While meeting with people from different industries, one issue that seems to come up is the lack of satisfaction with the quality of cleaning. It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about the residents who are unhappy with the cleanliness of their apartment building, visitors who complain about the poor hygiene in public restrooms, or managers worrying about the completion of cleaning schedules. The core issues tend to be the same.
Recently, I visited a store of a well-known clothing brand, in an upscale city-center mall. To my surprise, the shelves, as well as the majority of products, were covered in dust. I ignored the situation until I saw the fitting rooms. The floors were covered in dust, papers and items were everywhere. After pointing out the situation to the employees, the manager was the first one who showed any regret over the situation. I switched to a competitor’s store across the hall, wondering whether the employees, lack of management skills, or poor company standards are the ones to blame.
Placing the blame for unclean facilities on cleaners and janitors is usually the first and most logical choice. After all, they are the ones at the end of the chain and are carrying out the cleaning tasks. However, do you blame a taxi driver for taking you to a wrong destination when you were the one giving directions?
Pristine cleanliness starts out with a clear view of the desired result. It might be something like keeping your customers satisfied, but it may also include regulatory goals like getting or maintaining a food handling license or sustaining quality certificates.
Once you have mapped out the result, you can put together the actual tasks needed to achieve it. It helps a lot to be as specific as possible when describing the tasks. Remember that your employees are not mind readers and they probably don’t know the details unless you provide them.
Don’t forget to also estimate the ideal frequency for each of the cleaning tasks. Try to imagine what would be the result if the tasks are carried out every month, week, day, or even every hour.
How much would it add to the end goal if the tasks are carried out more frequently? Add some calculations, even if these are only in your head, to see the cost change of more frequent or infrequent schedules, and find the correct balance between your budget and desired end result.
The cleaning industry is one of those fields where employees turnover is high. There are many reasons for that, and we are not going to go in-depth into them. But, one of the side effects of having to recruit new personnel often is the need to train them.
Well, if you’ve spent a bit of time thinking the cleaning routine through and mapping the needed procedures, then you’re in luck, because this will ideally serve as the work instructions for all your new employees.
Think about it; you managed to describe the facilities, inventory, and cleaning specifics, as well as the density of how often these tasks need to be carried out. What’s even better is the fact that creating the routine was a one-time chore that will save time whenever someone new is recruited.
One key factor of achieving the desired cleaning goals is to know whether the routine tasks are carried out according to schedule. You might imagine that putting a pen and paper on the wall would be the best option for that, but I advise you to give it some more thought.
You never can be 100% sure that the cleaning was carried out at the exact times that are written down. Secondly, someone has to collect the papers and compare the dates to the set schedule. Not only is this time consuming for the managers, but the key problem is that you get to know about the deviations long after they occurred. If you don’t want to be the person dealing with the consequences and want to achieve the cleaning quality in a less time-consuming way, then you have to go digital.
Miratag is a digital solution that enables you to manage all your cleaning routines easily. You can define your locations that will act as control points that the cleaning personnel needs to check in to.
What’s super about Miratag mobile application is the option to use NFC-tags (mobile readable smart stickers) to register the attendance. This will also make the solution easy for the employees, as they don’t need to search and launch the application – it will open as soon as the phone touches the smart tag.
Having your control-point based schedules in the Miratag system will also save your employees from remembering all the different routines and times. The mobile app will notify them whenever a task needs to be performed, as well as give a good overview of their daily and weekly schedules.
Miratag even guides the employees through tasks. In addition to general description of a routine, it is possible to add checklists to control points and collect feedback, like photos of the cleaned facilities. If needed, it is possible even to add video and step-by-step instructions on how to operate specific equipment or how to carry out less frequent tasks.
With Miratag, you do not need to spend time analyzing the timesheets. The system will automatically inform you by e-mail or SMS messages if routines were not carried out in accordance with set schedules.
Managing cleaning is easy. You just need to map out your goals and build a well-detailed routine on top of it. Using modern solutions, like Miratag quality assurance software, will help you save time and money on training employees and managing the daily operations.
Miratag is a set of mobile applications and online tools that lift the quality control possibilities to a new level. We use the advantages of modern technologies like smartphones, NFC tags (Near Field Communication) and BLE beacons (Bluetooth Low Energy) to make the filling and collecting of quality control sheets as easy as possible.
Our easy to access online tool gives a real-time overview of all the data collected and helps to monitor any deviations from the set schedules and norms. The built-in and customizable notifications keep you up to date with all the alerts and help to prevent issues that may arise.
Miratag helps to save time on employee training, minimize the time spent on quality monitoring and assures the quick understanding of deviations.
