Expert Q&A

by Tom Nightingale

In what you might call the early post-pandemic days, the janitorial industry finds itself in a tough position when it comes to staffing. While the public recognition of the importance of the roles played by cleaning and sanitation staff has undoubtedly increased since the start of 2020, the problem has quickly become getting these staff on board.

At the 2022 REMI Show and ISSA Show Canada in Toronto in June, a panel of building service contractor (BSC) and property management (PM) executives discussed the issue of attracting workers as part of a wider discussion on where the industry goes from here. You can read the summary of that session on page 26.

We also dived a little deeper into the BSC side of things with one of those panelists, Hallmark Housekeeping Services Senior VP Chris King. With King, we discussed how the industry’s evolving technology can help ease the burden on over-stretched workers amid a labour crunch, as well as key ways that BSCs can look to ensure they are attracting and retaining the talent they need to thrive.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

KING: Technological advancement within our industry is increasing at a rate we’ve never seen before and is allowing us to make significant gains in productivity and even to change the way we clean. Instead of it being there to improve the performance of a specific task, it’s changing the very type of cleaning model we use, mainly from a relatively fixed model to one that’s a lot more dynamic. Technology is supporting post-pandemic cleaning and allowing cleaning companies to go where the occupancy is and where service is needed most. That’s a big change for the positive.

KING: The labour pool has shrunk, so we’re now forced to figure out how we can do more with fewer people to continue to service our customers in buildings to the highest levels of performance. It’s become increasingly important for companies to leverage automation and technology to accomplish more with less staff. Having said that, we certainly don’t want technology to discourage people from joining our industry; suggesting we as an industry are looking for ways to cut labour couldn’t be further from the truth. We will always need people and human labour. The problem is that we don’t have enough staff, so we need to find ways to reduce the burden on them and allow them to dedicate their time to specialized tasks where that is needed most. Technology can be the answer; that it also allows property managers to save on labour costs is a bonus.

KING: Smart sensor technology and artificial intelligence, a huge booming sector in our industry and beyond, allows us to be more efficient with our labour by optimizing daily schedules and workloads. It gives us information about building usage: we know where people are and what they’re doing, and that allows us to deploy staff in the most efficient way. Say an office building has two sets of washrooms per floor. In some cases, particularly with the post-pandemic shift in office occupancy volume, no one has been in one floor’s washrooms. So, the trip up the elevator to the floor with all their equipment and supplies is a waste for staff. Now, whereas washroom cleaning staff would previously have had to go to every floor and check every washroom, we’re able to see how many people have gone to the washroom and we can get an alert if a certain threshold is crossed. Then, staff can be sent to that particular washroom because it needs to be serviced. Again, it’s all about accomplishing more with less.

KING: Attracting workers is highly difficult right now. It’s incumbent on BSCs to give people a reason to want to not just join but stay in the janitorial industry. We need to continue finding ways to make this industry attractive. There are different areas for us to focus on — technology, yes, but also training, communication, culture. It’s a combination of them all. Improving culture, strengthening wellbeing programs, providing extensive and immersive training programs and clear pathways to internal progression at our companies. When’s someone’s learning new skills, let them know how those skills can allow them to further themselves in the janitorial industry, all the way up to management. All those things are extremely important.

KING: Future opportunities, company culture, and all those other things are important to employees, but before all of that, yes, we need to pay people properly. If people can’t make enough money and sustain themselves in this industry, they won’t join. That must come first. As an industry, we need to work together to bring wages up. The future of janitorial really does depend on it. BSCs must work with PM partners to ensure we’re on the same page: that wages will go up even though costs will inevitably go up at the same time. We will try to find ways to offset some of those costs with efficiencies, but we need everyone to work together to raise the integrity of this industry and get the wages, benefits, pensions up so that people will want to join. This is not just on BSCs or just on PMs; we all have to be a part of providing a proper future. /

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Cleaning professionals are under mounting pressure to work faster and more efficiently to meet customer demands. This can be difficult in a time of labour shortages, budget restraints, and intensifying public health standards. As within many industries, however, commercial cleaning leaders are rising to the challenge and growing their businesses with the support of technology.

