Summary of the ISSA white paper – ” The Value of Clean” Presented by Tim Clifford of Wood Wyant and Director of the BCCCA
How to Quantify the value your cleaning produces …..Present your business as a savings – not a cost!
We are very receptive to hearing stories If you have a story to tell it has an effect on those that hear it helps to rewire their brains as well
When you are in front of your clients and they say to you ” what have you done for me lately ” ..? or if like so many they feel your service and your busniness are a cost to them ….you will have a story to tell them.
What is the value of your service to their bottom line.
The saying goes ” That a cynic always knows “price” but never knows “value”
There are 300,000 service workers that are employed in the Building Facility Segment
These workers are viewed as a cost.
Hence wages are not high. Being paid lower however results in lower quality of services and the workers cannot spend enough time to provide quality cleaning.
Industry Facility managers who care…do have some tools that help to provide quality and valuable cleaning
Because of competition, Clients say we want reduced operating costs.
However you can say to your client …….. but does lower operating cost really save you?…..this is what I am saving you…
Poor Quality leads to complaints
Client has to notify you of the deficiency. What is the cost incurred to have to deal with the complaint? there is the re-scheduling work, the complaint has to be audited… there has to be an adjustment to billing.
Communication may be completed on the complaint……but it might not be resolved yet on the operations side.
Typically a quality issue cost the Building services worker approx $60.00 because you have reschedule the work, re-issue an invoice, and complete the communication.
Keeping things clean has been proven to reduce absenteeism.
There are approx 7 annual sick days taken by employees …..which relates to about $1900.00 per employee.
Hidden Costs? overtime there are admin costs, productivity slow down, with service complaints.
For an example there was a nursing home that had unionized work staff. When the supplies from our company were delivered they did not put the supplies away. So not only did we have to deliver the products we had to put them away as well, which fell outside the contract therefore overtime for the Building Service worker.
Kimberly clark did a study that showed that better hygiene. reduces illness by 80%.
A tool called an ATP measures levels of bacteria. It literally help you quantify lack of dirt in front of your client.
An ATP is the smallest building block of energy. When taking a reading if it measures less than 10 it is ultra clean, if it measures 80 – it is somewhat clean, it is measures 200 – it is dirty and there is a risk of disease.
So a reading of 80 and above is bad.
75% of the bacteria is on microwaves, faucets,keyboard- basically control points where hands touch.
An ATP tool reduces viral spread.
So it can be part of your story that if the number is kept below 80 there is a correlation that the chance of sickness amongst employees is reduced
It can be demonstrated using a product put on your hand and then shake
other peoples hands and after 40 minutes use a black light that shows how much bacteria is on your hands.
Demonstrating that clean buildings result in reduced employee sickness
THere is also Presenteeism – employees that come to work sick. It is shown that productivity is reduced by 1/3. The employee takes more time on task, lack of initiative, quality of work goes down. and the employee transmits germs. Therefore affecting operating costs by 5%.
If ATP levels indicated measure more than 80 the operating costs will be higher than 5%.
On the Retail front.
If a retail space is not clean …How many customers will return?
Customers are most sensitive to the washroom cleanliness …80% of people will not return if the washroom is dirty.
A story: of two stores: One store in the neighbourhood burnished their floors the other store across the street did not. The store that burnished their floors out competed the store that did not burnish their floors by 37 %.
94% percent of customers will avoid a business with dirty washrooms. Washrooms are very sensitive areas in hotels and washrooms.
The next part of the story is asset preservation.
Reduced cleaning can result in a shortened life cycle of assets
If a building is worth 10 billion ..you have to know that the flooring is one of those assets that need preservation.
1. first there is the cost of the floor being installed and
2. second there is removal and disposal cost.
3. thirdly divided by the life of the flooring
Planned maintenance of carpet or unplanned ? you need to have planned carpet maintenance.
If you have planned maintenance – you can get 10yrs out of a carpet with the appearance being good for that time.
Unplanned – you may get 3 or 4 years with only a fair appearance …in 6 or 7 years replacement is required.
There are elements that can help increase the life of your carpet asset
Entrance Matts
vaccuming
spill & Spot
restorative deep cleaning (carpet truck mount – provides a deep clean )
Cost of Hard Floor Maintenance
Marble floors are 10cents per sq foot
Vinyl is 2cents or more per sq foot
Sheet flooring is 6cents or more per sq ft
Ceramic tile has a long life and low cleaning cost
Preventative plan for floors
Matting a door
daily damp mopping
interim cleaning (deep scrubbing)
Restorative ( stripping)
Cleaning assets example
Building spent 300,000.00 on carpets they only lasted 6years- cost of $50,000. per year
Owners had a carpet maintenance plan carpets lasted 10 yrs only cost them 30,000.00 you saved them $20,000.00 a year.
Discuss how they can apply their savings.
Night time cleaning Versus Day time cleaning – Most contractors do their cleaning in the night hours
There is some evidence that daytime cleaning might be an cheaper option for the customer, a poll was done and it was found out that customers think that night time cleaning is about 80% good. Night workers get tired. There is less fatigue experienced by day time cleaners.
Daytime cleaning however is viewed as more orderly, more tidiness, and seen as 90% good, When staff see day cleaners it actually encourages occupants to keep things cleaner and demonstrate better hand hygiene habits. the presence of the cleaners reminds them to stay clean.
Government offices require daytime cleaning. There are also fewer service complaints.
Day time Cleaning
Can save your Client money by offering day cleanng – – There can be up to 7% to 8% savings in reduced electricity costs by cleaning in the daytime. There is less absenteeism by day time cleaning approx 11% .. there is approx %18 absenteeism with .night time cleaning. There is also a reduction in cleaner turnover if they work days. There is a better relationship with the cleaners because the occupants talk with them. There are some cleaners that might like to work day time.
Transportation
Also a factor in night and day time cleaners . Day time cleaning often car pool – which can result in a cost of savings for the customer.
Night time cleaners however …. over 90% drive themselves.
Summary
Although cleaning is tradionally been viewed as a cost ….it is clear that even a modest investment in cleaning produces substantial financial returns in areas often overlooked.
Thank you to Tim for providing a comprehensive presentation in helping all BCCCA members to begin to be able to tell their story to their customers that having a BCCCA Member as there cleaning provider will not cost them , but rather increase their savings.