Several years ago, I was tasked by The Walt Disney Company to overhaul its large custodial department. At the time, the department, by most all standards, was not professional or, at the very least, had considerable room for improvement. They wanted a professional cleaning operation.
I was tasked with turning it into a cleaning department made up of cleaning workers who had much greater respect for their work, their employer, their supervisors, each other, and themselves—in other words, turning them into true cleaning professionals.
Here was the situation:
- The facility had more than 750,000 square feet of cleanable area, making it a very large space.
- There were 92 janitors, 11 utility workers,* and 4 evening supervisors.
- Four day porters cleaned during the day and reported to a day supervisor.
- There was one department head (which became my position) for the entire cleaning operation.
Additionally, there were several financial issues to contend with. The supply budget would normally be exhausted after only six months. This meant that either the company was not budgeting enough money for cleaning-related supplies or, as it turned out, its supply usage was simply out of control.
While the challenges were many, and seemed to grow once I got involved with the project, I was told that I was free to run the department any way I saw fit. Disney was looking for results. The company had a long history and had always been highly respected and very professionally operated. It wanted the same for its cleaning and maintenance department.
First Steps
My first two weeks on the job were some of the most important. I needed this time to more accurately pinpoint exactly what was going on so that we could develop a strategy to turn things around. Among the first items I had to look into were the financials. How much was the company paying to have its facility cleaned each year? What was the supply budget and, more specifically, why was the department running out of supplies halfway through the year?
Other issues requiring analysis included such things as union grievances by the cleaning workers toward their employer or supervisors as well as any disciplinary actions taken by the union. Plus the views of the building users had to be understood. This meant looking into complaints about the facility’s cleaning by people working there as well as touring the facility and coming to my own conclusions about the facility’s overall appearance and cleaning.
And one of the most important things I had to do was to meet with the entire janitorial staff. What I discovered was that there was a very big difference between the day janitorial staff and those that worked in the evening. The day staff was made up of workers who had been working for the department for more than a decade. For the most part, they were very self-starting and well organized, performed their tasks well, and had experienced many changes over the years and adjusted to them well. They knew what professional cleaning was all about. This meeting was very positive, and I left telling them that my key concern was that they continue to provide quality service that resulted in the company being satisfied with their work.
Unfortunately, things did not go as well when meeting with the evening janitorial staff. For the most part, there was considerable hostility toward me. They viewed me as an “outsider” who was there to shake things up. They knew my history of working with large contract cleaning companies to help them streamline their operations to better serve their customers and improve their bottom line. These workers made it clear to me that they were not working for a contract cleaning company and that things “were different here.” While we laughed about this years later, my response then was that they were lucky they were not working for a contract cleaning company, because many of them would not have jobs if they were.
Analyzing the Situation
After these initial meetings and my two-week analysis, I had a pretty good idea of where things stood and, more important, the steps necessary to start turning things around. Among the conclusions I reached about the company’s custodial department were the following:
- There was a lack of leadership in the cleaning operation, with little respect between the janitors and supervisors. Both blamed each other for this unhealthy environment.
- There was no accountability from either group.
- Labor costs were out of control; one reason for this was because each janitor was getting a minimum of one hour of overtime per night, meaning the cleaning workers were not finishing their assigned cleaning duties in the time allotted.
- Absenteeism was rampant, especially on Fridays; the janitors were paid every Thursday, so they tended to make Friday the first day of their weekend, even though they were supposed to work that day.
Top to bottom, this is not the way a professional cleaning operation should be run. The first step in professionalizing a cleaning operation is to create an environment where leaders and workers mutually respect one another. There should be no blame; a professional cleaning operation is made up of team members, and everyone is responsible for results, good and bad. A professional operation is also one that is financially sound, minimizes waste, and takes steps to improve worker productivity, streamline operations, and cut costs.
The Turnaround
The first step we took to professionalize this cleaning operation was to open the channels of communication. Every Thursday, I placed a box in the staff lunchroom for both the day and night shifts to leave comments. All the comments placed in the box that were work-related were addressed and investigated. At first, the box was stuffed every Thursday, but in three months, it was no longer even needed. The box served as a symbol of change. Not only did it open up the channels of communication between the staff, supervisors, and the department head, but it also helped build respect between all parties.
The next step was to focus on accountability. Why was the company forced to pay overtime every night? What we realized was that some janitorial workers were more focused on that Thursday paycheck than on the cleaning tasks at hand. Making cleaning workers more accountable for their time and their work had two results: some cleaning workers worked more efficiently, improving their worker productivity, while others simply made the decision to leave.
What we found was that, instead of hiring new custodial workers to replace the ones who had left, we were able to expand the cleaning duties of those who stayed and who now worked more productively, thus saving the company money in labor costs. Further, we put an end to the “three-day weekend” as well as overtime. We also got on top of our supply spending; we discovered where the weaknesses were and made several changes that helped us reduce those costs.
As you can imagine, all of these steps resulted in more professional cleaning and significant cost savings for the company. But they had another impact as well. We now had a true professional cleaning operation. It was lean, well run, efficient—and now accurately reflected the company these cleaning professionals were working for.
How Can We Help?
Segura and Associates works with cleaning contractors, building managers, business, college campuses, and corporate administrators helping them make their facilities greener, more sustainable, and reduce costs. For more information, contact Segura and Associations here.
*Utility workers are often used for tasks beyond basic janitorial duties, such as setting up tables and chairs for meetings, some groundskeeping and other outdoor work, lightbulb maintenance, light building repairs, moving and storing furniture, and so on.
