FUTURE OF WORK
–and safe–
Staying profitable in a hybrid working world
A hybrid workplace model in the aftermath of COVID-19 means building services contractors have to apply extra rigour with hygiene standards, contracts and relationships when dealing with commercial office clients. Here, industry experts outline some of the key considerations that should be front of mind. Words Cameron Cooper
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s many companies embrace a hybrid model whereby more employees work from home and office space is scaled back, some cleaning companies may be weighing up the prospect of doing less-frequent cleans and trimming staff numbers. However, industry veteran Ron Segura, the founder and president of Segura & Associates in the United States, is urging cleaning operators to be more innovative and forward-thinking. If an eight-hour cleaning shift at night has been reduced because of the work-from-home trend, he says there may be ways to fill the gap, including offering facility managers other services to combat COVID-19. 70 INCLEAN September / October 2022
“That’s an opportunity, for example, to really sell them on a disinfection program,” Segura says. “They already have scope in their budgets, and now you’re not selling a disinfection program as a luxury, you’re selling it as a necessity.” As the market evolves as a result of the pandemic, Segura says cleaning companies also need to understand in great detail the contracts they have with customers. That includes the extent to which their cleaning staff may be under-utilised, and what capacity they have to make additional service offers. “To do this, you need to know your account and how much time it really takes to clean that account.”