In a choice between using professional office cleaning services, using in-house cleaners, or neither… It can be hard knowing what to do.
On the one hand, you might think that hiring your own cleaning team provides more peace of mind. It keeps more of the people working for your business in-house, which you might feel more comfortable with.
But on the other hand, making use of a commercial office cleaning service means that you should see the highest possible standards.
Moreover, if the commercial cleaners have a 5 star overall rating from their Google reviews, you’ll likely feel the same level of reassurance compared to hiring in-house cleaners anyway!
In this guide we’ll explore the benefits of hiring a professional office cleaning service. But first, let’s take a look at the pros and cons to some alternatives…
Alternative 1: Doing nothing
After all, if you don’t hire any cleaners, that’s one less cost to factor into your budget… And perhaps you may think of a clean office as nice-to-have, not need-to-have, criteria.
Your staff are too busy working – they’re not going to notice or care if there’s dust on the surfaces, the kitchen isn’t tidy and no-one’s cleaned the bathrooms recently, are they?
Well, think again! A clean office space can improve staff morale, so conversely, an unclean one may decrease it.
Also, you never know when an employee might need to invite a client over at short notice and you don’t want them to have a bad first impression of your unclean workplace.
But even if clients never visit your office, cleaning plays a part in staff satisfaction. And besides, a clean office can boost employee productivity – your staff are more likely to get a greater amount of work done, more efficiently.
Therefore, doing nothing isn’t really an option. Most offices use cleaners several times a week – here’s why most companies think daily office cleaning is necessary in London.
The question is, should you use in-house cleaners or a commercial cleaning service? Let’s look at the second alternative to using an office cleaning company.
Alternative 2: Using in-house cleaners
Here are some potential advantages to going down the in-house cleaning route:
- Keeping costs in-house: This may be an advantage if you’re already paying some employees for other facilities management tasks
- Security: If you have confidential information lying around your office, staff may have a preference for in-house cleaners, not external ones
- Control: You can conduct the cleaner hiring process, provide training and oversee their work
However, there’s an argument against each of these supposed benefits too:
- Keeping costs in-house: The cost of paying in-house cleaners can really add up once you factor in things like pension contributions and other employee benefits
- Security: The better solution is to have a clear desk policy in place, as most offices now do – with files kept secure in a digital format and no sensitive documents left lying out
- Control: There’s a ‘hidden’ added time cost of hiring, training and overseeing your own cleaners – can you really spare that many hours?
That’s why, when it comes to business cleaning, most companies choose commercial office cleaning services.
Advantages of hiring a professional office cleaning service
Here are some of the key advantages to outsourcing your office cleaning:
- Cost savings: With a commercial cleaning provider, you just pay for the service – let them take care of their staff’s salary, pension, benefits, training costs, etc.
- Equipment, products and materials: Another important cost to factor in with in-house cleaners is the price of all the equipment, products and materials they need to do a thorough job. But when you use professional office cleaning, they provide this.
- Experts: Professional office cleaners do this for a living. The best ones should have many years of experience (ours have over 20 years of experience). It means that they’ll deliver the highest standards of cleanliness, consistently.
- Experienced managers: It’s not just the cleaners that do this for a living. Their boss is a professional cleaning and dedicated account manager too, someone who understands what outstanding service looks like and how to get it consistently from the cleaning team.
- Liability: Let the commercial cleaning company take on the responsibility for health and safety regulations, plus other forms of liability. Take a look at some of our useful documents, including a health and safety plan, an environmental biodiversity policy and much more.
- Contingency planning: If your in-house cleaner is unwell or on annual leave, there may be no-one else available to clean your workplace. With a high quality contract cleaning service, if one cleaning team is unwell, another can step in at short notice instead.
For example, we have more than 200 cleaners working daily in London. With that level of coverage, you can rest assured that there’ll always be a professional cleaner available to visit your office, on time.
Benefits of using commercial office cleaning services
That’s why so many companies see commercial cleaning as the most favourable option, but you might be wondering what the wider benefits are. Beyond a consistently clean-looking office, of course.
Well, there are many. As mentioned earlier, there are potential productivity and staff morale benefits to having a clean office.
Other benefits of regular office cleaning include having a healthier workplace with fewer illnesses, plus lower anxiety levels. Regular cleaning also improves the air quality in your office.
Here are some statistics we’ve found about cleanliness in the workplace:
- A consistently clean office can reduce the number of sick days, which cost British businesses £77bn a year in lost productivity
- Fresh, clean air can improve staff productivity by around 11%
- When colleagues’ desks are messy, 63% of staff get annoyed
Cleaning also improves employee safety – reducing the chance of trips, slips or falls – and helps maintain a strong company image.
Final thoughts: Benefits of using professional office cleaning services in London
To ensure that the independent daily office cleaning service provider you choose is a better option than using in-house cleaners, it’s worth doing some research.
As mentioned, checking their reviews and testimonials is a great starting point – do they have a strong client retention record?
Look for accreditations or certifications from bodies such as the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO). We have received ISO 9001 for Quality Management, ISO 14001 for Environmental Management and ISO 45001 for Occupational Health and Safety Management, for example.
Also check to see if they are an accredited Living Wage employer. Paying the Living Wage is voluntary but it’s well known that giving cleaning staff a better salary improves their productivity and overall quality of work.
For other useful guides, check out our blog. Recently we covered deep cleaning vs regular cleaning for your London office – which service is right for you?
If you’re thinking of hiring professional contract cleaners for your business, check out our daily office cleaning services in London. We’re available seven days a week, at a time and frequency to suit your needs.
We are Think FM, commercial cleaners in London. We’re happy to help with all your commercial cleaning needs and rest assured – we do what we say we’re going to do!
If you have any queries about our experienced office cleaners or would like some more information, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
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