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6 Key Factors When Hiring a Cleaning Service for Your Business
It’s a fact: people judge your business by the way your office looks.
This doesn’t only mean the exterior of your office, but also the interior. If your business looks cluttered and unorganised, then potential clients, customers, and employees will assume that’s also how you operate your business.
And who would want to work with someone who doesn’t have their act together?
Not only that—a dirty office also affects your current employees’ efficiency.
When their workspace is filled with clutter, your employees lose focus and motivation to do their work. Not only that, but it also becomes a health and safety risk, resulting in more absences and lower levels of productivity.
But finding the right office cleaning service to do the job can be challenging.
Because offices store masses of crucial and confidential data, business owners need to be extra cautious when hiring a cleaner. One misplaced document can affect your team’s daily operations. Worse, stolen items or leaked information can destroy your brand’s reputation.
For example, one former hospital cleaner was discovered to have stolen patient records. As a result, he was able to create online shopping accounts and even apply for loans with the stolen identities.
Aside from possible security issues like these, there’s also the fact that not all professional commercial cleaning services offer the same services. One company might include carpet and upholstery cleaning as part of its fees and services, while others do not. These hidden fees and extras can quickly add up and eat into your bottom line.
The other option is, of course, to hire your own in-house cleaning crew, like a janitor. But this might not make sense financially for every company – so let’s start by looking at the difference between janitors and professional cleaners to see why.
Why choose professional cleaning services over janitorial services?
Hiring janitors means having more regular employees on your payroll, increasing employee insurance costs and healthcare packages. Not to mention, they’re an additional department your management team needs to take care of.
Another expense you have to consider is the cost of the cleaning supplies. Because your janitors use your cleaning equipment, your company has to pay for it. The cleaning supplies can seriously add up, especially when you’re buying industrial vacuum cleaners, mops and buckets, carpet steamers… the list goes on.
With so many things that you need to consider when hiring janitors, it can be more cost-efficient and effective to hire a professional cleaning service instead.
This way, you only pay for their weekly or monthly service, depending on your budget and cleaning needs.
What to look for when hiring professional commercial cleaning services:
Office cleanliness is a key thing to consider when making a first impression. Your clients or customers shouldn’t step into a dirty building with pungent carpets. And your employees certainly don’t want to work in an office that’s poorly maintained.
To make a strong first impression and keep employees happy—your office should smell fresh and always look presentable.
That’s why it’s so critical that you hire the right cleaning company to do the job. They ensure that you’re looking your best every day.
So here 6 qualities to looking for in a cleaning company:
1. The Right Expertise
Cleaning offices or commercial spaces is entirely different from cleaning a house. So, make sure that the service you’re hiring has the required skills and expertise.
They need to know how to clean areas without damaging and disrupting gadgets, furniture, documents, and other valuables. They should also have a system in place when it comes to handling confidential and sensitive information.
Plus, if your industry has rules on safety and sanitation, then the potential cleaning service you’re getting should be well-versed with them as well. For example, restaurants have a set of specific rules and regulations regarding food waste and sanitation. Another example is hospitals, who need to have a special system for dispensing medical wastes.
2. A Good Location
Hiring a cleaner far from your office comes with its own set of risks and complications. For one, it will be difficult to assess their equipment and manpower. But the biggest issue is the fact that companies that have to travel long distances may be delayed or miss appointments due to traffic or bad weather. They might also charge extra for a long-distance “call out” fee.
Instead, working with a local company ensures that they’re familiar with your area, can easily fit you into their schedule, and will be able to arrive on time, every time. It also means they’ve probably worked with other local businesses, who you can ask to speak with to get an idea of what it’s like to work with a particular cleaning company.
3. Consistent Schedule
Nothing is more distracting than the sound of the vacuum cleaner in the middle of a meeting. It’s so loud that you can barely talk over the noise, and it definitely doesn’t look professional to have a cleaning crew in the middle of the office during the work day.
If your cleaners aren’t on time, you risk harming productivity levels, distracting your staff, and disrupting your ability to do your own work.
Even worse, it will make you look unprofessional, driving customers, clients, and reliable workers away.
That’s why it’s important to hire cleaning services who can work around your office schedule—instead of you working around them.
4. Value for Money
Just like any service you hire for your business, you want to make sure that the cleaning service you work with is within your budget.
That’s why before signing any contracts with them, ask them to visit your office for an accurate quote. Next, you should request a list of services that they provide at the price they’re giving. For example, ask if they include certain services in their quote, like:
- Vacuuming and mopping
- Bathroom cleaning and sanitisation
- Occasional carpet, furniture, and upholstery cleaning
- Windows and glass cleaning
More importantly, see if they offer discounts for repeat customers. Since most cleaning contracts are long term, you should be able to get a more favourable rate than you would when paying for one-off services.
5. Customisable services
Not all offices are the same. Some are small, with only a few cubicles and offices, while others have entire floors dedicated to just one department.
Other offices might also need more thorough cleaning because of the industry they’re in. For example, healthcare, government agencies, and food industries may require a thorough cleaning process. With Covid-19, this is especially important for high-risk businesses that rely on in-person employees to maintain their daily operations, like warehouse staff or service industry professionals.
You need to look for a cleaning company that can customise their services according to your needs. If you need them to sterilise your equipment and disinfect rooms, make sure they can accommodate that within the package they offer.
Also, you can ask them if they can do the occasional in-depth cleaning, like floor buffing, carpet cleaning, and window cleaning. Remember, your office facilities need more than just regular surface cleaning. They’ll need a deep clean a few times a year for health and safety reasons, too, as well as to make maintenance cleaning faster and easier.
6. Maintain High Standards
The most important part of a cleaning service is their quality. While competitive prices are important, you also need to make sure the cleaning company you hire meets your standards, otherwise you could be throwing money down the drain.
Make sure you’re hiring trustworthy and reliable cleaners by checking:
- Reviews and testimonials. What do other businesses say about them? Are these businesses in the same industry as you and have similar requirements
- References. References are another great way to determine how well a service cleans. You can ask follow-up questions from fellow business owners and ask about their experience with the cleaning company.
- Employee standard. Do they hire their own employees or take in subcontractors? Do they do background checks? What’s their hiring process?
- Turnover rate. Do their employees stay with the business for a long time? A low turnover rate means that their employees have developed the knowledge and skills needed for commercial cleaning. It also guarantees that the quality of service they deliver is consistent.
- Type of cleaning equipment. What type of cleaning equipment do they use? Do they offer green alternatives? Cleaning doesn’t just require the right set of skills; it also requires the right kind of equipment for it to be effective.
Make Sure Your Office Represents the Best You
First impressions last, and rarely do you get a second one.
This is especially true for businesses. New employees, clients, and customers judge your business by how your office looks—and even smells.
By hiring professional commercial cleaning services, you know your office will not only look the best—but also perform the best. If you follow these steps and vet them by checking their level of expertise, location, schedule, affordability, service offerings, and most of all, quality, you can make sure you’ve got the right one.
If you are looking for a top-class commercial cleaning service in Auckland? Contact Spruce today and see what we can do for you.
