Ways of Keeping Your Cleaning Contract Refreshed6

TEMCO FACILITY SERVICES

TEMCO FACILITY SERVICES

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Regional Management – a Pivotal Role

Balancing prioritiesThe Regional Manager balances service levels with cost,creating the best environment for optimum productivity.Whilst this can look simple in a bid document, dealing withstaff problems on a wet night in January is another matter.Managers must cope with sickness, absenteeism,complacency and lack of motivation, invariably in TUPEinherited staff. If they are not careful the only time they willbe seen is when something has gone wrong, portrayingthem as a reactive, negative entity.

TimeIt is important that your contractor limits the number of yourRegional Manager’s contracts. This provides the time tounderstand your requirements, adding value to your contractby optimising productivity and anticipating problems,dealing with issues before they become serious. It also givesthe time to get to know the workforce, motivate them andcreate a cohesive team.

TechnologyTechnology is crucial to support Regional Managers. Portabledevices can give access to a range of information, from timeand attendance systems to machine repair tracking, whilststreamlining staff vetting processes. A web based QualityManagement Programme can enable managers to identifyand remedy operational failings quickly, making high qualitymanagement instantly transparent to the client.

SupportOf course this requires a high level of support from adedicated administrative team, giving managers totalconfidence that if they reassure a client that a job will bedone, it will happen as promised. Ideally your contractor willhighlight potential failings in their internal KPIs, coveringeverything from training to consumables.

Your contractor’s Regional Manager plays a pivotal role in keeping your contract refreshed.Positioned between you, the Facilities Manager, the staff and the contractor’s director,managers must deal with a pressures from all directions.

Following a time consuming tendering process, every contract begins with enthusiasm, buteven with the best of intentions, contractors can let standards drift. This white paperidentifies 6 key areas to keep in focus to ensure you get the best from your contractor.

6 Ways of Keeping Your Cleaning Contract Refreshed

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Think of the Staff2

6 Ways of Keeping Your Cleaning Contract Refreshed

MoraleIt is important that your Regional Manager reviews thecontract regularly, internally and with you, to identifypotential improvements. Throughout the contract staffreview meetings will reap feedback and keep theminformed. As well as keeping useful information flowing,these help to maintain morale and ensure staff feel valued.Additionally, it is inevitable that staff get jaded repeatedlydoing the same task, so the areas cleaned and times workedshould be varied to break repetition and maintain interest.

Quality A Quality Management Programme must collate and controldata from objective quality checks, giving your managerhigh levels of detail, so the slightest quality drift is notedand remedied. Even before this happens, new initiatives andcontract reviews should ensure your contract maintains itsdynamism.

EducationEducating staff on the context of the contract is valuable. Forexample, in a production unit, your contractor might arrangea presentation on how the production line works. Whilstmaintaining interest this enhances ‘ownership’ and makesclear why certain procedures are critical.

Complacency amongst cleaning staff is natural, but that doesnot mean you have to accept it. It is in everybody’s interestto keep the contract dynamic.

However well cleaning is carried out, it is going to be undone, repeatedly. This is the nature of the job, but it has a psychological impact on staff which can result incomplacency and quality drift.

Quality Management Programme3

6 Ways of Keeping Your Cleaning Contract Refreshed

TEMCO FACILITY SERVICES www.temco-services.co.uk4

Every mark, every scuffThe right QMP will give your contractor’s managers andsupervisors an unparalleled overview, enabling them to drilldown to every mark, every scuff, in every room. Informationcan be accessed on each building, then by floor, by zone andthen by room.

If a scuff mark is found, it is photographed and its position

noted. And so on throughout the building when, before themanager leaves, the reports are online where they areavailable to both the contractor, for remedial work and youfor a detailed snapshot of Quality Success Percentages.

Quantified information will give you a clear understanding ofthe status of your contract, enabling your contractor torectify drift at an early stage and enabling you to report onsuccess levels at a moment’s notice.

Without a comprehensive Quality Management Programme contract decline is a virtualcertainty. A QMP will make objective physical checks, but collating and controlling data, thenreporting on inspections is a major challenge so it is essential to assess the agreed statisticalquality levels regularly over the life of the contract.

For QMP purposes Temco FacilityServices is the sole UK user ofSmartInspectTM, a US based servicethat gives Facilities Managersastonishing levels of contract statusdetail. SmartInspectTM, combined withcomprehensive Service LevelAgreements and Key PerformanceIndicators, gives Temco a significantadvantage over its competitors.

