In last week’s post, Motivating Your Cleaning Staff-Pt 1, we covered a couple of the important aspects of maintaining a motivated cleaning staff. That post highlighted: The Myths of Employee Motivation and The Causes of Poor Motivation. In this week’s post we will cover….

• Effective Motivational Techniques
• Implementation of a Motivational Program

Effective Motivational Techniques

What are a few motivational techniques that have a proven history of success? What techniques can you use to keep your cleaning staff motivated and engaged? A few to consider:

• Recognition: Genuine recognition and appreciation is a great motivator. We all want to be recognized and appreciated for our work. Your cleaning staff works hard at performing tasks that can be physically demanding and repetitive in nature. Recognizing and rewarding good work can go a long way toward keeping your top-performers motivated.
• Clear and Consistent Expectations: Make sure that you clearly communicate your performance expectations. Those expectations should be consistent over time. Avoid frequent and arbitrary changes in your job requirements. Ensure that those expectations are administered in a consistent manner by all supervisors.
• Adequate Tools and Training: Few things will kill employee motivation quicker than not having the tools and training necessary to perform a job to the required level. Take all steps necessary to ensure that your cleaning staff has sufficient training, tools, and equipment. Set them up to be successful, not disgruntled.
• Inclusion: Give your cleaning staff appropriate organizational visibility. Share with them the organizational goals that are dependent upon their contributions. Educate them on how their hard work contributes to the overall success of the cleaning operation. Give them a voice by providing them with opportunities to contribute ideas and suggestions.
• Opportunity: Provide opportunities for advancement for your cleaning staff. Your most highly-valued employees need to see that they have a potential track for advancement within the organization. This will not only improve motivation but will also reduce the turnover rate among those prized employees.

Implementation of a Motivational Program

As with any process or program, having something that is well-defined and documented will always produce better results than something that is loose and ill-defined. The key steps would include:

• Setting Objectives: Establish your objectives and targets (i.e., lower employee turnover, higher employee satisfaction, improved engagement of cleaning staff, etc.)
• Documentation: Document your program. Clearly define the appropriate roles and responsibilities for management of the program.
• Training:  Conduct necessary training across those groups and individuals that will be responsible for the day to day implementation of your motivational program.  Cleaning staff supervisors should receive specialized training.
• Implementation:  Implement the program. Monitor its performance against the objectives and targets that you set. Conduct periodic program reviews and make adjustments to improve results.

Taking proactive steps to keep your cleaning staff motivated will pay long-term dividends not only to those employees but also to the overall performance and health of your cleaning operation.

What are a few motivational techniques that have worked well for your staff? Let us know 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.