For an industry that spans everything from multinational facility management companies to family-run cleaning businesses, having a local team that understands the landscape matters. ISSA’s Oceania and Asia-Pacific operation is led by three women who bring distinct roles to a shared mission: support members, strengthen the industry, and make the case for cleaning as a profession worth investing in.

Lauren Micallef, the Oceania and Asia-Pacific Manager, oversees operations and leads education and training for the region while coordinating with ISSA’s global network. Alicia Morgan, Account Manager, focuses on membership, the ISSA Cleaning and Hygiene Expo, and INCLEAN, the region’s trade publication. Nicole Bousfield, Administrative and Accounts Assistant, handles invoicing, payments, and the behind-the-scenes coordination that keeps the operation moving.

Together, they serve a member base that cuts across every link in the supply chain—manufacturers, distributors, building service contractors, facility managers, and more. That breadth, Morgan said, is both the challenge and the strength.

“The diversity brings an energy, fresh perspectives, and a real opportunity for our members to connect and network,” Morgan said. “As an association, our role is to be the connector and facilitator.”

The challenge of staying current

When asked about the biggest challenge facing members in the region, each of the three pointed to a version of the same underlying issue: the pace of change is outrunning the capacity to adapt.

Micallef framed it in terms of business agility. “It’s harder to forecast. It’s harder to plan,” she said. “Businesses have got to stay on top of things a lot more efficiently and a lot quicker than what they were in the past.” She pointed to rapid technology shifts, geopolitical instability, inflation, supply chain pressures, and workforce shortages as forces that are reshaping how member companies operate—sometimes simultaneously.

Morgan added that the challenge isn’t just external pressure—it’s also internal. Two issues she hears consistently from members are standardization and staff retention. On the standardization side, the questions are fundamental: what constitutes a regular clean versus a specialized one, and how do you justify and workload those services? “How do we justify those services? How do we workload those services?” she said. ISSA’s metric cleaning times resource, she noted, goes directly at that problem—and calculators to help members use it more effectively are coming later this year.

On retention, the question is how to keep workers engaged long enough to grow into leadership. “How do you get them to be invested in the success of the business—looking at it not just as a job of work but a job of career?” Morgan said. Bousfield echoed the theme from an operational angle: companies need to stay connected and keep pace with changes in standards, sustainability, and workforce expectations. “We help by supporting initiatives that give people opportunities to learn, share knowledge and connect with others in the industry,” she said.

Elevating the profession

Running alongside the operational challenges is a longer-term one: changing how the wider community perceives the cleaning and facility solutions industry. Morgan put it bluntly. “The wider community misconception is that our industry is vacuuming,” she said. “FM is cobwebs in windows. It’s bins and loos or mops and buckets—a line item.”

The team works on this in two directions. For members doing business, ISSA provides tools like the Cleaning Industry Management Standard certification and the value of clean toolkit to help companies move the conversation away from price and toward the health and productivity case for professional cleaning. For the broader public, programming like the Innovation Awards at the Expo, the ISSA Emerging Leaders recognition, and the ISSA International Spotless Faces competition put a spotlight on the work members do and the people doing it.

Micallef said the profession has gained visibility in recent years—particularly in the wake of COVID—but there’s still ground to cover. “We must continue to advocate for the true value of cleaning,” she said. “The work carried out across the sector directly supports public health, workplace productivity, as well as environmental outcomes. Yet sometimes it’s historically been a little bit undervalued.”

What’s coming for the region

The team’s marquee event this year is the ISSA Cleaning and Hygiene Expo, returning to Melbourne in early October for the first time since 2023. Morgan said 80% of the floor plan has already been contracted, and education and speaker programming will be announced soon. Beyond the expo, the team is also launching a new Building and Facility Services Committee—open to restoration professionals, facility managers, hospital cleaning officers, and BSCs—with an initial meeting planned for May or June.

On the digital side, the new MyISSA portal gives all member employees access to the Member Resource Centre and Learning Centre, which include webinars, online courses, and the metric cleaning times tool at no additional cost. Online workshops covering topics from estimating to healthcare cleaning to mold remediation have drawn strong participation across the region.

As for what success looks like going forward, Micallef measured it not just in revenue but in relevance. “A strong indicator lies in the value delivered to members and the broader industry,” she said. “I really hope that moving forward the market can see us as that value partner—that partner with their business, that partner with the industry.”

Morgan’s vision is simpler to state, harder to build: a more open, thriving community. “We don’t exist without our community, without our members,” she said. “I will be thrilled when we get to the end of the year and we have more community involvement.”