Commercial cleaners often function as late night security. Most often, this occurs without planning and much too often without training. That’s one of the reasons our structured training practices for consulting services include protocols for location security. These also include cleaning staff security and actions to take in the event of “threats”. Cleaning company owners and their clients appreciate and prefer that cleaning staff remain consistent.

Cleaning Staff Familiarity

When you stop to think about it, the reasons are obvious. For Commercial Cleaning companies, consistent staffing means less training & greater efficiency. And those frontline cleaners who ARE consistently within a commercial location get to know that location. Every building has a “personality” and unique commercial cleaning needs. There’s also the advantage of becoming familiar with the client-side employees and owners. Consistent staffing helps to build trust with the clients.

Commercial Cleaning Staff and Security

Keep in mind that Commercial Cleaning Companies in Rochester NY and throughout the United States, deal with an average staff turnover rates between 75% – 375%. All that turnover means constant training. It’s our view that better training up-front and progressive training is better. This strategy helps the Cleaning Company KEEP staff longer and manage costs.

Late Night Security

Much like PPE, helping your frontline cleaners understand what can happen helps them be prepared both emotionally and their roles on-site. DOC’S Facilities Consulting prepares teams to handle workplace situations that can impact their personal safety, employment and client security. When your Commercial Cleaning Company or in-house cleaning team needs training, please contact us. We consult and train throughout the United States.

In this episode we’ll answer:

• 00:41 Do janitorial services do security too?
• 02:14 If my job specifications change, am I limited to them?
• 01:50 What are the reasons for not letting someone into the building who I recognize?
• 02:07 Will people try to take advantage of the janitorial staff?
• 02:45 What should I do when someone is waiting to enter the building when I leave?
• 03:13 Should I add descriptions of building security with my janitorial services quote?

 

00:26 Ray

Joel, we’re back, and we’re talking about cleaning companies as the Last Line of Protection. What do you mean by that?

 

00:33 Joel

We are a security company.

 

00:36 Ray

I beg your pardon?

 

00:37 Joel

We are a security company.

 

00:39 Ray

Are we hitting people with mop heads?

 

00:41 Joel

It has happened. I didn’t do it. Wait a minute. I didn’t do it. I’ve worked for companies where, yes, mop heads have been used to come in contact with other people’s heads. But different companies, different time. But no, janitorial companies become an unpaid security company.

 

00:58 Ray

How so?

 

00:59 Joel

Because when we finish our jobs at night, we’re supposed to make sure all the water is off. Make sure all the coffee pots are off. Make sure that all the doors are locked. Make sure that the alarm is set, and then at least in upstate New York, we have seasons of the year, both winter and summer, where you have swelling of casements. And sometimes doors don’t fully latch and connect. And if that door is not locked, that building is not secure. So therefore, you can’t just walk away. You don’t get paid extra for all that, now. As well as the people that walk up to the door after hours that’s on a time lock and go, “Hey, you saw me just leave.” Comment is, “Well, if you really are supposed to be here after hours, your access badge will let you in”.

 

01:49 Joel

“Come on, just open the door.”

 

01:50 Joel

I don’t know if you got fired earlier today. Yeah, but I’m a partner. And partnerships have never fallen apart?

 

01:56 Ray

What an ugly place to put someone on the janitorial staff. That’s awful.

 

01:59 Joel

It happens more times than you would think.

 

02:03 Ray

What’s your advice to someone who’s in this space and hasn’t really dealt with this much? Because it’s going to happen.

 

02:07 Joel

Oh, it happens. I guess a lot more often than you think. People try to play us as, “Hey, you know me. I work here. We talk. I’ve bought you coffee. I’m giving you candy off my desk when I’m in here, whatever”. They try to play the guilt trip. I know I tell my staff, and even on the consulting clients that I have, is that once somebody has exited that building, if they belong there, they have access into that building. It is not up to us to let them in. So sometimes the person will say, well, fine, I’m just going to wait until you come out the door and I’ll go in. Then you call 911, and it does happen. “I’m with the cleaning staff. I’m at XYZ Company. Somebody’s at the door threatening to come in. As soon as I exit the building. I want to escort out.” And that is what has to be done because we don’t know what that person’s intentions are.

 

And as we know in the last many years now, there has been a complete change in philosophy, and people have to be more aware of their surroundings. Because we don’t know if a person really has good intentions.

 

03:13 Ray

I have a follow-up question on this, and it relates to a recent episode that we did on recording, and it was all about job specs. Do you put that line or recommend putting that line regarding, “We’re not going to let people in the building”, anywhere in your terms of service or the job spec? Do you do that?

 

03:30 Joel

It is in our employee manual. It’s gone over on the onboarding side. (Thank you, Herman.) Thank you, Herman. The other part is that we do tell our clients that we do not let anybody in after hours. They appreciate that. Because they don’t think it’s a big deal until you start telling them some stories. And with 42 years in the business, I might have a story or two. I bet you might. It’s even recently happened with my night manager less than a week ago where someone said, “I left this on my desk. I’m sorry. Well, just get me in and bring it back.” Nothing leaves that building that we didn’t bring in. He called me, I called the contact, and the contact said, “Hey, you guys are doing the right thing. Anybody who’s allowed to be in there after hours has access on their badge after hours. That person obviously shouldn’t be there. Can you give me a description of the individual?”

Better than that, we got a picture.

 

04:21 Ray

Oh, there we go.

 

04:22 Joel

That leaves all the doubt out of it. Yeah.

 

04:24 Ray

Joel, it’s harsh to think that the cleaning staff, who might just be kind-hearted folks, would get stuck here. But it’s great advice for the owner to brief them, and you just have to be by the book.

 

04:34 Joel

You have to be by the book, and you don’t know if that person got terminated that day. You may have worked there 10 years, you’ve seen that person there 10 years. You just do not know.

 

04:43 Ray

Joel, great advice. Thank you.

 

04:44. Joel

You’re welcome.