Commercial cleaning should take work off a Facilities Manager’s desk – not add to it. From attendance and safe working practices to cover, communication and accountability, we look at what a properly managed cleaning service should provide.
For a Facilities or Operations Manager, cleaning is usually one part of a much bigger picture: buildings, contractors, compliance, employees, maintenance, security, budgets, suppliers and unexpected problems.
The cleaning contract should remove an operational responsibility from that list. Yet when a contract isn’t being managed properly, the opposite can happen.
You’re chasing missed work, finding out whether somebody attended, reporting the same issue repeatedly, trying to establish who is covering an absence, or coordinating additional work that you assumed your contractor would manage.
So what should you reasonably expect from a commercial cleaning provider?
Two buildings of a similar size can require completely different services. Footfall, occupancy, opening hours, flooring, washroom usage, security, access arrangements and how individual spaces are used all influence what is required. That’s why a contractor should understand the operation before deciding how the service should be delivered. A specification needs to reflect the building it belongs to.
Everyone involved should understand what is expected. Depending on the contract, this can include a clear cleaning specification, task frequencies, site-specific checklists and instructions for areas requiring particular attention. Good documentation isn’t paperwork for paperwork’s sake. Used properly, it turns an agreed standard into something an operative can consistently deliver and a management team can monitor.
A clear definition of the required service and expected outcomes.
Practical checklists tailored to the individual building and areas.
Clear guidance for areas requiring particular attention or specific methods.
Documentation that allows standards to be delivered consistently and monitored effectively.
Commercial cleaning takes place inside working environments, and health and safety needs to form part of service planning. Depending on the work and environment, this can include risk assessments, method statements, COSHH requirements, appropriate PPE, signage and site-specific arrangements. The people carrying out the work need to understand how to do it safely – not simply what needs cleaning.
Light & Airey uses digital time and attendance technology as part of our contract-management approach, giving our management team visibility of site attendance. The technology also supports lone-worker safety by helping us identify when an operative working alone has not checked out at the expected time, allowing us to make contact and check that everything is okay. Technology should support good management, rather than replace it.
Even the most reliable operative will occasionally take annual leave, become ill or be unavailable. The question isn’t whether that will ever happen. It’s what happens when it does. Cover arrangements should be managed by the contractor. The Facilities Manager shouldn’t suddenly become responsible for solving somebody else’s staffing problem.
The quality of the service depends partly on giving people the right tools to deliver it. Depending on the contract, that can include appropriate equipment, products, materials, PPE, signage and specialist machinery. Equipment also needs to be suitable for the particular environment rather than simply being whatever happened to be available.
No credible contractor can promise that nothing will ever go wrong. What matters is what happens when something does. Can you contact somebody? Does somebody take responsibility? Is the issue investigated? Is corrective work arranged where necessary? Does somebody follow it through? A problem shouldn't disappear into an email chain simply because it has been passed to somebody else.
Commercial buildings don't exist for cleaning companies to clean them. They exist for the organisations and people using them. Cleaning therefore needs to work around the operation. That might mean avoiding busy periods, accommodating events, arranging specialist or periodic work outside normal hours or responding when an area temporarily changes use. A specification provides structure. Good contract management also requires judgement.
Regular cleaning is often only one part of supporting a commercial site. At different times, a building may require carpet cleaning, floor care, window cleaning, deep cleaning, washroom services, consumables or other specialist support. Coordinating those requirements through an established service relationship can remove a considerable amount of administration from the client’s team.
Ultimately, this is what much of the above comes down to. A commercial cleaning contractor isn’t simply supplying a number of cleaning hours. They’re taking responsibility for an operational service inside your building. That means the people, planning, documentation, equipment, attendance, cover, communication and standards surrounding those hours matter too.
At Light & Airey, we call that Delivered with Accountability.