This includes the following exampledashboard report:

Site X

TEMCO FACILITY SERVICES www.temco-services.co.uk5

Periodic Cleaning4

6 Ways of Keeping Your Cleaning Contract Refreshed

Cost v perceptionThis is no better illustrated than with carpets, where a deepclean might cost 4% of annual cleaning costs, but if carriedout at the right frequency the result will be very highimpact. Your contractor must therefore balance cost andperception. As a minimum a full annual carpet cleaning isadvisable, with walkways cleaned every six months. Leave itlonger you will almost certainly need to spend more to getthem back.

Get it right and your carpet (or curtains, or soft furniture) willlook good and last longer, improving the overall perceptionof the cleanliness of your building. Get it wrong and you getthe reverse.

Every contract needs periodic elements, whether it is deep cleaning of kitchens and toilets, IT orwindow cleaning. Getting the frequency right is critical; too much and you waste money, toolittle and you might never get it back up to standard. The key is vigilant management.

At Temco Facility Services managing periodic work is critical, but they are wary of rigid systems.Naturally periodics are built into contracts, but Temco have a dedicated member of staffmaintaining a Periodic Review Schedule. This means eyes on site will ensure that every elementis regularly scrutinised to ensure standards are uniformly high, and if, for example, a kitchen deepclean is required sooner than scheduled, it can be put in hand.

This way no area will get too bad and perceptions of cleanliness will be consistently highthroughout the contract.

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Celebrating Sub Contractors5

6 Ways of Keeping Your Cleaning Contract Refreshed

When the fit is right the main contractor will benefitfrom working with genuine specialists, with all thatgoes with it, from the enthusiasm for the job, to thesavings that can be made from expert knowledge andspecialist equipment.

Even the largest providers of facility services use subcontractors, not least because subs do not bear theburden of complacency that can bedevil in housedivisions, and of course they are an essential elementto growing mid market providers. But what makes asuccessful partnership?

For Temco the first step is to identify the right contractor for the right job, so a full investigation ofits core competencies is vital.

They look for a good cultural fit that mirrors their own values and integrity, focusing on quality,looking for companies that provide clients with the same level of transparency. Then it is about abalance of competence and service. Good chemistry is vital, especially when re-engineering acontract to enhance productivity, as two points of view are always valuable.

Sub contractors working with Temco must also adhere to their quality management system basedon carefully defined KPIs and Service Level Agreements, together with a range of policies andtheir health and safety management system.

In the end it is about providing uniformity of service excellence. The client benefits from workingwith experts in their fields whilst experiencing a seamless relationship between main contractorand sub contractor.

Sub contractors are not always viewed in a positive light, but this stigma is erroneous.Professionally handled they can form part of a highly competitive business model.

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Careful How You Cut6

6 Ways of Keeping Your Cleaning Contract Refreshed

Get cuts wrong and the consequences can bedisproportionately negative, sometimes ending up costingmore than has been saved. This is no better demonstratedthan when carpet deep cleans are cut, thereby shorteningthe life of the carpet. Even more serious can be insensitivecuts to a settled, experienced workforce. Experienced staffgive more opportunities to be flexible – more opportunitiesto be efficient.

The problem tends to arise when cuts are made blind,perhaps by someone who does not understand theramifications.

All costs are put under the microscope in the quest for efficiencies. Quite rightly contractcleaning is not immune to this process. At the same time organisations are looking foropportunities for Continual Improvement.

Temco Facility Services has no fear of the challenge of making cuts when necessary, but find theprocess most successful when it is carried out with an FM, and least successful when driven by athird party who might not understand the issues so well.

In cooperation with an FM a pragmatic approach can result in each cut can being evaluated andthe consequences understood before implementation. The process should make everybody thinkcarefully, and in the right circumstances, the drive for cuts can encourage innovation.

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In Conclusion

About Temco Facility ServicesTemco Facility Services was launched in the UK in 2001and is a division of Temco Services Industries Inc, astrong and diverse international Total FacilityManagement and Service Corporation, established in1917. We have a proven track record in deliveringsubstantial improvements to service quality and cost ina wide range of environments – from industrial andmedical cleaning to daily office cleaning in commercialenvironments, both public and private sector.

The six issues raised in this document reflect some of the principle issues to consider when trying to maintain andimprove on the standard of cleaning provided by your contractor, but it is by no means exhaustive.

If you would like to explore any of these issues further, please contact us:

T: 01895 520370

P: 1st and 2nd Floor

6-7 Windsor Street

Uxbridge

Middlesex

UB8 1AB

E: info@temco-services.co.uk

W: www.temco-services.co.uk