Day cleaning is not simply night cleaning during the day — sure, the basics of cleaning remain the same, but janitors are in a completely different environment and such a change requires a shift in thinking for BSCs regarding hiring, managing and customer relations.

Therefore, those BSCs practicing day cleaning have to retain a special commitment and expertise in order to do it right and do it well. Not all contractors are interested in offering it, and not all of those who do are doing it correctly. But contractors with successful day cleaning programs are experiencing strong partnerships with their customers and with their employees as well, as day cleaning’s desirable full-time, first-shift hours can help reduce turnover significantly.

Customers Drive Change

Calgary, Alberta-based ServPro Cleaning day cleans about 2.5 million square feet of office space daily — a service that the company has found to be quite successful for those clients, says Dan Lindsay, VP of operations, Western Canada.

“We’ve been doing most of them for several years now,” Lindsay says. “We find that once a building adopts a day cleaning model, it doesn’t go back.”

In order for day cleaning to work in any customer building, the facility or property managers need to be just as passionate — if not more so — about implementing it, or the initiative will never work.

When a customer wants to give day cleaning a try, Lindsay prefers to have a minimum of 30-90 days to dedicate to education of building occupants so that the transition doesn’t come as a shock to them. During that time frame, he and other staff from ServPro initiate information sessions, lunch-and-learns, meetings and face time with key tenants and influencers in the buildings. These are essential to getting the occupants to buy into the change.

“It is absolutely essential that we educate the occupants of the building to ensure they are fully aware of the commitment and changes required to implement a day cleaning program,” Lindsay says. “We dedicate our time and resources to address any issues or concerns clients may have when shifting to a day cleaning program. We also understand that each building is unique and we do our best to customize the program to accommodate our clients.”

If that doesn’t happen, it can spell bad things for the account as well as a BSC’s reputation as a whole, and not because of anything on the operational side. It’s all about the culture shift.  

The best way to do that is to customize the program to best accommodate customers and what they’re seeking. A typical day cleaning model would have light duties — such as office dusting, cleaning, disinfecting, emptying of garbage cans and carpet sweeping — being done around building occupants during the day. Restrooms and other common areas get cleaned after business hours, and a wall-to-wall vacuuming is done on the weekend. But if a customer prefers certain duties be done before hours or after hours, that can be worked around.  

In the end, day cleaning works best when customers themselves are driving and desiring the change.

“There must be an initiative from that client, saying, ‘We need to change to day cleaning because we want to; be a leader in the industry; reduce our green house gas emissions; save this much money’ — whatever the reason might be,” Lindsay says.

next page of this article:
Day Cleaning: A Night-And-Day Difference


POSTED ON: 9/19/2012