Three Big Decisions When Hiring a Janitorial Service

Under the category of "Doing things Right", the default method of hiring a janitorial service can be a huge step backwards for your company. Hiring a cleaning service has far reaching implication for your company.
 
April 17, 2012 - PRLog -- For a very long time, hiring a janitorial service has been almost exclusively about the search for the lowest price.  Everyone assumes that the basic criteria is pushing a broom, mopping a floor, or cleaning the bathrooms.  It is broadly assumed that all things being equal, one cleaning service is the same program with a different name.  This attitude is a classic mistake that actually hurts the cleaning industry and the companies being served.

If the only difference is price, most companies will end up with a cleaning service that has slashed prices to get below the better services that knows what it takes to do the job right.  When the cleaning contract is awarded, the winning company may actually be “upside-down” in the deal.  Or, they may be so narrow on profits that the services cannot be properly delivered.  The only way to keep from bleeding money due to paying for workers, supplies, transportation, and equipment is to cut the promised services.  So, while the job may be done, it is being done in a stingy fashion.  Corners are cut, hours are shaved, and workers are underpaid.  Many supplement undocumented workers who take low pay for a job and cash under the table.

The more reliable companies pay their employees, verify their credentials and usually have qualified workers who have been with them for years.  Fast turnover of employees is a sign of a company that does not train or develop their workers.  In the end, cut-rate janitorial services bring in transient workers that barely know how to do the job.

The recent skyrocketing of gas prices is exactly the kind of unexpected events that can turn a marginally profitable job into a losing proposition.  Is it any wonder that thousands of janitorial services go out of business every year?  There is something wrong with the methodology, and it brings consequences to any company that falls prey to the lowest bid mentality.

So, the first mistake is calling for bids to be submitted and hiring the lowest price janitorial service.  Unless the prices are within the same range and the difference is rather small, you can bet that a seriously low bid is a desperate service looking to grab the business and figure out the details later.  Every business wants that lowest price, but they really don’t want the lowest level of service.  Somehow, the logic of the low bid escapes the wisdom of choosing a best janitorial service.

The first suggestion is that it is rarely a good idea to accept the lowest bid.  Even if there is a performance bond, the trouble brought on by a poor service and collecting on the claim isn’t worth the trouble.  Low bids always cut workers, supplies, and time to keep the job from bleeding the finances.  The truth is that the best janitorial candidates will likely be in the lower half of the bids.   Therefore, once the bids are in, the astute consumer/business will evaluate the competing bids for the company that is able to do the job in a professional manner.

If the company looks for the "Best Qualified" janitorial service in the lower bids, the results may be far better than choosing the lowest bid.  Why look at the bottom of the pile for your cleaning service when one of the companies in the lower bids may be the kind of decision that will not cause problems through the two to five years of the contract?  You're not buying dog food here but deciding on a intrinsic service that impacts your business for years.

In other words, the hybrid plan of price and quality will eliminate the highest bids, but will also look for the best qualified to the group that are in the lowest price half.  Some may throw out the highest and lowest bids to take the ones in the middle.  There is good business sense in both of these approaches because the best combination of price and service will be in the middle of the pack rather than either extreme.

The second suggestion is check out reference.  This means calling more than two or three of the prime customers offered.  Dig deeper!  You need to call as many customers as possible and don’t be gentle.  You want to know if that firm would hire the janitor service again if they had the chance to do it again.  You are looking for unqualified recommendations, not a “They’re okay” response.

Thirdly, it is now time to hire a Green certified janitorial service.  It is now broadly recognized that no company is sincere about a Green program unless the cleaning service is actually a Green certified operation.  Why?  Janitorial services bring in hundreds of pounds of cleaning supplies every year.  Non-Green services rip away any integrity of a Green company.  When the company has taken the time and trouble to earn a certification from the Green Clean Institute, it demonstrates the kind of commitment that a Green-committed company needs.

Avoid any janitorial service that plays fast and loose with its Green credentials.  If the Green program comes by self-promotion or an online purchase, it cannot be trusted.  According to the FTC, a Green certification must come from a qualified third-party like the Green Clean Institute.

Of the three suggested criteria, choosing a Green certified service is one that has far-reaching implications.  These implications have to do with the kind of company you want to develop.  By using a Green cleaning service, you will greatly reduce the hundreds of pounds of toxic chemicals brought into the building each year by the cleaning crew.  This has been proven to improve the company’s air quality so much that worker productivity in improved, sick days are reduced, and medical claims drop.
This decision impacts the executives and managers just as much as the other workers.  Years of exposure to standard cleaning products has a day of reckoning for all who spend time in the building.  

The Green Clean Institute [http://www.greencleaninstitute.com] encourages companies to take the hiring of a janitorial service seriously and avoid the default process of considering only the lowest bid.  This foolishness of choosing the lowest bid is "penny wise and pound foolish."  We now realize that the workplace is a health issue, an appearance issue, and eventually an environmental issue as well.  

Search out a Green certified Green janitorial service at Green Janitor [http://www.greenjanitor.net].  Find a free copy of the Green Clause at http://www.greencleaninstitute.com/blog/green-clause-rfp.

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Green Clean Institute provides Green educations for janitorial and cleaning services. Using a highly effective eLearning system that allows janitorial or cleaning services to train staff, develop a Green operation, and provide superior service to all customers.
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Tags:Hiring A Janitoirial, Hiring A Cleaning Service, Green Cleaning, Rfp Janitorial, Green Business
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Page Updated Last on: Apr 17, 2012
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