This past year certainly threw a learning curve at professionals within the janitorial and facilities industries. We saw our teams work so hard to keep up with an ever-changing situation (rising to its Dixie Cup moment, if you will). Even as we move into 2021, with some of the same challenges alongside new realities, we’re finding time to reflect on five key lessons we’ve learned. 1. If you collect the data, then make sure you’re Read more…
End-of-shift inspections are one of the most important forms janitorial, facilities, and custodial teams use. We’re going to explore what end-of-shift report is, who should perform them and why, what makes them so vital, and how to create your own form with sample questions you can use. Regular inspections are the only way to get a real idea of the efficiency of your janitorial team and how they are performing at your facilities. For more Read more…
Kevin Leland, the CEO of Halo, recently wrote an article on How Dixie Cups became the breakout star of the 1918 pandemic for FastCompany. It’s a fascinating read that chronicles the invention of Dixie Cups, which failed to catch on much during the first 10 years of business . . . until the Spanish flu of 1918 came along. Then, everyone scrambled to move away from communal drinking cups, and business exploded. It didn’t just Read more…
Return-to-work plans lay out the procedures and policies you’ve put in place to make sure your employees can return to work during the COVID-19 pandemic with as much safety as possible. Cleaning teams need two kinds of return-to-work plans in place: one for their client or organization, the other for themselves. Of course, depending on where you live and the industry you work in, you may be opening back up . . . or closing Read more…
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken all of us in surprising new directions. As we at OrangeQC have talked with our teams, interviewed industry experts, and listened in on webinars, one theme has constantly come up: the increasingly prominent role of janitorial services. That theme came up again when we spoke with Judy Gillies, president of The Surge Group, earlier this month. “This pandemic has actually highlighted how important cleaning is,” says Judy. “We’ve never been Read more…
CIMS (short for Cleaning Industry Management Standards) is an ISSA-run certification that awards effective, efficient cleaning teams. Certified teams have to meet a long list of criteria across a range of areas, from quality systems to health and safety. We’ve talked to teams wondering if CIMS certification is worth it, what the benefits are, and what they need to do to prepare. To help answer those questions, we called up Lance Witschen, a CIMS assessor Read more…
The whole world has turned to remote work like never before, and that includes janitorial and field service teams. We’ve talked to many BSCs who have eliminated or downsized their office HQ . . . and even among those who haven’t, their clients aren’t coming in for meetings. So how can janitorial and facilities teams adapt to the new norm as they work in the field or remotely, rather than coming back to the office? Read more…
Janitorial and facilities teams have always been behind the scenes, doing their best to keep things clean and healthy. For better or worse, many people in the industry only feel their hard work is noticed if there’s a problem. But as the world begins to reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic, people in the general public are suddenly interested in cleaning and disinfection like never before. People walking into any building want to know: Is this Read more…
GPS and cellular data technology can be a huge advantage for teams in the field, where there isn’t always access to WiFi. However, there are considerations around privacy, compensation, and property you’ll need to think through. So how do you reap the benefits mobile technology while minimizing the downsides? It’s something we’ve thought about quite a lot while developing OrangeQC! Over the years, we’ve been able to talk to teams around the world, hear their Read more…
This is the final article in our series on improving your quality control process. Just to review, so far, we’ve talked about: Why do QC, and how great inspections = happy customers How to build a great inspection form and develop the right rating system Four steps to set your inspectors up for success As promised, today we’ll cover how to use your quality control process to sell your services. Yep, this is the payoff Read more…
