Kevin Keeler, a cleaning professional in the industry for 30 years, brought to my attention an important aspect of our industry. In his article, “Home Guarding the Treasures in 2015”,  he states, “I still hear from cleaners, supervisors and managers that they don’t feel appreciated for their efforts”.  This is a hard fact to accept in the cleaning industry considering the type of tasks accomplished and the hard work, energy and time given by these professionals.

The truth is, some people don’t understand how valuable their custodians and janitors are to their business. Even with the mass amount of change that has happened in the industry, such as improved products, new and more efficient tools and machines, the amount of effort and dedication required to accomplish their tasks remains the same. This group of professionals are the guardians of the facility; they are the people who keep customers, employees and guests safe from diseases and injuries.  Without them, the infrastructure and productivity of companies would crumble. The word janitor comes from the Roman god who guarded the treasures for the rest of the gods and custodian means keeper or guardian. So as you go through your daily work, remember these professionals are vital in keeping our companies moving forward.

For the first time, in-house facility managers are faced with the challenge of overseeing four generations of employees in the workplace: Traditionalists (born before 1946), Baby Boomers (born from 1946 to 1964), Generation X (born from 1965 to 1980), and Millennials (born after 1980). Understanding the differences between the generations is critical if custodial executives want to build a successful, multigenerational department.

Although the older generation is reaching the age of retirement, a significant amount of them are staying in the work force or returning as part time employees out of necessity. This has caused us to see large gaps in the age ranges that are in the workforce.

According to industry consultants, this new work dynamic can lead to friction when the attitudes and work ethics of different generations clash.

According to Ralph Peterson, training manager for Healthcare Services Group Inc. “They don’t know how to treat each other, and there’s often a lack of respect from both sides. But the good news about these generations, is they really can work together well. They understand the mission, and they have no problem working hard. You just have to understand, they all have different triggers.”

To understand these “triggers”, the best place to start is with each generation’s strengths, characteristics, work habits, and motivation to help form an effective plan to motivate your employees.

The Traditionalists were raised during the great depression, and as a result, they learned how to work hard and have a commitment to a company. “Traditionalists” are no strangers to hard work and long hours, and have respect for authority within the company.

Baby Boomers are the optimists of the generations and believe hard work will lead to self growth. This group is effective in groups, but can not be relied on if conflict arises. Similar to the Traditionalists, the Baby Boomers look for job security and stability; something they can ride out until they retire. The majority of these groups are comfortable working 50-60 hours and this is their main value.

Generation X is a goal oriented group that is accustomed to multitasking and are familiar with technology. They work well in teams and are looking for job security like their parents.

The Millennials require a lot of attention; they are used to getting praised for their work at home. This generation is very straightforward with their ideas and are always looking to improve procedures through their tech savvy ways.

Having all of these diverse generations can be a blessing and a curse in one. On one hand, you have massive availability to knowledge and different ways of thinking, allowing for innovation and optimization in the workforce. On the other hand, you have to find a way to connect these groups. While they can work together, it is difficult to create a bridge to fill the gap between these four generations. This requires giving customized instructions for each group. If you give a Traditional or a Baby Boomer a job and say “This needs to be done because I said so” you will receive positive feedback, but for the younger generations of Gen Xers and Millennials, they want to know the reason(s) for the task they are being asked to perform.

A manager looking to succeed in managing a multigenerational workforce must be mindful of the diversity of their work force, while applying incentives for these different generations to use their skills to work toward common goals.

Customers are what keeps companies alive, and employees are the people who service these customers. Without one the other can’t exist, so we need to focus on both not just one. This doesn’t mean just providing good service, but also creating the most effective and fluent method for providing service to your customers. To preform this task, an understanding of work loading is necessary.

Work Loading:

This is the process of knowing how to manage your employees’ productivity, expertise and abilities. Knowing this information will help ensure that your employees are being sent to jobs that they are experts at completing rather than allocating it to another employee. This can be applied to any form of business, but works best in consultant based businesses.

The ultimate goal of work loading is to ensure customer satisfaction and lower your expenses by being more efficient with your resources. The result of this is less time to complete jobs, resulting in lower labor costs, which means saving money and higher customer satisfaction. So instead of allocating your employees to tasks that they are not good at preforming, make sure you know your employees’ skills. This will help with scheduling appointments; however this isn’t the only thing that should be considered when scheduling.

Scheduling:

Scheduling can be complicated at times because of the limited time in the day. This is why it is extremely important to be efficient when scheduling appointments. Schedule geographically, to cut down on transportation and labor costs. The last thing that you want to do as a company owner is pay an employee to drive an hour to the next location when they could be working for that hour on a closer job.

As a manager or owner of a company, it’s your job to make sure things are running smoothly. Knowing the time it takes to get a job done and the required materials to achieve that task will ensure this. With this information you can more effective schedule the days and keep everyone on track producing the highest quality of work.

Gem Supply can simplify this task for you. Our A.C.E. Workloading class provides software that comes preloaded with industry averages and the instructions to more effectively and efficiently manage your staff. For class schedules click here.

What’s the difference between Disinfecting and Sanitizing?

Sanitizing is the process of spraying a surface and wiping the chemical off after to remove any germs currently on the surface. Disinfecting, on the other hand, is allowing the chemical to stay on the surface for the directed kill time on the label before wiping it off. This prevents the bacteria and viruses from rehabilitating the surface rather than just killing the germs currently on the surface.

