Doing the maths

Portraying the value of investing in cleaning and cleaning operatives to the people with the purse strings is a challenge that has long plagued the cleaning industry.

For this reason it is always welcome to hear from those who have gained from this investment, such as Guy Stallard of KPMG who spoke at the BCC's Sustainability Conference about the company's positive experience of joining the living wage scheme. Stallard lists a 50% reduction in staff turnover, a huge increase in productivity and a dramatic fall in absenteeism among the benefits of this investment (see more right).

But for those for whom anecdotes alone aren't enough to incite investment, there is new hope in the form of a project being launched by the ISSA.

As part of a new multi-faceted initiative which aims to challenge the way the world views cleaning (full story below) the worldwide cleaning industry association is launching The Value of Clean Calculator which is designed to measure the impact cleaning has on critical areas such as occupant productivity, absenteeism, asset preservation, and sustainability.

Through this the ISSA hopes members will be able to demonstrate to facility managers the true value of proper cleaning helping them in turn to justify investment in the service.

Most facility managers are well-versed in the merits of measuring what they manage, with this approach popular in the management of other areas such as health & safety, the environment and energy - where the phrase “you can't manage what you can't measure” is commonly used. A tool such as this is not only useful and natural step, but necessary if the cleaning industry is going to achieve its aims of world class hygiene and profitability.

Georgina Bisby
Group Editor, Cleaning Matters
[email protected]