Frontline Labor Reports

Read what Contracting Profits and Facility Cleaning Decisions Editor-in-Chief Corinne Zudonyi has to say about developing and using this report.

Staffing and turnover have plagued the cleaning industry for decades.

There is no professional career path — no one goes to school to study to become a janitor. Then consider the work, which is physically demanding and often goes unnoticed and unappreciated. Add in the salary restrictions and it should come as no surprise that cleaning is among the lowest rated jobs and tasks by significant margins, according to Pew Research.

Bottom line, cleaning is an industry that struggles with attracting new hires. Even for those executives who are able to recruit, retention becomes an issue as turnover rates continue to climb.

This turnover is more than just a headache for in-house departments and BSCs, it packs a punch with budgets. According to a 2019 Gallup poll, the cost of replacing an individual employee can range from one-half to two times the employee's annual salary — and that's a conservative estimate.

In an effort to get to the bottom of some of the biggest labor issues in the industry, Facility Cleaning Decisions, Contracting Profits and Building Service Contractors Association International (BSCAI) joined together to survey almost 600 building service contractors and facility cleaning executives in varying locations and facility types across the country.

This research outlines and analyzes current turnover rates, salary averages, retention strategies, and more for cleaning professionals servicing commercial offices, K-12 schools, colleges/universities, hospitals, outpatient clinics, religious buildings, government facilities and other facility types.

Cleaning professionals can use this data to compare themselves to their peers, implement recruitment and retention strategies that work, and stop wasting money on turnover.

Corinne Zudonyi
Editor-in-Chief
Contracting Profits
Facility Cleaning Decisions
Sanitary Maintenance