Today's hybrid office environments need 21st-century cleaning solutions.
If you're like most business owners or managers, you already know that orderly and well-maintained office spaces contribute significantly to the overall production of staff. After all, it's difficult to concentrate in cluttered and chaotic environments, and in some cases, lack of attention to workplace cleanliness results in health hazards — and this is particularly true in 21st-century hybrid workplaces where desk swapping is a standard part of the picture.
In this uncertain economic climate, it's understandable that those in decision-making positions explore creative alternatives to commercial cleaning services, such as assembling their own in-house cleaning team or delegating the responsibility to existing employees. However, neither approach is as cost-effective as it may seem at first glance.
Here's what you need to know about the hidden costs of doing your own hybrid workplace cleaning.
Giving existing employees janitorial duties may cause them to become resentful for a variety of reasons, particularly if the duties are added to an already busy workday schedule. Employees given these tasks are likely to rush through them to return to their desk duties, and they may be resentful at being asked to do something outside the scope of the job they were originally hired to do. You could very well wind up with a dissatisfied employee who has no personal investment in any aspect of the job and puts out halfhearted work as a result. Small businesses may be more likely to go this route than their large corporate counterparts. The result is often increased employee turnover, which comes with high costs, as you undoubtedly already know.
Even if existing employees seem on board with expanding their tasks to include janitorial duties, productivity levels will nonetheless lag due to added responsibilities. Because your current employees likely aren't trained to provide specialized cleaning services, particularly in disinfection strategies necessary during a pandemic, the work won't be of the professional quality that will keep you and others in your work environment as safe and healthy as possible.
Another alternative to corporate cleaning services is to hire and manage your own in-house cleaners. In this scenario, the cleaners are official W2 employees of the company. This old-school approach worked well with the traditional 9-to-5 business models that were the status quo in the past, but today's hybrid businesses require a different approach.
Managing an in-house cleaning team requires knowledge of best cleaning practices and procedures as well as hiring, scheduling, and troubleshooting in the event of employee absence. The administrative duties involved in maintaining an in-house cleaning team add up quickly. Outsourcing cleaning tasks to a professional company means that these details are taken care of, saving your company money. As an added bonus, outsourcing allows your staff to focus on the primary responsibilities that they were hired for in the first place.
One of the biggest misconceptions about janitorial and cleaning services is that these tasks require little or no skill, but few things are further from the truth. One of the most important things professionals bring to the table is that they know what they're doing. This results in the tasks being completed quickly and well. The average person, for instance, isn't trained in hydrogen peroxide cleaning, which is an essential component of maintaining a safe and healthy workplace in the 21st century.
Hydrogen peroxide fogging eliminates dangerous microbes at the molecular level, providing a far superior end result than simply cleaning services with disinfecting agents by manual application and removal. This method kills over 99.9% of all viruses, fungal spores, and other microbes, including the virus that causes COVID-19, and penetrates places that can't be reached with cleaning cloths.
Professional, skilled cleaners can also provide services such as data center cleaning and cleanroom maintenance.
At Pegasus, we provide a customizable menu of services designed to provide each business we work with cleaning solutions for their specific work environments. Furthermore, our services can be scheduled when your work environment is empty, making it easier for the cleaners to do their jobs quickly and thoroughly, and we provide our own hybrid workplace cleaning supplies.
Pegasus employees are trained professionals with the skills and expertise that 21st-century businesses need. Please contact us today for a free Hybrid Workplace Cleaning instant quote!