Any cleaning service provider is only as good as its cleaning staff. As our economy continues to improve, and unemployment rates continue to fall, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find, hire, and retain top-notch cleaning personnel. However, there are a few steps you can take to increase your odds of success in this increasingly competitive environment.

Understanding Your Local Job Market

To be consistently effective at hiring cleaning staff you must have an understanding of the conditions within your local market.

You should research key factors such as:

• Wages:  What is your competition paying for highly-skilled cleaning staff? What about other sectors (food services, retail, etc.)? Without that information you will have no reliable way to gauge your competitiveness.
• Benefits: What does a typical benefit package look like for service employees in your local market? Are some competitors offsetting lower wages by providing superior benefit packages?

With the above information in hand you will be able to make appropriate decisions to ensure that your wage and benefit packages are competitive within your local market.

Hire for Talent and Potential – Train for Skill

A few basic principles, routines, and tools would include:

• All cleaning experience is not equal:  Avoid hiring based solely on work experience. As you have probably learned, not all experience is good experience. Bad habits can be hard—and costly—to break. Innate skill can be as valuable as past work experience. Look for folks that exhibit service-oriented DNA and then “train-them-up” to perform their tasks.
• Profile/Personality Assessments:  There are a variety of good Profile/Personality Assessment tools available today. Many can be customized to fit your specific needs. These tools can be a valuable asset within your overall recruitment took-kit and will improve your ability to identify those candidates that would be the best fit within your cleaning operation.
• Applicant Tracking System (ATS):  Use of an ATS will provide you with enhanced control and automation of your recruitment and hiring processes. An ATS will allow you to evaluate, track, manage, and, take action on, each individual candidate within the system.

Your Due Diligence

There can be no substitute for good “old fashioned” due diligence. When hiring cleaning staff, that due diligence should include:

• Verify Work References:  Make sure that your candidates have the work history and experience that they claim to have.
• Criminal Background Screening:  Conduct criminal background checks on all candidates that your are considering adding to your cleaning staff. This should include a search for any type of sex offense.
• Drug Testing:  Make sure all potential new cleaning personnel are given a comprehensive drug screen.

Get Off to a Good Start

Once you have hired your new employees, make sure to provide them with an informative and engaging onboarding experience. Ensure that they are active participants in that process. Establishing a positive momentum up front will help promote their future success within your operation.

What tips do you have for hiring a winning cleaning staff? Share your experiences in the section for comments below.

And if you need a customized, cost-effective Service Solution for your business, let SMO help. Request a Customized Service Solution today.