Checklists play a crucial role in the efficiency and productivity of professional cleaning companies. If your commercial cleaning company does not use a checklist when caring for your building, you may be missing out on vital services for your business. Let’s take some time to assess the true importance of cleaning checklists and how they affect the day-to-day actions of your cleaning crew.
Checklists Outline the Expectations
Checklists clearly outline what the cleaning crew is expected to do, ensuring that they never produce sub-standard work. With any working relationship, communication is essential to customer satisfaction. Business owners know exactly what they’re getting out of the deal, and cleaners know exactly what they’re supposed to do to uphold the contract. Everyone is on the same page right from the start.
Checklists Prevent Small Tasks from Being Forgotten
In the hustle and bustle of day cleaning, it easy to forget small tasks, like checking the toilet paper roles in the bathroom or emptying the trash in the break room. Even experienced cleaners who are set in their routines can accidentally forget tasks from time to time. With a checklist visibly in place, those tasks will never be lost. This is especially important for weekly tasks or those that must happen on a specific day of the week.
Checklists Encourage Efficiency
A checklist is essentially a list of goals to accomplish throughout the day. Visualizing these goals naturally encourages cleaners to work harder, faster, and smarter than they would without a list in place. We’ve all seen the classic comedy sketch of a dog on a treadmill chasing a bone hanging above his head. He continues to run to reach the bone. In this case, the checklist is the bone, making sure that workers stay motivated to get through their lists before their shifts end. It’s amazing how much more productive a crew can be with a basic set of goals in place.
Customizing a Cleaning Checklist for Your Business
Every building has its own unique cleaning needs. This will depend on the foot traffic in your building, the type of clients you cater to, the nature of your business, and the work environment as a whole. For instance, a wood cutting business is going to create a lot more airborne debris than an accounting office. You will need to adjust your cleaning requests accordingly.
The good news is that you do not have to create a cleaning checklist. Your commercial cleaning company will do that for you. During your consultation and/or monthly meetings, a representative from the company will work with you to outline your needs and expectations. They will create a checklist that matches the needs of your business. These may need to be adjusted over time once the cleaning crew has a better idea of your daily and weekly operations. No matter what, you will end up with a cleaning list that is completely customized for you.
Keep in mind the timing intervals for your cleaning services. What type of cleaning do you need completed daily, weekly, monthly, etc.? Are there certain times of the year when you may need to increase the frequency of or services within your cleaning contract? Talk to your commercial cleaners about these matters, and you will end up with the perfect cleaning checklist for your business.
