As I consult with companies around the country I continue to be amazed at how many of them do not have a system for identifying the required tasks, frequency of those tasks and who is responsible to perform those tasks.  I just described Job Cards and Quadrant Cleaning in its simplest form.  

 

A Job Card is simply listing the tasks in an organized sequence so that the worker starts at point A when he/she starts their job for the day and ends up having completed their assigned tasks with the least amount of backtracking so that they are the most productive during their time at work.  Although most people think of Team Cleaning and Job Card use, anyone cleaning an area should have them and will benefit from investing the time to develop/refine them.  An example of a good Job Card is that Tom starts work at 5:00 PM, clocks in and goes to his janitor cart (already set up by his supervisor or lead), checks his Job Card of his route for the night.  Note that the ideal is to have a customized Job Card for each day and each route.  The use of distributor generated generic cards are of limited value when you want to delineate start/stop times including breaks.  Without those time lines, workers tend to wander and not be as productive.

 

The other aspect is Quadrant Cleaning which involves assigning detail cleaning on a rotating basis so that items such as dusting are completed over 100% of the area in manageable segments.  This reduces the risk of the work never being done until there is a complaint as well as making sure work is not duplicated more often than necessary.

 

Job Cards and Quadrant Cleaning should be a part of every professional cleaning service today.  

 

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.


posted on 10/24/2014