Happily, most of the modern business companies have a clear understanding of why it is so important to have clean working spaces. No matter is it a warehouse or office open space, restroom or kitchen, all of the premises have to be clean and sanitary. That is why management makes a decision to hire a professional cleaning or janitorial company to handle this question. Such janitorial companies provide full cleaning services, including restrooms cleaning, carpets vacuum, trash removing and others.
And in this article, you will be able to find the information that you need to know to make an informed right choice of janitorial company for your working spaces. So let’s learned it step by step.
What Can Goes Wrong If You Choose the Wrong Janitorial Company?
The first thing that you need to be noticed about is that employees of the selected janitorial company will work with no all almost no supervision from your side. Because they will work out of standard working hours when all or almost all of your staff will be out of their working space. That is why the reputation of the janitorial company you are going to choose is so important.
The most obvious aftermath of choosing the wrong janitorial company is not good enough quality of their employees’ work. As a result, your working spaces will not be completely clean and sanitary, which can affect your staff and impression of your clients about your business. So when you making a decision about choosing a janitorial company, you need to be one hundred percent sure that they are professionals.
Here is a list of necessary requirements that professional cleaning company has to meet:
- Existing of formal quality assurance programs. The major reason why more and more businesses decide to hire cleaning or janitorial companies is to set themselves free from managing the process of cleaning the working spaces. And this goal can be achieved only in the case when the cleaning or janitorial company that you are going to hire has formal quality assurance programs.
- Existing formal safety program. Only in this case, you can be sure that such a cleaning or janitorial company complies the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements and will not put your business at risk;
- Existing drug testing and background checking out of the cleaning company’s employees. Because in case the cleaning company does not have such testing and checking, you put your property and staff at risk;
- Existing formalized process of training. Only in this case, you can be sure that there are no risks for health and safety;
- The reasonable market price of cleaning services. In case when you get the offer with the price that is too attractive because it is under the market level, you need to be careful. Most likely that such company will do its job with a low level of quality;
- The complete absence of illegal activities from the cleaning company’s side. If you noticed that the company you are going to choose using illegal methods for hiring employees or for paying bills and salary, you have to refuse an opportunity to work with them. Such a partnership can affect the reputation of your business also, so you should not put it at risk.
Here is a list of questions that should ask the cleaning company you are going to choose to make sure that you will get the proper level of service’s quality:
- How many hours per week your employees are going to work to clean our working spaces? – The answer to this question provides you with information about their rate per hour. And if this amount is about ten dollars or lower, this company will not be able to provide you with the proper level of service.
- Could you please provide us with your safety plan? – In case of refuse or lack of providing it, it is the obvious sign that you should not work with such a company. The safe of their employees and customers needs to be prior to professional janitorial companies.
- Could you please provide us with the documentation on your employees’ drug testing and background checking? – In case the janitorial company refuses to provide such documentation, you should not work with them. Because, as mentioned above, their employees will be in your working spaces with almost no control, so you need to be sure about them.
- Is your company CIMS-certified? – If the answer is yes, it means that such a company has significant experience and a well-proven reputation, so it is an obvious sign that you can work with them for sure.
Requirements That Janitorial Company Have to Meet
When you are choosing the future janitorial company for your business, you need to make sure that you trust the work for professionals. And professionals have to meet the following requirements:
- Qualified employees. As already mentioned above, employees of a janitorial company that you will choose for your business will be at your office and other working facilities out of standard working hours. So there will be no or almost no supervision from your side. That is why you need to be one hundred percent sure that employees of a janitorial company are qualified and do their job well.
- Professional management. When you are going to choose the company that will provide your business with the janitorial services, you need to be sure that they are professionals. Their employees should behave nice and polite all the time.
- The reliable approach to providing services. You need to be sure of full reliability of the cleaning company to hire them. It means that you will not worry about their employees’ punctuality and quality of work. In case some of the janitors got sick, the company should provide you with the other employee for this period to make the work continue.
- High quality of work. Conditions of your working spaces extremely important for your own staff, as for your clients and customers that can be invited there. Clean and neat office space is a great sign that your business going well. And that is the right impression that you would like to make on every person who entered your office or other working space.
- All the cleaning needs should be handled by one company. Depends on the features of your working space, such as flooring materials, your cleaning needs can variant. Also, you can add in the list of cleaning services that you would like to add some of the services from the following list below and your janitorial company have to be able to provide you with all of them:
- Standard services, including cleaning with a vacuum, mopping, sweeping, laundry, dusting, cleaning of restrooms and bathrooms, trash removal, recycling, and others;
- Specialized services, including carpets cleaning with shampoo, waxing the floor, disinfecting, cleaning after construction works, cleaning of computers and equipment, and others.
