The commercial cleaning industry is one that many of us take for granted.  We enter offices and retail spaces and we spend little time (if any) considering how these spaces get clean.  The commercial cleaning industry is everywhere at the same time it is nowhere.  These cleaning services seem to be completed silently, even when we are witness to the services provided we rarely pay attention to the routines.  It’s interesting when you really start to consider those industries that do the unsung work, of which commercial cleaning is one.  For example, have you ever considered commercial cleaning etiquette?

That’s right, there’s an etiquette to commercial cleaning.  These are not necessarily hard and fast rules about how cleaning services are provided, but professional cleaning companies take pride in offering exceptional services, so it shouldn’t be so surprising that they have procedures guiding how the work is done.  At its core, the etiquette of commercial cleaning services ensures quality cleaning in a way that minimizes impact on the stakeholders involved.

What does that mean, to limit the impact on involved stakeholders?  First and foremost, commercial cleaning companies will want to arrange a regular cleaning schedule.  What time of the day is your office or business likely to be least disrupted by cleaning services?  Or, what services can be provided at which times of the day to maintain a clean and efficient workplace?  Shared spaces like kitchens, bathrooms, and breakrooms will likely need to be cleaned on a daily basis, and sometimes even throughout the day depending on the number of people using the facility.  These services are often provided outside office hours so that staff and customers are not affected except to benefit from clean shared spaces.

Another way that commercial cleaning etiquette helps to maintain a positive impact on stakeholders is the prioritizing of cleaning tasks.  Workflow and traffic will often dictate how these tasks are prioritized.  A small office will have different demands than a large office, but priority cleaning areas tend to be washrooms, break rooms, reception, waiting rooms, and conference rooms.  With respect to workflow, how do your day-to-day operations impact your cleaning needs?  Do you have a lot of recycling or do you need garbage emptied more frequently?  Identifying priority cleaning services will help commercial cleaning companies provided the services you need on the schedule you need them.  There’s no cookie cutter approach to prioritizing these services.

Finally, commercial cleaning etiquette demands safety awareness.  Not only should cleaning supplies and equipment be properly stored, labeled, and maintained to ensure safety of cleaners and other staff, but cleaning services must be provided in a safe manner.  For example, adequate signage (perhaps for wet floors or hazardous spills) is important for proper health and safety.

Knowing commercial cleaning etiquette is important for the cleaning company as well as their clients.  When both parties are mindful of cleaning protocols, they are more likely to forge a successful working relationship.

Office cleaning and housing cleaning are one in the same, aren’t they?  If you think about it, you’re cleaning floors, windows, surfaces, kitchens, and bathrooms for each so you could be forgiven for assuming the cleaning processes are pretty much the same.  They aren’t.  In fact, when residential cleaning companies try to expand into the office cleaning business without doing due diligence, the proprietors are often rudely awakened.  Sure, cleaning is cleaning, but there is a very different approach to office cleaning than house cleaning.

So what’s the difference between cleaning office spaces and houses?  Let’s take a closer look.

Time

One of the main factors that differentiates residential and commercial cleaning contracts is actually just the time of day that the cleaning is done.  For the most part, home cleaning services are provided during the day when homeowners are at work, whereas office cleaning services are provided in the evening when staff are at home.  In both cases, the goal is to minimize distractions for the client.  However, one factor you may not realize is it costs more to hire cleaners to work evening hours than to hire cleaners to work day hours.

Expertise

Residential cleaning staff must pay attention to every detail.  Homes often have more items that require cleaning – mantle pieces feature knickknacks, photos, and other items.  Office surfaces are usually clear of clutter and somewhat easier to keep clean.  Office cleaners therefore can work more quickly, though they do bring specialized skills you wouldn’t expect of home cleaners.  For example, large office buildings may feature specialized flooring that requires unique equipment to clean.  Similarly, traffic in office spaces means that it especially important to disinfect surfaces, kitchens, and bathrooms to maintain proper hygiene.  A family of four in that sense is easier to clean up after.

The Space

Another factor that differentiates office and house cleaning is the space in which cleaners work.  Cleaning in a person’s home requires special attention to the person’s privacy.  Not only must your staff be more rigorously vetted to ensure you can put the client’s mind at ease, but you are also more likely to have increased client interaction in the residential cleaning business.  This requires enhanced customer service skills – making the customer happy in the home cleaning business brings unique challenges and also rewards.  Home cleaners often build stronger relationships with their clients and they get to learn their needs and wants in a more intimate way.  Of course, this also means that home cleaners must be especially vigilant when it comes to confidentiality.  You’ll know more about a family and their comings and goings than you’re likely to learn about office staff or business owners.

As you can see, not only is cleaning offices different from cleaning homes, there are also interpersonal factors that differentiate office and house cleaning.  To move from one industry to the other is not as straightforward as one might think.

Offices need to be clean – it doesn’t matter what kind of office you have.  You may be the manager of a small real estate firm, a family medical centre, legal offices, or anything in between.  No matter your business or market, having a clean office tells your employees and your customers that you are professional and organized and ultimately considerate of the health and wellness of the key stakeholders in your business.  So, what should you expect from your office cleaning staff members or contractor?  What is considered standard office cleaning etiquette?  Let’s take a closer look.

Established Schedules

Your office cleaning contractor or professional should follow an agreed-upon schedule.  Regularly scheduled cleaning not only ensures that your offices are well-maintained, but it puts you in the driver’s seat when it comes to quality control.  If your recycling and garbage are always emptied on a Friday afternoon, then you know there is a problem if the job has not be done come Monday morning.  Likewise, regular schedules hold your cleaning professional accountable to your cleaning contract.