“The pandemic reinforced the demand for clean and hygienic environments, and that led building owners and managers to lean even heavier on their cleaning partners,” says Chris Coulter, enterprise sales consultant with Aspire Software, noting, “The expectations are high, but tech can lessen the load.”

Managing janitorial teams across disparate properties is no small feat. Doing so e ectively requires visibility into all activities at all moments, which can be di cult to achieve with old-school, analog processes. “Visibility is extremely important, especially today when a cleaning company may be working with many contracts and need to confi rm their employees are hi ing expectations,” says Coulter. “But if you’re working o of static whiteboards, physical notes, and end-of-day reports, you’re likely not ge ing the whole picture.”

Understanding this, Coulter says one of the greatest strengths of Aspire’s own janitorial business management software is the ease with which it collects and streamlines data from job sites into one digital platform. This provides users with a holistic, real-time view of their operations as it applies to inventory, budgeting, scheduling, workfl ow management, and other key functions.

“The whole design philosophy around tech like ours is to give our clients the tools to run their business with confi dence,” Coulter adds. “By having access to ‘one source of truth’ on a computer or mobile device, they can easily look up where their employees are and what they’re doing at any point in time. And, if problems do come up, they can respond in the moment rather than fi nd out at the end of the day.”

The push for greener, more energy-e cient building operations is at an all-time high. There is a competitive advantage for commercial cleaning companies who can demonstrate they have their clients’ eco-interests at heart.

“That goes back to having the data,” says Coulter. “If you can come to the client with a report showing that you’re using eco-friendly chemicals, equipment, and processes, that will give you an advantage.”

There are benefi ts to staying connected on the job. Here again, tech has a role in giving janitorial crews the means to connect instantly with their teammates on-site or in the o ce via apps on their mobile devices. Using mobile communication tech in this manner keeps everyone working on the same page and ensures vital information is passed to the right people at the right time. Moreover, it reduces the risks of miscommunications and delays that can crop up when relying on paper-based notes and reports.

“There are also the upsell opportunities to consider,” adds Mark Layton, enterprise sales consultant with Aspire. “For instance, you might have a day porter who sees that the client’s kitchen fl oors really need to be redone but forgets to mention it at the end of their shift. Through a platform like ours, they can open the Aspire app on their device, tag that potential job, and send it to someone on the team who will follow up with the client.”

With greater visibility comes the opportunity to enhance service delivery. Here again, there is value in using digital tools that can collect and assess data across multiple teams in multiple locations.

“You can do a lot with those aggregated insights,” explains Layton. “Combining data from cleaning teams across various properties allows a user to see how long it takes their teams to perform specifi c jobs across di erent buildings, what resources those jobs require, and other factors that impact profi tability and quality outcomes.”

It’s also about driving be er team performance, Layton continues. Through a janitorial business management platform, companies can collect, assess, and track all evidence (e.g., photos, videos, reports, etc.) from site inspections in one secure, cloud-based location. This enables the company to spot where employee training or intervention is required.

“At the end of the day, this is still a people-driven business,” he says, adding, “Labour is such a critical part of a janitorial contract, so anything you can do to support teams and incentivize performance is valuable.”

Property managers also love their numbers. Herein, Coulter notes that service providers who can back their performance with hard data stand out from the competition: “It’s one thing to have glowing testimonials and a solid bid, but there is a defi nite advantage to coming to a client with cold, hard data showing how you can deliver on every one of their needs.”

There can be a reluctance to invest in tech. Even when the benefi ts of stronger e ciency, visibility, and data-driven business decisions are clear, some companies may still be hesitant to take the digital plunge. It’s during these discussions that Coulter, Layton, and the Aspire team reiterate the work/life balance that comes with any tech upgrade.

“A lot of cleaning business owners spend way too much time in the business versus being on the business,” Coulter says. “When I see this, I ask, ‘What price are you willing to pay to have the freedom and fl exibility to manage more and worry less? What would you pay for the ability to go on vacation and only have to look at a simple dashboard with all your business metrics on it to know that everything is running smoothly?’”

“We can all benefit from stepping back and working smarter, and technology like Aspire gives you the opportunity to do that,” he adds.

Learn more about Aspire’s business management platform at aspirejanitorial.com or by calling 866.727.7473.