Arhur,
Possibly, but the essence of the problem is to eradicate the unethical contractor and at the same time educacte the client and the industry as a whole. A standard structure must be iimplemented, or it will be imposed upon us!
It's sad, I think, that here we are, and from what I am reading, and have been reading into over the last fews hours is that we "older" members of the industry understand the slippery slope that we are sliding down.
With the influx of young thrusters, no bad thing, we have to ensure that all of us set a criteria that the whole industry subscribes to!
Cost cutting to "get the contract", does nobody any good. Least of all our staff and in the long run, the client. As Rob said in his posting, the rotation of contracts is so high it' mitigates against consistency. We don't just have a semi-fluid industry, it's damn near liquid!
Rob, if what you are proposing, and I wait with bated breath, does not include the BIG BOYS, then it is upto the really ethical, committed, professional contractor to climb on board and demonstrate that there is more to the most important industry in the country than meets the eye.
I know the above paragraph sounds egotistical. It is. A few years ago I ran a series of V large retails cleaning contracts. No names, no pat drill, but they were big. My Regional budget was 7m p.a.
I had a severe problem with client staff attitudes to my staff, a real case of us and them. The them being my people. I insisted upon a departmental managers meeting with the GM of a particular store. Then I posed the question to the managers.
"Would your staff get out of bed at 4.30 in the morning, come rain, snow, blizzards and the occasional hurricane, walk two or three miles to work, because there are no buses. Clean for three hours, for £4.50 per hour and then go home."
After a few mumbles the managers said, "they doubted it.
Which meant, no.
So I asked. If your store was not cleaned, and I meant really cleaned, front of house and back, daily, would you or your staff be prepared to do it daily. No mumbles, just an emphatic NO.
So, my cleaners allow you to open the doors every day. My staff, the team that you deride, castigate and belittle, because ther are cleaners, allow you to work. They provide the clean environment that enables this store to open every day to customers. Don't you think they deserve a little more respect than they have been receiving. A little thought about the pallets and boxes and the detritus that your staff leave abandoned on the floor for my staff to clean up or work around.
Silence pervaded the room. And no before you ask, I was not asked to leave the premises, and I did not get the sack.
What I did get was a lot more co-operation for the cleaning team and a change in attitude from the store management and staff. It's called standing up for our staff, our companies and our industry. The effect on my staff was a greater realisation of their importance in the greater scheme of things. Nothing, but nothing would happen in this country without our industry, and the sooner the powers that be, and our clients, and the man in the street, who walks into a clean Tescos, Sainsburys, ASDA, Moririson, realises it, the better we, as and industry, will be. It's called eduaction, again.
Yet another diatribe, lefts hope we are not preaching to the converted.
Good night, and may your god go with you! Mine is waiting downstairs in a tumbler and it's called Glen Morange. Sod the carrot and grape juice tonight.