Bit of a hot thread this one!!!!!!!!
A lot of client's/prospects think cleaning is easy, normally carried out by people with little education/skills. It is in fact one of the easiest industries to enter, but one of the hardest to climb the ladder in, this is because as one contibutor has stated, there is very little money available for training and personnel development.
Yes client's and prospects are beginning to realise, that we as an industry have to have trained people on site, but, this is mainly in the fields of H & S, COSHH etc, very rarely, in actual cleaning (after all the wife does it at home, how hard can it be?)
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This is the sort of mindset, that we as an industry, have to overcome. For more than a few years now, the buzzword whithin the industry has been"Best Value", what does this really mean? E - Tendering is now beginning to take hold in the industry, and trust me, these are based on price, we have independent consultants visiting our client's and potential client's promising to cut their business costs in every sector that you can imagine, from, electricity, rates, stationary, and yes, you guessed it, cleaning.
DP mentioned that a new employee can walk away at any time, so why really bother with training, well the simple answer is personnel selection, references, CRB check, a real interview, this process will prevent many from starting the job in the first place, so why do we all not do this? Simple really, the industry just wants to fill the vacancy as quickly as possible. Do we as an industry, really offer our staff a logical career path, with the opportunity for progression, 95 times out of a 100, no we do not.
Regarding chemicals, domestic and commercial, it is a legal requirement to have COSHH sheets for all chemicals that are used by your staff. If you prefer to get them from Tesco's, your choice, does it really matter?
However, you must have sysytems in place to ensure that your client is aware of the dangers of mixing even well known household chemicals!
However using your client's equipment is another matter, as an employer, you have a duty of care to ensure that all electrical equipment is actually safe to be used, are you going to insist on a PAT test, on at least an annual basis?
Where you purchase equipment/chemicals has no real bearing on this, as long as you comply with the legislation, however, by dealing with a commercial janitorial supply company, you gain access to all sorts of help and advice, that electrical retailers and Tesco's cannot match.
You may be forgiven for thinking that there is no training available for small/starup cleaning business's, but the fact is there is a huge amount, your local chamber of commerce holds many short courses on a wealth of subjects, administration/payroll/accounts/H & S/advertising/employent law etc. Of course specific training, can be obtained from BICS(British Institute of Cleaning Science), Prochem and indeed your freindly local jan supplier! amongst many others. You just have to invest the time and money in obtaining this knowledge, not just purchase a couple of vacuum cleaners, mop bucket and cloths
Only by singing from the same songsheet are we going to change the world!!!
Regards,
Rob
