Quality and productivity: Cleaning managers want more

Quality control and productivity: It’s no surprise that those two labor-intensive items are the biggest challenges that in-house cleaning managers and building service contractors (BSCs) face today.

This information — and much more — online survey conducted for CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management® magazine over a two-week period in August (see “About this survey).

Some 88 percent of cleaning professionals responding to the survey said that the quality of their work is a major concern, and that finding ways to make it better is important to their continued success.

And 87 percent of BSC owners and managers, in-house directors, and maintenance department superintendents are looking to find ways to do more with less while increasing the overall productivity of their workers.

Other major cleaning concerns
From finding good workers to maximizing training opportunities, here are other challenges that topped the online survey list:

• Obtaining and retaining qualified workers (69 percent)
• Reducing cleaning time in each area/facility (67 percent)
• Training custodians/janitors (54 percent)
• Providing green/environmentally friendly services (45 percent)
• Attracting enough qualified workers, despite low wages (37 percent)

Additional challenges
Both in-house maintenance managers and BSC owners indicated they are facing an array of additional challenges that are unique to their respective operations, according to the survey results (see “Major concerns of BSCs” to right and “Major concerns of in-house managers” on page 46).

Nearly three out of four in-house maintenance department cleaning professionals said the biggest additional challenge is providing quality services within the same or reduced budgets.

Being able to clean a variety of facilities and departments in a particular school or hospital is also a prime concern.

Top ranking challenges specific to BSC owners and managers are much more business oriented.

Gaining a competitive edge, finding time to work on generating new business, and effectively selling and marketing services are high on the list.

How they rate
The survey, designed to determine the informational needs of cleaning and maintenance management professionals, also gleened that cleaning pros feel they are doing a good — if not excellent — job handling chemicals, cleaning sensitive areas, and training and motivating staffs while providing high-quality cleaning and maintenance management services.

But, the survey indicated, the weakness is in providing green cleaning and maintenance services.

Nearly half of those responding in both groups of the survey said they would rate their ability to provide green cleaning as “fair, if not poor”.

Proven performance is key
Cleaning and maintenance management professionals indicated they want proven performance and ease of use from equipment and supplies they purchase.

Respondents said they are holding distributors more accountable for the performance promised of their products.

Purchasing decision makers said they are now much more informed about products and equipment before they give them serious consideration.

Information at their finger tips
It is the information age, and cleaning pros said they do their research before making decisions — from how to clean a facility to purchasing products.

Sixty-two percent of those polled said they find professional trade magazines the most useful medium for information, followed by industry-specific websites produced by trade magazines.