Which is cheaper cleaning the office in-house or employing professional cleaners?

With the recession or credit crunch or any name you want to give to the current economic issues we all face today I have come across a number of people who tell me they are cutting back on business costs.

I know some managers have started to think about doing their own office cleaning in Aberdeen in house and drawing up a business proposal for approval by the board. But what are the consequences of doing this? Is it really cost saving in practice?

Staff morale would be one important issue to be considered. How are they going to be feeling when they have this extra task dropped on them when they may have enough to do already? Even if they did not start looking for other work straight away are there any other issues we need to look at?

One of the things you will need to consider is the need to go out and buy on a regular basis a variety of cleaning chemicals and other equipment dependant of the type of jobs being done. Who is going to take responsibility for going out to buy more cleaning products when levels run low or are all used up? This is a cost implication for time spent and time not doing their normal job!Any professional cleaning service in Aberdeen will have a supply in stock at all times as the same products will be used on a number of different contracts.

If you are not going to hire an extra person to do the work then it is likely you will be utilising one of your existing admin staff members taking them away from their regular duties. This could have an extra cost effect on your business if their normal work is not being done effectively and on time.

The job may even need doing twice if the person is not shown exactly the right way to do the task. You also need to consider whether using an existing staff member is the best use of their time. They definitely will not be using the expertise that caused you to initially select them at the interview or spent time since developing their new skills for the job. How much did it cost you to train that person in real terms not just the cost of the training programme?

Consider the cost of mistakes when untrained people are cleaning your premises. Will someone try to remove a mark from a painted wall and remove the paint as well. Additional cost of repainting the wall! I heard about a receptionist /admin person who poured concentrated bleach on a floor to clean it and burnt off the top surface. That was a very expensive mistake to make. Will you be budgeting for additional repairs caused by trying to save money? Are you aware of the dangers of mixing cleaning chemicals (even household strength cleaning products)? Did you know mixing some toilet cleaners together can give off poisonous Chlorine gas?

• Have you all the skills in house to develop all the health and safety guidance in-house? Or will you to pay to outsource it?
• Do you know enough about the role to do a professional Risk Assessment as required by law?
• Do you have copies of the COSHH data sheets for every single cleaning product your staff purchase in the event of an incident? Your local superstore will not supply them for the general household products they sell!| Can you be certain that you have the required COSSH safety data sheets for every single cleaning product your staff purchase? Your local supermarket or corner store will not be able to supply these legal documents and you will need them on site in case of an safety incident.}

If the choice was down to me as an office manager I would be asking myself the following questions

• ” Will I lose more money by taking staff away from the main business focus than I pay to use a professional cleaning company”

• “What is the cost of not doing the job properly and having to repeat the work, do expensive repairs or facing legal issues over health and safety? ”

Given the option of mistakes it certainly can work out cheaper to employ good professional cleaning company in Coatbridge in the long run.

 

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