The corona pandemic will inevitably affect the trends for the facilities sector for 2022. Among other things, the role of and appreciation for cleaning staff will undergo a significant change.
Invisible and obvious
Before the corona outbreak, cleaning was something we took for granted. As an employee in an office, you rarely if ever saw a member of the cleaning team. You did not ask yourself too many questions. You just assumed that your workplace was clean.
Corona creates new needs
COVID-19 has led to a growing awareness of the importance of office cleaning. A workplace has to be clean, but above all it has to be ‘safe’ and ‘virus-free’. Not only the facility manager wants to know who cleaned the offices in the building and when. Employees also ask themselves this question.
New role for cleaning staff
One of the important trends in the facilities sector for 2022 is therefore that, as a result of corona, cleaning staff no longer need to be invisible. The presence of a facilities employee during office hours provides an answer to employees’ questions. Because, yes, there will be cleaning, and this will be done by the person they can now see working with their own eyes. That gives building users peace of mind. And if they do have questions, they can ask them straight away. The presence of a cleaner has thus become increasingly accepted and even appreciated since the corona pandemic.
Visible presence offers further advantages
The visible presence of the cleaning staff offers further advantages. It doesn’t take long to intervene in the event of an emergency. Did someone spill coffee? No problem, it will be cleaned up immediately. Moreover, in consultation, the cleaning tasks can be better tailored to the needs of the customer. Would you like an extra cleaning of the meeting room between two meetings? No problem, this is perfectly possible now that the cleaners are present during working hours.
Another advantage is that the client’s employees, in the presence of the cleaner, will think twice before carelessly wiping the crumbs from their lunch on the floor. This reduces avoidable contamination. Which gives the cleaning team extra time to, for example, give the sanitary facilities an extra cleaning. That is no superfluous luxury in times of corona.
More appreciation
All these factors ensure greater appreciation for the cleaning staff. The building users see their efforts every day. This creates a sense of familiarity and stability, which in turn leads to greater appreciation of the cleaning teams. They will feel more appreciated. The result: greater job satisfaction, increased motivation and low absenteeism. The ideal breeding ground for a stable and high-quality service.
Conclusion
Where cleaning used to be an annoying interruption for many office workers, it is now evolving into a reassuring service.
In the next few weeks you will read more about the trends for 2022 in the facilities sector on these pages.
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