Articles

Retain and Recruit Employees

Categories: Business Management

Service workers are leaving their jobs at one of the fastest rates that we have ever seen. The new workforce is hard to find. More importantly, when you find them, how do you keep them?

To identify the proper way to retain your employees and give reason for new ones to join your company, we will first need to identify the reasons why we are seeing these trends. Some of these reasons are:

• Lack of career advancement opportunities
• Unrealistic work-life balance
• Unappreciative customers or employer
• Low pay for the performance expectations
• Lack of knowledge to perform the expected work.

For the vast majority of dissatisfied employees, feeling helpless while performing duties and tasks can become extremely overwhelming. Employees desire:

• The need to know that they meet expectations
• Recognition for a job well done
• The ability to grow.

Implementing a strong career pathway within an organization can help identify and clearly define an employee’s journey for growth.

The benefits of a career pathway program in your organization do not simply benefit your employees. A strong program will ultimately drive decreased operational expenses such as employee recruitment, equipment maintenance, and customer retention. The impact of your career pathway program will drive lasting change and help standardize your operations for years to come.

As an example, look at Disney World’s standardized onboarding and career development programs. These are a true testament to lowering employee turnover, driving engagement, and empathy for their co-workers. Their training program empowers cross-training to offset resentment and overstaffing, and it allows individuals to do what they enjoy most.

Taking a piece of Disney’s process, it is essential for cleaning organizations, whether they are an in-house operation or building service contractor (BSC), to implement a standardized program that can make an immediate impact on their bottom line. A well-oiled team with verifiable skillsets will hold each other accountable to always perform at their highest levels.

A significant mistake that cleaning organizations make with their program is simply training on a specific task and not taking a blanket approach. This can cause headaches when you need coverage for an absent employee or extra effort for project work.

Many training providers, such as ISSA’s Cleaning Management Institute (CMI), will provide an inclusive certification pathway for the entire job function. Based on the cleaning system design (team cleaning, zone cleaning, etc.), we often will retrain on specific tasks to reinforce what was discussed within the overall program. This method allows each employee to have the fundamental knowledge of the entire cleaning process.

CMI is one of the most acknowledged education and certification providers in the professional cleaning industry. It is a prominent educational and professional development solutions provider for cleaning and maintenance professionals, managers, supervisors, and executives.

About the Author.

Brant Insero is ISSA Chief Global Education Officer. He can be reached at [email protected]; phone, 847-982-0800.