- Day and night providing of cleaning services. Depends on type of your business you may prefer cleaning services to be provided during the standard working hours or out of them. Also, you may prefer to choose some specific time for it. And you need to know for sure that your cleaning company will be able to provide you with such services at any day and night time.
- Well-proven reputation. Many business managers taking into account only the price of services when they are choosing a janitorial company. But to be sure that you made the right choice, you need to take into account non-price criteria also. And the company’s reputation is one of such criteria. So take your time and collect some feedback about the company, before hire them.
- Well-managed system of work. Any work cannot be done well without an effective approach in management. And the janitorial services are not an exception from this rule. So to be sure that the work will be done with a high level of quality and attention to detail, you need to be sure that the janitorial company you selected is managing effectively.
So before making a decision of choosing a cleaning company for your business, get back to the above-mentioned list of requirements that such a company has to meet. Because you surely would not like to work with unprofessional janitors that will not be able to provide you with the level of service you are looking for.
These Questions Need to Be Asked
To make sure that you are choosing the right option and this janitorial company will be able to provide you with the proper level of services’ quality, the following list of questions need to be asked:
- Could you please provide us with some references? – In case you would not like to risk and hire a pig in a poke, it will be more than wise to ask a janitorial company for references to prove their reputation and experience. In case the cleaning company refuses to provide references, it is an obvious sign to stop any further negotiations.
- Could you please provide us with the documentation on your employees’ screening and training processes? – You need to be sure that employees of the janitor company you are going to choose for your business passed all the necessary training. Because janitors will not be able to provide you with the best practices of cleaning and do it according to all of the safety standards without training. The importance of the screening process is obvious because you need to be sure in people you let enter your business facilities with no or almost no supervision.
- Could you please tell us about your experience? – To hire a janitorial company you need to be sure that they have the relevant experience in their practice. It means that they they already work with a similar type of working space, similar by type of the business and square. Also, it will be wise to ask will they be able to provide you with a one-time clean if you are looking for it. Some of nowadays cleaning companies are specialized in a certain type of commercial facilities, such as the following:
- Retail premises;
- Office premises;
- Medical centers;
- Industrial facilities;
- And others.
- Could you please provide us with your security policy’s conditions? – You need to be sure that the janitorial company has all of necessary licenses and can provide you with it. Also, it is crucial to know that their insurance policy covers all of the workings injures that may happen with their employees.
- Could you please provide us with all of the certifications your company has? – It is natural to desire to make sure that the cleaning company you are going to hire has all of the necessary certificates for such a job. The list of such certificates may include the following:
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) compliance;
- Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS) certification;
- As well as Green Building certification from CIMS.
- Could you please provide us with the schedule when your employees can be assigned to our working spaces? – Some janitorial companies provide their customer with 24/7 cleaning services, so you can choose any time to order cleaning. But if the company has limited working hours, you need to know when its employees can be assigned to your premises.
- Could you please provide us with the list of equipment that will be used for cleaning our working spaces? – In case you and your company cares about the environment and prefer to use ecologically friendly goods and products, you would like to know that the cleaning company you are going to hire has the same values.
- Could you please provide us with a formal list of tasks that your employees follow during the cleaning? – Such a formal list is an obvious sign that the company is professional and the level of their services is high. But also you need to understand that they can be flexible depending on client’s desires and can make some changes in that list of tasks if you would like to.
You can also add some of your questions to this list to be one hundred percent sure that you will get all the necessary information.
The List of Questions That You Can Ask the References
If the company you are going to hire for the cleaning services providing sent you a list of references, here is a list of questions that should be asked:
- Was the level of providing by this janitorial company services as high as you required? – You may specify this question by asking more about the advantages and disadvantages of the cleaning company.
- Did you notice that your staff became to look healthier? – Cleaning services are important for your working spaces not only for making it looks better, but it can positively influence your employees’ health. Because during the thorough cleaning all the toxic bacteria and viruses remove from the working places and will not be able to affect your employees and make them feel weak and sick.
- Would you like to recommend this janitorial service company? – If the previous client that orders cleaning services for this company was pleased by the high level of services’ quality, he would be glad to recommend them to you.
Are You Looking for a Professional Cleaning Company in Illinois?
If the answer is yes, we have a perfect solution for you, namely Signature Water and Fire Restoration who are as great at the commercial janitorial and cleaning services providing, as in the professional residential and commercial buildings recovery processes after disasters, such as flooding, storms, hurricanes, wildfires, and others.
You can be one hundred percent sure that all of our employees passed the background screening process, as well as drug testing. All of them are qualified professionals and we regularly conduct training for them to make them posted with the latest safety standards, best practices, equipment, cleaners, and others.
Still thinking about which company to trust the cleanliness of your working spaces, call us. Here is our 24/7 phone number: 1-224-515-0100.