Can We Save Money By Cleaning The Office Ourselves Or Do We Need A Professional Cleaning Company?

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.

One option being considered is to end the contract with the professional office cleaning in Aberdeen and do it all in-house using existing office staff. But does that actually save money 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. Someone will need to go out and buy these from the store. This is a time and cost expense in itself. All professional cleaning service in Aberdeen will have their own preferred cleaning chemicals which their staff will have trained in using. This means they will have access to all associated safety data sheets etc from their usual chemical supplier.

You may decide to employ an extra person to do the cleaning thus doing away with some of the savings but if you are considering using your existing staff you need to calculate into the process the lost opportunities for staff doing their “normal job”. Will that suffer if they are asked to do these extras and at what cost to your business?

If that person is not proficient on cleaning duties it will need to be done again an added expense and once again your office staff would not be using their skills and training in your business.

In addition the potential for damage to your office interiors increases as the person does not understand the use of some materials and the surfaces being cleaned. I recall going into one office complex and seeing that the cleaner (also employed as a book-keeper) had squirted some strong bleach on a floor and it had burnt the floor almost beyond economic repair. 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.}

To sum up you need to be asking yourself some important questions such as

• “Are the extra costs of employing professional office cleaning cheaper than the risk of staff not focussing on my business and losing more money?”

• ” What are the currently unbudgeted costs I will need to add on to cover for time spent cleaning the office twice, additional costs for repairs due to mistakes, increased insurance premiums and cost of compensation for breaches of health and safety including accidents to staff? ”

Personally I would come to the conclusion in most places that it would be better to hire a professional cleaning company in Coatbridge rather than take the risk of letting untrained people make mistakes. I believe it works out cheaper that way in the longer term.