies to overuse aging, ineffective tools.
- Zone cleaning is slower and less efficient because task switching and multitasking require more labor hours.
Team Cleaning Helps Cut Waste, Reduce Cost and Better Manage Resources.
TEAM CLEANING: WHY IT WORKS & WHY IT’S BETTER
As Facility Managers and janitorial companies strive to stabilize or reduce costs, zone cleaning has fallen out of favor. Team cleaning has become the go-to method for keeping larger buildings clean effectively and efficiently.
Team cleaning assigns cleaners to specific specialties rather than zones. A team may include:
- A light duties specialist
- A vacuum specialist
- A restroom specialist
- A utility or general specialist
Specialists master their assigned tasks and repeat them consistently across the facility. This increases task mastery, consistency and accountability — dramatically boosting efficiency.
Higher efficiency means fewer labor hours and less equipment. With fewer tools to buy, janitorial companies can invest in better, more reliable equipment and replace older tools sooner.
With team cleaning, each cleaner masters specific duties, increasing consistency and skyrocketing efficiency.
KEEP CLEANING COSTS DOWN WITH TEAM CLEANING
The single greatest cost in a janitorial company is labor. With minimum wage increases and rising healthcare requirements, these costs will continue to trend upward.
Equipment is the second largest expense. When team cleaning reduces both labor and equipment costs, janitorial companies can pass savings on to customers.
Task specialization means fewer tools and reduced labor hours. One or two vacuum specialists can complete the work far more efficiently than a team of eight people juggling various tasks.
While results depend on building size and scope, team cleaning has consistently proven to save both time and money.
Team Cleaning Can Reduce Labor and Equipment Costs Without Compromising Facility Maintenance.
Are you satisfied with the value you receive from your current janitorial services company? Is it time to look for a provider aligned with 21st-century cleaning practices?
If you have a tight budget but still want to avoid complaint-filled inboxes, Stathakis can help. For over thirty years, we have refined our service model and built long-term partnerships with businesses across southeastern Michigan.
Whether you manage a facility in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Royal Oak, Farmington Hills, Farmington, Dearborn, Livonia, Troy, Auburn Hills, Novi, Plymouth, Downriver or nearby areas — and whether you need commercial cleaning, office cleaning, school cleaning, industrial cleaning, medical cleaning or a janitorial company — we can help make your job easier and your facility shine.
