As Cleaning Contractors Grow, Hiring The Right Workers Becomes Critical

As a company grows and acquires more accounts, staffing of each site or area becomes a greater challenge. What worked when the company was small begins to break down as the square footage to service grows. When one connects growth to challenges such as key control, different levels of service, different days and hours of service, geographic locations, security issues, supervision, training, supplies, equipment and logistics, one may need to re-think the entire operation. Some call this retuning or realignment. 

For instance, how many people and buildings can the owner of the company manage while continuing to grow the business? Can he/she be a SME (Subject Matter Expert) in the myriad issues involved in custodial operations today? Of course, the answer is no and the response is to periodically make adjustments to deal with growth.

Effective staffing involves identifying, hiring, training and supervising the right people for each position. At times, the owner will be looking for “experienced” workers such as floor techs who understand the principles behind stripping, scrubbing, recoating, carpet care, etc. At other times, he/she may want to identify, hire and train an inexperienced person in the company way of cleaning. 

Everything from geography to transportation to safety has to be taken into account when determining the best fit for each worker. All of this and more requires time that the owner simply may not have while growing the business. 

Today’s custodial business owner can ill afford to hire the wrong person since there is an imbedded cost for such mistakes that comes out of the bottom line. 

Your comments and questions are important.  I hope to hear from you soon.  Until then, keep it clean….

Mickey Crowe has been involved in the industry for over 35 years. He is a trainer, speaker and consultant. You can reach Mickey at 678.314.2171 or CTCG50@comcast.net.