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Pros & Cons Of Hiring Office Cleaner

If you manage, run, or own an office, you know how hectic the cleanliness and maintenance of the spaces in a building can be. Unless you rent or own the entire building, the landlord will expect you as the tenant to clean and maintain your rented office space. On their part, your landlord will clean the common areas like the public rest rooms, hallways, elevators, and lobbies. As a manager or business owner needing to keep the office clean, there are two options: hire in-house staff or hire an office cleaner. Depending on your needs, you can find persons to employ or contract out the cleaning functions of the office. The following are the pros and cons of hiring of hiring an office cleaner.

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Pros


1. Cost Savings –
According to the International Facility Management Association, it costs up to 25% more to hire in-house office cleaners as opposed to hiring contractors. Moreover, when you hire a cleaner, they will work according to your budget by tailoring their cleaning service offerings to fit your requirements. This makes it easier to manage resources and control costs, unlike with in-house cleaners whose cost is for the most part fixed. Moreover, with an outsourced office cleaner, you reduce human resource expenses of assigning job tasks, monitoring quality, interviewing and appointing staff.

2. Training –
When outsourcing office cleaning, you can be confident that the employees are highly trained in aspects of safety, general health, usage of equipment and storage of dangerous cleaning materials. This is as opposed to in-house cleaners that may require training. In addition, their inexperience may result in injuries that may result in liabilities and injury claims. Besides, given that the office cleaning company buys equipment and cleaning materials in bulk, you get to enjoy volume discounts.

3. Better Quality of Work –
In-house cleaners are typically inexperienced and untrained employees that will not offer top quality work. Conversely, contract office cleaners will typically be highly trained in how to clean and disinfect different spaces of the office and its auxiliary components such as elevators and lavatories. Given that contract cleaners may be required to have certain licenses and certifications, you can be confident that your office will be a cleaner and more hygienic place.

4. Gain Access to the Latest Technology –
With contracted office cleaners you have access to the latest in cleaning materials and equipment. Since contractors typically work for many other offices, they know the latest trends in equipment, cleaning detergents, and cleaning methods that will ensure you get the best clean that you can.

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5. Service Level Agreements –
When you hire an office cleaning contractor you know upfront what to expect from them. The mutually agreed contract will typically include your expectations of service. Since the contractor understands your office needs and agrees to fulfil them, it would be easy to conduct regular reviews and even offer suggestions and recommendations for modifications. With in-house employees, the tendency to become lax is greater, since the risk of losing their jobs for not fulfilling expectations is lower.

6. Continuity of Service –
With in-house office cleaners, the frequency of disruption of service is greater. For instance, if the cleaner goes missing, is ill, or goes on leave, the other cleaners may not be competent enough to perform their task particularly if it was a specialized one. However, if you hire an office cleaner, they would likely have many experienced persons that would fill in for any specialized tasks thus ensuring continuity.

Cons


1. Poor Communication and Customer Service –
While you could talk to the person in charge of the company that contracted the office cleaners, you should expect poor communication and customer service. Since most cleaners for hire work for big cleaning companies, the head office may not have time to listen to your concerns or communicate with you as much as you would prefer. This is dissimilar to in-house cleaners that you could talk to and instruct at any time.

2. Strangers in the Office –
When hiring an office cleaner, you will be bringing a stranger into your business premises. While you can always perform background checks on in-house employees, you will likely know very little about the contracted cleaners, potentially exposing yourself to theft of office equipment and business secrets.

3. Little Control over Cleaning Methods and Techniques –
You can train your in-house office cleaners to clean your office according to your most preferred methods and techniques. With so little control over a contractor, they will likely be more inclined to clean your office according to their parent company manuals and training. These techniques may inconvenience your employees or create a poor working environment at the office.

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4. Lack of Flexibility –
Most office cleaning contracts tie you down to long-term contracts that can last for up to 2 years. Since you do not know your office cleaner, that well and have little control over them, you could be uncomfortable, and uneasy being tied down to such a long contract. Moreover, if the service deteriorates during the period of the contract, you will not be able to do anything other than wait for it to run down.

5. Lack of Motivation –
When you hire an office cleaner from outside the organization, you will typically have very little to do with motivating them. Most of the aspects to do with motivation such as bonuses and pay rises will typically rest with their parent company. As such, even if a cleaner did a good job, you would not be able to motivate them and make them better, unlike what you would do with in-house staff.

6. No Control over Job Assignment –
Most of the time your hired office cleaners will come with supervisors that are in charge of the assigning of tasks and workspaces. While you are the person receiving the service, you may never be allowed to voice your opinion on which worker should work where or do what job. For instance, the supervisor assigns one worker to work lavatories and another to work the manager’s office without asking for any input from you. With in-house employees, you can shuffle your employees around, to enhance your office effectiveness without needing to consult anyone.

Overall, the pros of hiring an office cleaner are more significant than the cons. If you were to hire an office cleaner, the cost, experience, and expertise that you would get means that you can overlook the few inconveniences that such a move presents. The greater effectiveness of outsourcing such a key component will allow you to focus on tasks that are more important.
 
 

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