Happy Male And Female Janitors With Cleaning Equipment

Today is National Custodial Worker’s Recognition Day, an event held every Oct. 2 in celebration of the men and women whose labor helps to keep millions of Americans safe and healthy each day. 

So how does one celebrate National Custodial Worker’s Recognition Day? Well, for starters, the easiest way to honor custodians is to stop and thank them for the work they do. While janitorial work is vital to the health of people and buildings, it’s often a thankless endeavor. Buck the trend by simply walking up to any custodian you see and thanking them for their hard, important work.

When you return home from your busy day, consider cleaning your house. As National Today says, cleaning your home won’t make the lives of custodians easier, but it will help you to better appreciate what it means to keep a space clean.

Those who employ custodians and janitors — like so many of our readers — can do a lot to thank these special workers. As Contracting Profits and Sanitary Maintenance editor-in-chief Dan Weltin has said, employee recognition doesn’t have to be extremely expensive, but it should be thoughtful. Consider throwing staff a pizza or ice cream party in the coming days or weeks. Management can use these gatherings to thank each janitorial worker for their hard work in front of their peers. Maybe even speak to one or two great things that worker has done recently.

In recognition of today, ManageMen has developed a card people can download, print, trim and hand to their favorite cleaning worker as a way to say "thank you" for the work of custodians and janitors. Access that virtual tool by clicking here.

As everyone in the industry is well aware, the flu season is just getting started in the United States, and its outlook for 2019-2020 looks bleak. Yes, hand washing and flu shots will help to mitigate the impact the flu has on the population, but how janitors and custodians clean facilities will be just as important. Use this day, week, and month to thank those who will be protecting so many.