Commercial cleaning services are becoming more readily-available and less expensive all the time – hardly a negative thing in either instance. Nevertheless, the bigger the market for cleaning companies becomes, the more scope there is for the rather unfortunate negative elements to slip the net and provide wholly inadequate services.
In terms of avoiding this latter group, the good news is that most of the vetting can be done simply by reading what the brand’s website tells you about the way it operates and the staff it hires.
It’s crucial to ask your office cleaners as many questions as necessary before even considering going ahead and hiring them.
Third-Party Team Members
For example, while the best cleaning companies use their own in-house cleaning teams, others simply outsource jobs to the lowest bidder. Suffice to say, the latter approach rarely guarantees anything other than unreliable and perhaps even downright dodgy cleaning staff who may have no training, no experience and really no business doing what they’re doing. If they don’t have their own team of cleaners, look for a brand that does.
Efficiency
Never forget not to overlook the efficiency of cleaning services – a point that often escapes the consideration of those doing the hiring. It’s one thing for them to promise a top to bottom office clean three times per week, but with what kind of efficiency? After all, if it’s going to take them the whole day to get the job done to a mediocre extent, you’d be better off hiring another team that promises the same or better results in a morning’s work.
Language Barriers
A quick point but an important point nonetheless, if the cleaners brought on-site aren’t at least moderately competent with the English language, you’re setting yourself up for a world of potential problems and disagreements.
Insurance
There’s no two ways about it – total insurance coverage is not optional. Not only must they be covered to be doing what they do in case they cause an accident or damage to the property, but they also need to be covered for any accidents or injuries they may suffer on the job. After all, the last thing you want is to be held liable yourself in the event of anything untoward.
Commission-Based Cleaners
It’s rare these days to come across a cleaning company that pays its cleaners using a largely commission-based method, but they do indeed exist. The problem with commission-based cleaners is the fact that they get paid more by doing more jobs – hence the reason they’re more inclined to rush jobs to pack more into their days. When and where a job is rushed, quality suffers – it’s as simple as that.
Specialism
Last but not least, never fall into the trap of forgetting to check the cleaning company’s specialism before going ahead and agreeing to its services. After all, you might be under the impression that cleaning a school and an office building would in many ways be pretty much the same, but there’s a world of difference from one cleaning specialism to the next. So if it’s not clear where their specialism lies, be sure to ask before taking them on.