The first step in controlling your janitorial management contract costs is understanding what has the largest impact on your budget. The simple answer to this complex question is of course labor. However, breaking labor down into bite size pieces in the janitorial cleaning business is a necessity to staying in business. In this article I hope to help with this process.
Although creating assign sheets may seem basic for most of you it must be mentioned. Of course an assign sheet is a list of tasks to be performed with the time frames corresponding to them. As an example you may list Cleaning the Restroom as one task on the assignment. The basic tasks associated with cleaning the restroom would also be identified, such as, cleaning the sink, the toilet/urinal, emptying the trash, restocking the paper goods and soap dispenser, cleaning touch points, spot cleaning the walls, cleaning over head lights, and cleaning the floor. Beside all of this would be the time assigned to cleaning this restroom, such as 1:00 pm to 1:30 pm. Of course any of the above items can be adjusted to match your facility and allotted time to complete.
Examine what order your Staff is carrying out their work assignments in. Do they make sense or are they not making the best use of their time? Just to give you an example are they bouncing all over the building doing something here and then way over there, and then back again to where they started. Remember any time they move from one area to another they are not being productive which costs you money. So as you consider making out your assignment sheets give thought to working through the building methodically.
Additional things to think about would be team cleaning, newer equipment, and more productive chemicals. As an example team cleaning reduces the number of times your housekeepers will start and stop a task. Switching between tasks eats up productive time. Often times the newer equipment is a huge way to reduce the cleaning times of certain tasks. Maybe it's as simple as getting a wider vacuum. Making sure you are making use of the right chemical on the job you are doing can save on the cleaning times. Being profitable in the janitorial cleaning business can be tough which means you must continually challenge yourself to consider all your options.
You must come to grips quickly that controlling your labor costs will make or break you. Understanding how to reduce the time it takes your staff to perform tasks is the key. Whatever you do, you can't give up!
Although creating assign sheets may seem basic for most of you it must be mentioned. Of course an assign sheet is a list of tasks to be performed with the time frames corresponding to them. As an example you may list Cleaning the Restroom as one task on the assignment. The basic tasks associated with cleaning the restroom would also be identified, such as, cleaning the sink, the toilet/urinal, emptying the trash, restocking the paper goods and soap dispenser, cleaning touch points, spot cleaning the walls, cleaning over head lights, and cleaning the floor. Beside all of this would be the time assigned to cleaning this restroom, such as 1:00 pm to 1:30 pm. Of course any of the above items can be adjusted to match your facility and allotted time to complete.
Examine what order your Staff is carrying out their work assignments in. Do they make sense or are they not making the best use of their time? Just to give you an example are they bouncing all over the building doing something here and then way over there, and then back again to where they started. Remember any time they move from one area to another they are not being productive which costs you money. So as you consider making out your assignment sheets give thought to working through the building methodically.
Additional things to think about would be team cleaning, newer equipment, and more productive chemicals. As an example team cleaning reduces the number of times your housekeepers will start and stop a task. Switching between tasks eats up productive time. Often times the newer equipment is a huge way to reduce the cleaning times of certain tasks. Maybe it's as simple as getting a wider vacuum. Making sure you are making use of the right chemical on the job you are doing can save on the cleaning times. Being profitable in the janitorial cleaning business can be tough which means you must continually challenge yourself to consider all your options.
You must come to grips quickly that controlling your labor costs will make or break you. Understanding how to reduce the time it takes your staff to perform tasks is the key. Whatever you do, you can't give up!
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