A few weeks back we ran a piece by Optimum FM Solutions’ Andrew Taft, titled: ‘Why your operations managers shouldn't be carrying out cleaning’. I must confess that when I first looked into what Andrew was saying, I was surprised. My daughter, who’d worked for a cleaning contractor every weekday evening through college 20 years ago was sat next to me, so I asked her. “Oh yes – it happened at least once a week – sometimes more,” she said. She explained that most of the team had been with the contractor for ages and enjoyed what they did, but that since many were working part-time to fit around, say, raising families, and sometimes worked across different contracts and for different employers too, their other commitments would often get in the way – and, knowing it was just (in their case) a two-hour shift they’d be missing, they felt confident that the rest of the team would be able to cover. And then there were the bouts of sickness that got in the way, which tended to require a new recruit or two and would sometimes involve someone being transferred from another site, since the newbies couldn’t get to the site where they were needed, so a fair bit of ‘jiggling about’ could be required along with extra training sessions. 

  

Of course, as they were absent, the team members didn’t realise that it was the manager who generally had to step in, since, (like most cleaning businesses) the contractor was having to run a tight shift and everyone was already working flat out. 

  

I knew when I joined the industry many years prior, that those running the contracts had something of a nightmare ensuring cover was provided when team members weren’t available to work, but it never occurred to me that it would be the managers who’d have to step in. Naive or what? 

  

In his piece, Andrew revealed that he was aware that operations managers are spending up to 60% of their time carrying out cleaning. I was gobsmacked to learn that, bearing in mind how far the industry’s come over the years. And of course it’s so much more than just about losing the difference between a manager’s pay and a cleaner’s pay, (£30,000-ish per manager?) – many times over in most cases - but the fact that it might lead to a loss of confidence by the client. They may be impressed seeing the manager doing the cleaner’s work on the odd occasion, since it shows an ‘all hands on deck’ type of commitment, but if it’s happening as often as Andrew’s contacts says it is, then perhaps it smacks of bad planning, or the like. If you missed his words of wisdom, you can find them here.