10 Signs Your Office Cleaning Service Is A Swing & A Miss

Are your office cleaning services working for you and your facility, or is it a swing and a miss? How do you know it’s time to go to bat for a new office cleaning service? And if you are out in the marketplace searching for a better solution, how do you avoid wasting your time with office cleaning companies who will not deliver a home run? Ahead we detail the ten signs it’s time for a new office cleaning company and even keep in mind when you are looking for a new office cleaning company.

1. Your Office Cleaning Service Has Vague Pricing or Plays Pricing Games

If your office cleaning service has vague pricing or is playing pricing games with you, it’s time to start looking for a new commercial cleaning company. The best office cleaning companies always provide you with transparent pricing. Not only does transparent pricing help you compare office cleaning bids in a telling way, it can help both you and your cleaning company know exactly what work is and is not included. Cloudy pricing and pricing games are always a bad sign. They usually point to inexperience or a deliberate smokescreen. Either way the result for you will be either not getting the work you need to keep your office clean and well maintained or upending your office cleaning budgets with added charges and shifting prices. Clear, transparent pricing gives you the necessary information to make the best decisions for your facility. 

2. Your Office Cleaning Company’s People Problems Are Becoming Your Problem

A team is only as strong as its weakest player. If your office cleaning company’s people problems are quickly becoming your problem, it’s probably time to move on. People are the foundation of any service business and if your office cleaning service is taking shortcuts with their people or people processes, your maintenance will suffer. Companies that resort to illegal subcontracting, illegal hiring or take shortcuts with hiring, screening or training are very likely skipping important safety precautions and best practices in a number of vital areas. You deserve an office cleaning service that thinks ahead, protects your reputation and their own and operates above board in every possible way.

3. Your Office Cleaners Don’t Take Security Seriously

Security in your facility is critical. If your office cleaning services are not serious about security, it’s an automatic strikeout. What security matters should you as a Facility Manager be aware of when it comes to your office cleaning company? No reputable, professional office cleaning service will engage in illegal subcontracting or illegal hiring. No office cleaning service will cut corners on employee screening, drug testing or comprehensive background checks. That means every employee who enters your facility has been fully vetted, every time.

4. Your Office Cleaning Service Neglects Important Training

Does your office cleaning company offer the formalized training required to get you and your facility the service you deserve? Do they train their teams on a systematized cleaning process? Training is a critical component of effective, responsive, professional office cleaning. If your office cleaning company is taking shortcuts with training, service will suffer. Solid, targeted employee training is one of the best ways an office cleaning company can provide consistent, responsive, customer-focused service. In an increasingly complex and technology-driven world, even services we might think of as lower skilled work require good training. Not only do well-trained office cleaners do a better job, they feel better about their work and are more invested. If your current office cleaning service doesn’t understand how important training their teams are, it’s time to look elsewhere for office cleaning.

5. High Janitorial Turnover Is Impacting your Office Cleaning Services

Sure turnover in the janitorial industry can be higher than some industries, but if your office cleaning company has higher than average janitorial turnover, you will not get the value or effective service your facility deserves. Eventually, your office cleaning company’s turnover issues will begin to impact YOUR service. A revolving door of office cleaners isn’t good for business. Not only is your office cleaning company putting extra money and time recruiting and training new people (a cost passed on to you), your cleaning services can quickly slip below acceptable levels as a steady stream of new hires means you never get the benefit of longevity and experience. This reduces the overall value of what you are getting. Likewise, too many new faces invite concerns, real and imagined, regarding security. While employee turnover is higher in lower-skilled, lower wage jobs, there are still ways that an office cleaning company can reduce turnover and incentivize employees with good training, good management, competitive wages and benefits and a good company culture. If you're seeing too many new faces up to bat from your office cleaning services, it’s likely time to make a change.

6. Old equipment & Methods Reducing Effectiveness & Value of Office Cleaning

While you don’t need office cleaning services with every new gizmo and gadget, if your office cleaners aren’t equipped with newer, well-maintained equipment, state of the art cleaning chemicals and green cleaning solutions, and operate with newer methods and industry best practices, you will not get the level of service your facility should. Technology and innovation are changing the face of nearly all industries and office cleaning has likewise jettisoned into the future. Some Facility Managers think that better equipment, supplies, and methods cost more but often they are the very things bringing office cleaning costs down to acceptable levels. For instance, better equipment can cut labor hours, costs and advance efficiency. Apps and reporting software can help create easy communication between you, your office cleaning company and the frontline office cleaners. Computer-based training can save your office cleaning company money thereby reducing costs that are inevitably built into your cost. The best office cleaning companies embrace technology and use it to build continual improvement into their services.

7. Frequent Strikeouts Are Becoming a Pattern Of Poor Service

Sure everyone makes mistakes, it is unavoidable, but if one mistake becomes two and the mistakes become a pattern, it is time to move on. A pattern of poor service points to poor training and management. Sure, you could try to communicate directly trying to manage your office cleaners but one of the many benefits of outsourcing office cleaning is supposed to be that you don’t have to micromanage the process. When problems arise in your facility, how quickly is your office cleaning service getting back to you? And how quickly is the issue resolved? Responsiveness is a critical part of getting both effective service and real value form your office cleaning.

8. A Lack Of Communication Has Become the Norm

Effective service requires that your office cleaning company knows what is working for you and what is not. In order to get that kind of ongoing feedback, they must communicate with you on a regular basis. As mentioned previously, even the best office cleaning services make mistakes. If they have a strong communication plan built in, they will know about a problem way ahead of it becoming a recurrent issue. Your office cleaning company needs to communicate well with both you and their employees. The most professional office cleaning companies want regular feedback, both positive and negative, so that they may continually improve their service and build value for you, their customer.

9. Your Office Cleaning Service Is Simply Not Set Up For A Win

If an office cleaning service isn’t set up for a win, they are likely to fail. Exceptional office cleaning doesn’t happen by accident, it happens by design. Are there appropriate systems in place to assure reliability through accountability? Does your office cleaning company perform recurring janitorial inspections to help steer employee performance in the right direction? Is each important facet of their business structured with systems and processes that create consistency and results? Creating raving fans requires planning and work, is your office cleaning company doing it?

10. Professionalism Is Nowhere to Be Found

You deserve to partner with a winning team. Professionalism is often the difference between good office cleaning services and great office cleaning services. You deserve to have an office cleaning company that cares about the way they and their services are perceived. What does professionalism from your office cleaning company look like? It’s a well trained and well-equipped office cleaning staff. It is a skilled approach to cleaning your facility. It is the systems and processes in place to deliver on their promises. It is clear, continual communication with you in order to provide the most individualized, responsive service. It is employee screening, employee badges, and employee uniforms. It is always working with industry best practices in mind and making better, more efficient and effective cleaning their mission.