Prioritize your Cleaning Requirements

Some jobs need to be done on a daily basis, and some jobs can be done less regularly.  For example, you want to make sure your bathrooms are sanitized every day, whereas the office kitchen’s refrigerator can be cleaned on a less regular schedule.  Carefully consider your priority cleaning needs and make sure you communicate these needs to your cleaning professionals.  When you sign a cleaning contract, you should expect the high priority jobs to be specified along with your scheduling expectations.

Another factor to consider is high-flow areas or common touch points of your office.  Especially if you have a lot of outside visitors or high staffing levels, you want common areas to be regularly disinfected to reduce the spread of germs and ultimately reduce lost productivity due to employee illness.

Identifiable Staff

If your cleaning staff works during regular business hours, you should expect that they are wearing uniforms or other clothing items that makes them easily identifiable.  Nametags, lanyards, or specifically coloured shirts and/or pants will help make them stand out so that they can be held accountable to their work.

Common Consideration

Again, if your cleaning staff works during regular business hours, you should expect that their work tasks to not interfere with business-as-usual.  Running loud cleaning equipment such as vacuum cleaners or buffers should not happen during peak hours.  These activities should be held for hours when your office is closed; or, if you run a 24/7 operation, you should explicitly negotiate a time for these tasks.

Safety First!

Finally, your cleaning staff should demonstrate awareness of standard health and safety protocols.  Non-hazardous cleaning materials or appropriately labeled materials should be used.  Wet floors should be marked to prevent slips and falls.  And cleaners should be aware of the needs and safety of other staff members.

You might think of janitorial services as a necessity for your business, but have you ever really thought of how a janitorial company can help your business?  Obviously, business owners know that it’s important to keep their workplaces clean and tidy, but the benefits of janitorial services are often taken for granted.  There are a host of services that professional janitors provide including cleaning and maintenance for offices, industrial facilities, and even private homes – but the question often remains whether it’s better to hire a professional janitorial company or to provide those services in house.  So let’s have a closer look – how can a janitorial company help your business?

First and foremost, choosing professional janitorial services makes your job as a business owner easier.  Most companies will provide detailed consultations so that you can ensure that all the janitorial services you need are provided without having to oversee the work yourself.  This means no hiring and training cleaning staff, no sourcing and purchasing cleaning products and equipment, and no need to oversee the administrative work associated with managing staff.  The extra time you save in working with a professional janitorial company frees you to focus on more profitable goals that focus on your organization’s mission and success.

In addition, professional janitors’ expertise is in the cleaning and maintenance of facilities.  They bring specialized knowledge and skills that the typical business owner simply does not have.  So, when you choose to work with in-house staff, you’re running the risk of overlooking important tasks or even inefficiency in the job.  Reliable, expert janitors know which products are best for which jobs, they have all the necessary equipment, and they bring years of experience that ensures the cleaning and maintenance work they provide is done effectively and efficiently.  In the end, all the business owner needs to do is periodically review the work provided to ensure their own satisfaction.

Finally, when working with professional janitors, business owners have the freedom to arrange customized services on a specified schedule so that cleaning and maintenance never interferes with business operations.  Some of the side benefits of a well-maintained workplace is improved employee efficiency and health standards in the workplace.  When the office or facility is kept clean, employees can focus their energy on the work at hand rather than constantly tidying up after themselves.  Similarly, maintaining a healthy and sanitary work environment helps to ensure that workers miss fewer days due to illness.  Professional janitorial companies are well-suited to keeping your office or workplace up to health standards so that your employees are healthy and energized.

Clearly, there are many benefits to working with a professional janitorial company for your business.

What is quality assurance?  In a nutshell, quality assurance is a process or program by which a standard of quality is maintained for a product or service.  That being said, any quality assurance program usually incorporates many stages to ensure quality at every step of service delivery or product production.  When it comes to our own quality assurance program, we make every effort to thoroughly and effectively deliver quality cleaning services by addressing our performance across all aspects of our business.  So, what are the elements of our quality assurance program?

Consistent Oversight

We recognize that quality assurance is not a destination, but a journey.  We are always reviewing, monitoring, and inspecting our services to ensure that our customers receive the highest level of cleaning services throughout the lifespan of their contract with us.  A supervisor or quality assurance professional conducts regular and unscheduled inspections and we collect regular quality assurance reports from our sites.

Setting Expectations

Not only do we inspect our work to ensure quality, but we set the highest industry standards for our services.  We assign dedicated staff to address the unique needs of each of our customers and work closely with these clients to address their own expectations of our services.  Our goal is to help our customers not only maintain their facilities, but to prevent future problems and also identify areas for improvement.

Training and Qualifications

We take hiring very seriously.  Our staff must demonstrate exemplary skills or undergo the necessary training to achieve the level of service we demand for our customers.  Not only are your cleaners highly qualified, they are also carefully vetted so that we know we work with skilled professionals that represent the qualities of integrity, initiative, and industriousness.

Likewise, our supervisory staff are groomed to represent our core values and vision.  Providing the highest standards of cleaning service set us apart from our competitors and we want to ensure our management team maintains those standards.

Preparation

New contracts are handled with the care and attention they not only deserve, but require.  We want to ensure our new customers are effectively taken care of during their transition to our services and endeavour to make this transition problem-free and within a 24-hour timeframe.

Sustainability

Finally, when it comes to the products we utilize to deliver our services, we’re never satisfied.  We want to give you the best possible cleaning services, but we are also committed to providing safe and sustainable cleaning solutions.  As such, we are always reviewing the products we use and continue to upgrade to the best and most sustainable alternatives available on the market.  When it comes to cleaning, we know it’s important to offer unparalleled services while also mitigating our impact on the environment.