Wednesday 12 October 2011

Cleaners and their well being?

The below excerpt is from sage, a dinosaur UK based accounting software company, who made their money on the back of ms access and then by charging extortionate prices in annual support fees because the program is so awful to use.



Happiness and wellbeing amongst employees should be considered a key factor for businesses keen to sustain a positive and productive workforce.
The virtues of a happy, stimulated and content workforce cannot be undervalued, even at this time of economic uncertainty. As businesses are being forced to downsize, employees are being asked to produce more with less resources, often adding pressure onto the employee.

You are ultimately responsible for creating an environment where employees feel cared for and considered, not overworked and overlooked. Flexible working should be implemented where possible, reducing long hours in the office and giving a sense of autonomy, ultimately creating a climate of trust.

Formal and informal communication is critical and you must nurture a working environment where people are encouraged to speak freely and share their concerns, ideas and opinions.

Most office cleaning companies and cleaning companies are already experts at motivating staff, who really wants to clean someone else's toilet right? Let alone a commercial one. So apparently happiness and wellbeing is to be considered an important factor whilst working, who doesn't feel a sense of wellbeing and inordinate happiness whilst cleaning someone else's bog?

Asides from the fact that people who write this type of garbage are living in cuckoo land, it does make me ponder why it is ok to treat cleaners so awfully.

Example? Hundreds, everyday seems to bring lower standards in acceptable treatment of cleaners and cleaning companies.

Ask any cleaning company and they will tell you that they are long used to being treated as a kicking ball, we are resolutely at the bottom of the rung, the boss lays out some schtick, this works its way down eventually until we poor sods get an hollering at some trivial oversight.

As we try to explain, cleaners along with everyone else are not perfect, but most are trying to do an awful job with bad pay in the best way that they can, but clients are not interested in hearing this.
In an instant, as soon as a single bin has been missed, they are ranting on the phone, emailing with double and triple explanation marks, they use language like, wholly unacceptable and we are extremely unhappy with the service. If a fingermark is missed on the receptionist desk, how about wiping it off and getting on with a days work, hell no, lets get on the blower and berate the cleaner - not good enough, I am extremely dissatisfied, blah, blah.

If given the option many would judging by their language, tone and anger quite happily line us and the cleaners against the wall.

Clients need to remember they chose the lowest bid (always) pay next to nothing for a job they are not willing to do themselves and maybe try counting to 10. We are all just trying to do the best we can.






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