Posted by servicemaster on December 19, 2017
Cleaning standards have a habit of slipping gradually rather than all at once. What starts as a missed bin or a smeared surface can quietly become the norm, and before long the environment your staff work in every day is falling well short of where it should be.
For office and facilities managers, the difficulty is often in recognising when a conversation with your current provider is no longer enough, and when it is time to look at the market more seriously. Here are five signs that your office cleaning company may no longer be delivering what your business needs.
The most obvious indicator is one that is easy to overlook when you are in the same building every day. Familiarity with an environment makes it harder to notice gradual deterioration, and what would have been unacceptable when a contract first started can quietly become the new baseline.
It is worth carrying out a deliberate walk around your premises with fresh eyes. Check whether desks and hard surfaces are being wiped down regularly, whether bins are emptied on schedule, whether kitchen areas are properly maintained and whether washrooms are being cleaned to an appropriate standard throughout the day rather than just once. If you are finding that tasks are being missed, inconsistently completed or only done properly following a complaint, that is a meaningful pattern rather than an isolated incident.
A professional commercial cleaning contractor should be maintaining consistent standards as a matter of routine, not as a response to prompting.
Workplace hygiene has a direct and measurable effect on staff health. Shared surfaces, keyboards, door handles and kitchen equipment are among the most common vectors for the transmission of bacteria and viruses in office environments, and in a busy workplace the potential for cross-contamination is significant. When high-touch surfaces are not being properly disinfected as part of a regular cleaning routine, the risk of illness spreading through a team increases substantially.
If your business is experiencing higher than average levels of short-term sickness absence, poor workplace hygiene is worth considering as a contributing factor. A cleaning contractor operating to a proper standard should be paying specific attention to washrooms, communal kitchen areas and shared workspaces, not just floors and bins. If that level of attention is not evident in practice, it is a reasonable concern to raise with your provider and, if not addressed, a reason to look elsewhere.
The state of your premises contributes to how your business is perceived before a single word is exchanged. A reception area that is dusty or poorly maintained, a meeting room with marks on the table or a kitchen that is visibly unclean sends a message that is difficult to recover from, regardless of the quality of the conversation that follows.
This is particularly relevant for businesses that regularly host clients on-site, or whose premises feature in marketing photography or video. It is also worth considering that staff form impressions of their employer partly from the environment they are asked to work in. A consistently clean and well-maintained office signals that the business takes its responsibilities seriously. The inverse is also true.
If your current cleaning provider is not maintaining the standard of presentation your business requires, it is worth assessing whether the issue is one of frequency, scope or simply poor execution.
Restocking consumables such as toilet paper, hand soap, paper towels and sanitiser should be the responsibility of your cleaning contractor, not yours or your team’s. If you find yourself or a member of your staff regularly checking stock levels, placing emergency orders or making trips to the shops to cover shortfalls, that is a failure of contract management on your provider’s part.
It is a small thing in isolation, but it speaks to a broader question about whether your contractor is proactively managing your site or simply reacting to instructions. A well-run commercial cleaning contract should include a clear consumables management process so that you never have to think about it.
A professional cleaning company should be able to demonstrate the quality of the service they are delivering, not just assert it. Regular site audits, documented inspection records and a clear process for raising and resolving issues are the hallmarks of a contractor who takes quality management seriously.
If your provider has never conducted a formal review of their own performance, or if you have no visibility of what is being cleaned, by whom and to what standard, that is a significant gap. It is also worth checking whether they have a named account manager responsible for your site and a defined process for escalating concerns. If raising an issue means calling a generic number and hoping for the best, the accountability structure is not fit for purpose.
The first step is to raise your concerns formally with your current provider and give them a reasonable opportunity to address them. Document what has been agreed and set a clear timeframe for improvement. If standards do not improve, or if the response to your concerns is defensive rather than constructive, that tells you a great deal about the working relationship you can expect going forward.
When assessing alternative cleaning providers, look beyond the headline price. Consider whether they can demonstrate relevant experience in your sector, whether their staff are properly vetted and trained, how they handle cover when a cleaner is absent, and what their quality assurance process looks like in practice.
ServiceMaster Manchester has been providing professional office cleaning services to businesses across Greater Manchester since 1992. We offer transparent reporting, dedicated account management and a cleaning programme tailored to the specific needs of your premises.
To find out more or to request a free no-obligation quote, contact our team.
