Commercial cleaning only a service provider in Sri Lanka

Commercial cleaning In Sri Lanka is recognised only as a service provider not worthy of any recognition. Hardly anyone, even the cleaning companies, would recognise this as a fully fledged profession.

Professional standards and practices are clearly missing from the Sri Lankan commercial cleaning industry. This is clearly evident from observing how the cleaning is being done not only at small to medium organisations but at much larger well recognised organisations as well.

Are cleaners the only people to be blamed? (Who rarely earned above Rs. 550 a day). Clearly the answer is no. It is part of lack of professionalism in the local cleaning industry.

This industry has long been dominated by a handful of companies where

local clients did not have much of a choice. Now things are starting to change. As there is competition in this sector but the competition is more price based than service and quality oriented. If the clients also continuously look for a cheaper service provider the situation will never improve.

In most of the developed and rapidly developing countries, commercial cleaning is recognised as a profession just like accounting, HR, marketing and IT.

Cleaning is clearly not as complex as any of these professions but it has its own set of professional attributes. In those countries this sector has its own governing bodies, industry associations, clearly defined standards, guidelines and ethics, institutionalised training and continuous professional development. These attributes are clearly missing in the Sri Lankan context.

One thing is clearly evident in Sri Lanka, that is a large number of people from the lowest social backgrounds are being exploited on a daily basis, which they also aware, but are not in a position to move out as they do not have many choices.

In this environment, their standard of output is naturally poor. But they are supposed to supply a vital service and a large number of people and organisations depend on them.

In the present situation Sri Lankan commercial cleaning will not become

an industry with real professional standard in the near future but we can

take positive steps towards it.

In this article I would like to elaborate a few key areas we need to concentrate to bring much needed professionalism to the Sri Lankan Commercial Cleaning Industry Training, This is the key area for a number of reasons. Cleaning is labour intensive and the biggest proportion of expenditure for any cleaning company is the wages. To perform tasks at an optimum level within the given time you

need proper training. I have met a large number of cleaners with more than

five years experience but with low productivity. Most of them were not properly trained but just guided by more experienced cleaners when they

joined the workforce. Now they are the people who will be training the next generation of cleaners.

Every single cleaner should be properly trained and assessed for the tasks

he or she is supposed to do. There are scientific ways of doing things better. It could be a very simple task like dusting, but to do that task properly you need to be trained by a qualified person. Things such as having right gear, correct techniques, do it right the first time, do it

in lesser time, how to develop routines are a must. From simple tasks to more complex tasks cleaners should be trained and assessed. End result is  a productive cleaner.

To perform cleaning tasks, you do not necessarily need to undergo institutionalised training just like in other established professions, but it needs at least competency based training in each aspect of

cleaning. But, it does require certain degree of techniques to perform the task effectively and efficiently.

In most of the developed countries, Certificate 1 to Diploma level professional training in asset maintenance (commercial cleaning) is being offered at their vocational training institutes.

In the western world almost all the leading cleaning companies allocate significant amount of resources on the professional development of their cleaning and management staff.

This is mainly to improve their productivity and to provide a better service to their clients.

Majority of the Sri Lankan cleaning staff are from very low socio economic

back grounds. It is not a right thing to say but sometimes their standard

of cleanliness is somewhat lower than the expected norm of the private and public sector organisations. Therefore, at the training stage trainers have to set the benchmarks.

Then train these people to achieve those benchmarks and more importantly to maintain it in every aspect of commercial cleaning.

Most of these people sometimes lack a formal education due to various reasons.

And as a result they may lack certain social skills. Cleaners should be trained not only on physical aspects directly related to cleaning but also on personal hygiene standards, social etiquettes and basic communication skills.

Misuse of chemicals and equipment is widespread in Sri Lanka. This is also due to lack of proper training and supervision. This will have negative impact on surfaces they clean, employees of the organisations where they work, and on the occupational health and safety of the cleaning staff. Supervision: This is equally important as cleaning.

Rather than simply promoting the best available cleaners as supervisors they need to be trained separately.

They require additional skills such as client servicing and people management. In the Sri Lankan context, since the staff turnover is somewhat higher in this sector to maintain standards supervision is vital.

In this article I discussed only two main aspects-. If the industry can get the two aspects of training and supervision right I am sure that there will be a considerable improvement in this sector.

Muditha Upasena (The writer is a part owner of Orion Services Group, a successful commercial cleaning business in Australia with operations in all major capital citiesexcept Perth and Darwin. Orion Facilities Management is the Sri Lankan arm which commenced its operations late 2011.

He can be reached on [email protected])