One way that many in the industry hope to be able to combat these problems is a move to day-time cleaning. It's an approach that clearly has limitations – nothing breaks the concentration more than a noisy vacuum cleaner. Nevertheless, day-time cleaning does promise significant advantages, including more attractive hours to offer potential staff and, some argue, better standards of hygiene.
As Sandy Aird, marketing director at Ramoneur Cleaning and Support Services, points out, it is common sense that it is easier to recruit people to traditional 9am-5pm jobs, rather than anti-social early morning and night cleaning shifts.
Today, those willing to work late and early shifts have more of a choice – they can clean or they can work in a 24-hour supermarket. 'Five years ago if someone wanted a job that started early in the morning, cleaning was high up on the list,' says Aird. Gary Caiels, managing director of Initial Cleaning Services in the Midlands and south Wales, agrees: 'We are getting competition from the supermarkets and that is driving us towards full-time cleaning.'
But while it is the retail sector that has been piling pressure on contract cleaning firms, two retailers, Tesco and Kwik Save, have been among the first to embrace day cleaning in a drive for higher standards of cleanliness. Geoff Ridge, national divisional director for cleaning and security at Pall Mall Support Services, says, 'In this sector, they are looking for a 24-hour presence. They want a high-calibre service.'
An important step has been the introduction of full time hours at night. While not resolving the anti-social hours issue, full-time night cleaning – usually from 10pm to 6am – does have the advantage of introducing higher levels of pay and a greater stability to the job. 'It has made cleaning a job that can attract a reasonable wage,' says Ridge.
If cleaning staff work full time, their employers are more likely to invest in training, which will encourage employees to stay with their company or even take on extra responsibility. Nigel Prothero, marketing and national accounts director at MITIE Cleaning, says, 'If staff are working a couple of hours a week, the training opportunities open to them are less, so we spend more time training our full-time staff. We find staff loyalty is higher and we have benefited from this.'
Last April (2,000) the minimum wage for adults was set at £3.70, which has had an impact in some areas of the UK. The working time directive also means cleaners have statutory paid holidays. Because these costs tend to be passed on to the customer, they inevitably want more for their money.
One way to add value for clients is through multi-skilling, which has the added advantage of making a cleaner's work more varied. 'Clients often ask how cleaning services can be changed to get more from it,' explains Aird.
He argues that although multi-skilling is still in the early stages, cleaners are capable of taking on simple tasks such as basic maintenance or delivering post, as long as they do not distract too much from cleaning duties.
Aird also believes that customers see multi-skilled cleaners as a possible solution to staffing problems in other low-paid areas, such as security and maintenance.
According to Ridge, facilities management contracts that bring together a wide range of services have also played a part in bringing about a demand for more diverse cleaning roles. 'Multi-skilling is coming to fruition under the facilities management banner,' he says.
Prothero agrees, but thinks the changes are just the start of greater things that will ultimately lead the industry away from being a provider of staff and towards being a provider of service. 'It gives us the opportunity to focus on the additional benefits we can offer customers,' he says.
Source
The Facilities Business