This process is very difficult in Florida or any highly humid area because the chemicals evaporate much faster than most kill claims, which average around 10 mins, preventing the chemicals from disinfecting the surface. If you want to truly disinfect your surfaces, look for a product with a low kill claim. The product with the lowest is SSS Perisept which has a 2 minute kill claim! Another good choice if you don’t want to use dilution control systems, is SSS-Tri-Max, which is a Cleaner and Disinfectant in one and has a 5 minute kill claim.

What do you mean Directions?

Directions are the writing on the back of the bottled product that people are spraying around the office. That writing is very important to read to prevent the overuse or under use of a chemical. Not following these directions can result in either not killing a virus or bacteria completely on a surface or potentially filling the room with harmful fumes from the chemicals. In the medical field, the difference between medicine and poison is usually the dosage The same applies in the cleaning industry.

The most misused product is bleach! A few quick facts about bleach, it will kill most things it comes in contact with, but it’s also very corrosive to the surfaces you’re using it on and it is much more effective fresh. Bleach becomes less distilled the longer it sits on a shelf. Another helpful tip when using bleach, you don’t have to use a lot for it to be effective. Bleach only requires 50 parts per million of water meaning your not going to over dilute it. Even if you use a mixture of half water half bleach, you’re going to have the same results as using straight bleach but with less corrosion.

The same rules apply to dilution products. These are the next most misused products due to people not reading and following the directions. Most people will just guess on dilution ratios, which is one thing you should never do for multiple reasons. For starters you could be wasting chemicals, which results in wasted money. This careless procedure could cause a harmful environment for your customers and workers.

What about adding more chemical to the mixture?

One of the most common misconceptions is “I added more chemical so the product is stronger.” This isn’t true. In fact, the more product you use, the more likely the product will not produce the desired results because the product is designed to have any excess evaporate from the surface it is left on. If there is too much chemical, then there will be excess on the surface that will not evaporate. This causes the floors or counters to be slippery, which can cause multiple safety concerns.

Make sure to save yourself money and time by reading and following the directions for all chemicals you use.

Every business should have one question in mind, how do we increase revenue? Most would say we need to increase our sales, but that’s only half of the equation. The other half is the reducing expenses that the business has. What expenses would be the best to lower? Your janitorial section is a great place to start; this doesn’t mean firing people or using a cheaper product. Instead, the following 6 suggestions will lower the costs of your janitorial needs.

1. Move Away From Traditional Mopping:

If you have a facility with 7,000 square feet or more, an auto scrubber can save you more than 3 quarters of your labor cost to maintain that area. When used properly an auto scrubber can do a 7,000-10,000 square foot area within an hour, compared to taking an employee up to 3-4 hours to mop this size of an area. This method is not only cost effective, but a much more sanitary way of cleaning the floors compared to traditional mopping. Unlike traditional mopping an auto scrubber doesn’t reuse the water that was used to clean the floors, thus preventing any chance of spreading the bacteria and soil across the floor instead of picking them up.

When you choose an auto scrubber for your facility, will need to be aware of a few things. The first is the size. The machine should be able to fit within all of your hallways. If the machine doesn’t fit into a room, its not going to help you clean the room. The other is the ease of cleaning the machine. The process and should be training as simple as possible to avoid frustrating your employees with the complexity of the equipment.

2. Look Into New Technology:

The technology to increase your productivity is available, but may not be utilized, similar to when computers and smart phones were first introduced. The hard part is convincing your employees of the benefits of the new technology. But if done properly, you can greatly decrease the costs of labor within your facility. One of these technologies is Backpack Vacuums, which allow employees to clean areas much faster than traditional uprights, due to not being required to move furniture as required with uprights. For more information check out “Making the Switch to Backpack Vacuums”

3. Train Before a Mistake Not After:

Training your employees is one of the most important things to do. No one should be expected to know everything the day they walk in the door, but we can hope they know at least a little. This means that training needs to be implemented differently for each new employee depending on their past experiences. This will help prevent a costly mistake before a problem happens and wasting time reeducating new employees. For more information check out, “Training Can Help Prevent Cross-Contamination”

4. Bulk Purchases:

We have all heard and seen that bulk purchases can save businesses money. It’s no different in your janitorial department; purchasing 5 gallon pails instead of cases of product will be cheaper and more Eco-friendly. The challenge is having the space and initial investment to make these purchases.

5. Dilution Systems Instead of By Hand:

When using diluted products, the best option to save money is to use a dilution control system. Using these automated systems remove any concern of having the wrong dilution ratios. Wasting chemicals will be a thing of the past, and you wont spend labor money having an employee mixing the chemicals.

6. Work loading:

A business always has to be aware of its resources, their experiences and labor. It will never be cost efficient to overstock a product or service, but it can also be detrimental if you have a contracted job and don’t have the resources. Work loading can be used to solve both of these problems by obtaining standard times and amounts of chemicals for potential jobs. Your company can then use this information to allocate and prepare the proper amounts of labor and chemicals for each job. These predictions may not always be completely accurate due to human error, so always plan to need a little more then your predictions to keep the job on time and the customers happy.

Every company is looking to increase revenue and the best option isn’t always to increase sales, but to look at the expenses of your company. Remember, there are many ways to increase revenue, but going cheap on quality isn’t the one you want to choose.