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You invest a significant amount of capital in your cleaning service, but are you getting the most for your money? Evaluating the performance of those who clean your facility is a crucial step in determining whether they are delivering what they promise and whether you are getting a good return on your investment.

How does your cleaning service measure accountability? What are the KPIs they use to ensure they are keeping your building clean and its occupants and visitors safe? Contract cleaners should provide a facility manager with a comprehensive report detailing the manager’s objectives and how they are meeting them.

What exactly is a KPI?
KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, are a set of quantifiable measures a company uses to determine how well it is meeting its operational and strategic goals. As a facility manager, you can use the KPI report to assess if your janitorial service is responding positively or negatively to your objectives of maintaining a clean, healthy and safe building environment.

In the cleaning industry, the top 5 KPIs are actually categories under which a listing of specific metrics falls. Analyzing these metrics will help you determine which areas are performing well and which need attention.

1. Quality of Service

• Results of audits conducted to determine if a specific department or location needs improvement
• Results of audits conducted to determine if a specific service (i.e. dusting) needs improvement
• Results of audits conducted to determine if a specific individual or team is performing up to standards

2.    Client Satisfaction and Responsiveness

• Results of customer surveys to determine satisfaction
• Monitoring complaints received
• Monitoring compliments received
• Monitoring special requests received and successfully completed by janitorial team

3.    Janitorial Team

• Determining employee productivity by measuring how many square feet are cleaned per hour divided by the number of direct labor hours it takes to clean them.
• Monitoring employee absenteeism
• Monitoring on-site training for new employees on procedures and adherence to safety regulations and policies
• Monitoring employee retention rate and negative attrition

4.    Safety

• Monitoring number of accidents during a work shift
• Monitoring lost work days due to accidents during a work shift
• Measuring floor safety by conducting floor slip resistance testing and determining number of slip/fall accidents
• Monitoring number of OHSA incidents, if any, during a work shift 

5.    Financial

• Auditing of expenses budgeted for janitorial services compared to actual cost, including labor, equipment cost, chemical cost and consumables cost

Although KPIs can vary from customer to customer, establishing realistic and productive metrics, such as those listed above will help ensure that as a facility manager, your expectations are being met and your investment in your cleaning service is a good one.  

At 4M, our approach to quality assurance stems from the basic concept, “What gets measured, gets managed and improved.” If it’s measurable, we’re tracking it, daily, weekly and monthly, and using all of the data to continuously improve our service to you. That’s one of the reasons why we deliver the best, innovative, safe and sustainable cleaning and service solutions for your business. To learn more, give us a call or CLICK HERE to contact us.