Updates from the Leading Association for the Cleaning Industry Worldwide

EDUCATION
Easy Workloading

One of the biggest issues a facility manager or building service contractor faces is workloading: correctly scheduling the appropriate number of people to clean a facility. As you know, labor is the biggest expense when it comes to budgeting for the overall cleaning operation. So it would stand to reason that the better handle you have on your labor expense, the better and more efficient your cleaning process and/or company will be.

Think about your facility. How many people does it take to clean the space? The answer depends on your building’s unique characteristics. Just some of the items that will affect this answer include cleaning frequencies; cleaning system; customer expectations; facility type, age, and size; quality level desired; and budget constraints.

Many people in our industry mistakenly believe that they can walk into a facility and, based on past experience, quickly determine how many hours are needed to clean the building. Another common technique—dividing the number of square feet by a “theoretical productivity rate”—may occasionally produce a correct number, but it is inaccurate more often than not.

Workloading is the only reliable method of determining how many service hours are needed for a building. Workloading answers the question: “How long should it take to clean my building?” By systematically applying time standards to each task and area within a facility, workloading embodies the truth that “time is money” by recognizing that every task takes time and by “dollarizing” that time.

If workloading is an issue in your facility, you may want to check out ISSA’s new INFOCLEAN software. Developed by KnowledgeWorx, Inc., INFOCLEAN is an easy-to-use software package that walks you through the steps of workloading your buildings. Be sure to specify whether you want the standard version (designed for most buildings) or the educational facilities version (designed for schools and universities and based on the Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers’ custodial guidelines).

For more information on these workloading tools, contact the ISSA Customer Service Department at 800-225-4772 (North America) or 847-982-0800.

Lessons From the Field

Problem: As more facilities look to “green” their operations, cleaning services frequently are asked what they can do to contribute. While suggestions often relate to how crews clean the buildings, facilities sometimes get more creative, finding alternatives that address the fundamentals of soil removal without drastically altering cleaning services. The following is one example shared with ISSA staff during the recent U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)’s Greenbuild Conference.

Solution: Property management firm Thomas Properties got creative when faced with obtaining the USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) certification for its client, the California Environmental Protection Agency, at the agency’s headquarters in Sacramento, CA. The management firm eliminated the use of traditional trash can liners and started using reusable cloth bags in centrally located recycling bins. The company also created savings by adhering to the common sense rule that a cleaner entryway leads to a lower level of foreign soil in a building. Increased entryway cleaning not only kept the indoor environment cleaner for occupants, but also reduced cleaning needs in walk-off areas.

Annual savings: $60,000 per year in liner elimination; $20,000 in reusable cloth bags in recycling bins; $9,500 saved due to entryway cleaning.