The pressure from customers to reduce costs is greater than ever due to
the current economic climate. Many companies are now reviewing overheads
across their business and looking to see where savings can be made. In
terms of office cleaning, reduced budgets will ultimately lead to a
lower level of service, so it's about taking a logical, common sense
approach that balances savings opportunities against critical business
needs.
Reducing the frequency of the office cleaning operation
offers immediate cost savings, with some companies switching from a
daily service to alternate days. However, some businesses have taken
more extreme measures, which in my opinion is a mistake. For example, if
a company is to introduce a deep clean just one day a week and then
rely on its staff to maintain the cleanliness of the building for the
remainder of the week, this will not only distract employees from their
day-to-day roles, but also result in much poorer working conditions by
the end of each week.
Careful Planning
Better
planning offers a more effective alternative to simply reducing office
cleaning across a business. One of the simplest ways of reducing costs
is taking a close look at the overall office cleaning operation to focus
resources to make the most of budgets. By classifying areas as either
high or low profile it is possible to adapt the office cleaning regime
to concentrate on critical requirements.
Typically, areas such as
the office reception, entrance, washroom, meeting rooms and boardroom
are seen as high profile, whilst back office and administrative spaces
are seen as low profile. Mind you there is still a fine balance, because
cutting back too much on low profile areas can damage the working
environment for office staff and have an adverse impact on workforce
motivation.
Therefore, companies need to undertake a range of
initiatives to effectively remove costs from an office cleaning
operation without incurring damaging side affects. Intelligent office
cleaning is a way of understanding the needs of an operation to reduce
the required hours through better scheduling.
If a meeting room
is often only used on certain days of the week does it need to be
cleaned on a daily basis? Could it instead be cleaned every other day or
only when it has been in use. With some clever thinking it is possible
to streamline an office cleaning operation without impacting on levels
of cleanliness, which ultimately removes additional costs.
Daytime Approach
Switching
to daytime office cleaning offers a host of business and operational
benefits including reduced costs, increased productivity and enhanced
customer care. Additionally, reducing a building's opening hours, for
example from 5am-9pm to 8am-7pm, will enable it to be locked down for
longer periods, offering reductions in operational costs such as
heating, air conditioning and security.
Also, there is often a
change in customer and staff perception when adopting daytime cleaning.
The Increase in the visibility of office cleaning staff raises the
overall awareness of the process, highlighting its importance and
demonstrating the commitment to high standards. Building occupants tend
to show more respect towards office cleaning staff when they see them
working hard to keep the building clean, so greater care is often taken
by staff and visitors as a result. Having office cleaning staff available during a building's opening hours
ensures a consistent level of cleanliness throughout the day. With a
traditional service, a building is likely to be clean at the beginning
of the day and then standards gradually deteriorate until office
cleaning staff return the following evening or morning.
Daytime
cleaning offers new levels of flexibility and the opportunity to respond
to any situation. Office cleaning schedules can be adapted to better
meet the needs of customers whether this is identifying operational
peaks, or arranging job allocations based on the planned usage of
meeting rooms. Moreover, it enables an immediate response in the case of
unforeseen accidents and spillages, minimising the required clean up
time and promoting a clean and hygienic working atmosphere.
Workplace Hygiene
The
swine flu epidemic has brought hygiene to the forefront of people's
minds, with companies and employees alike looking at ways of minimising
the spread of the disease. What it has highlighted is the ongoing need
for proper hygiene within the working environment to protect staff's
health from dirty and germ-ridden surfaces and equipment. Therefore, any
changes to an office cleaning schedule need to take into consideration
employee welfare and the implications of any reduced levels of hygiene.
The
cost of absenteeism to UK companies is considerable, with 11 billion
lost each year due to sickness, and this figure is likely to have been
even greater over the past twelve months. A large percentage of that is
due to bacteria and germs being picked up by people in the workplace.
Desks
and office equipment are in fact a breeding ground for germs and
bacteria. For example, a toilet seat has on average 47 microbes per
square inch compared to a telephone that has around 25,000 and a
keyboard with 3,300. This is hardly surprising when you consider that
toilets are cleaned regularly, but most people don't think about their
office desk and the equipment on it. As a result, there can be up to 10
million bacteria on the typical desk, and this can include Ecoli, MRSA
Winter Vomiting bugs and now of course Swine Flu.
Regular
sanitising of IT equipment and hard surfaces is a must to reduce the
spread of bugs, viruses and diseases. Also, taking time to educate
employees about the personal and business risks will encourage better
personal hygiene and working practices.
Waste Management
Recycling
is now an important consideration for all companies who are under
legislative, corporate and social pressure to reduce the impact their
operation has on the environment and wider community. Therefore, there
is an opportunity to take an integrated approach with the office
cleaning operation to adopt effective waste management procedures to
keep time and cost pressures to a minimum.
Over the past few
years, the cost of dumping rubbish at landfill sites has been increasing
25 per cent annually, and this is unlikely to change moving forward.
Therefore, there are wider cost savings available for those businesses
that can achieve high levels of recycling. Companies can also receive
money back for waste paper, so this represents an added kick back.
By
integrating waste management with an existing office cleaning
operation, companies can benefit from added value resulting from
efficient waste segregation and better-managed processes to make
significant time and cost savings. It is possible to tap into the
expertise of office cleaning companies to increase levels of recycled
office and operational waste including paper, confidential paper, ink
cartridges and food waste.
Outsourcing And A Partnership Approach
Some
companies may consider that they can reduce costs by taking their
office cleaning operation back in-house. However, organisations should
not underestimate the knowledge and expertise possessed by office
cleaning companies and the ability this provides to focus on core
activity.
Most office cleaning companies will have access to
specialist cleaning equipment that offers added efficiency benefits.
Battery powered, low noise vacuum cleaners are essential for daytime
cleaning operations, whilst microfiber cloths not only reduce cleaning
time and improve results, but also minimise the use of polish and other
cleaning agents.
There are also many hidden costs associated with
in-house office cleaning operations. For example, companies will need
to organise appropriate training for internal office cleaning staff and
also take into consideration holiday cover. Furthermore, companies will
not have the same buying power as office cleaning companies, so
equipment and cleaning product costs will also be higher as a result.
Office
cleaning companies often widen opportunities to benefit from a
multi-service solution. Many office cleaning companies are either part
of a larger group or have partners in place to deliver an integrated
service offering. Therefore, companies can access a wide range of
complementary services to help achieve additional cost savings.
Simply
slashing office cleaning budgets is not necessarily the most effective
means of lowering overheads, so it is worth taking a step back and
considering all the options available and what issues need to be
considered. What is important is that whatever steps are taken do not
negatively impact on a business' core activity. Carpet Cleaning Watford, Carpet Cleaning Harrow, Carpet Cleaning Hampstead, Office Cleaning London, Cleaning Services London, source.
