How much would you work for?

Over the last few years both the living wage and minimum wage have risen dramatically as the government try to push towards their target of a £10 per hour wage as a means of increasing the standard of living for millions of families across the country.

This has seen increases every year that are way in excess of inflation levels and aren’t always easy for businesses to absorb or pass onto their clients.

Whilst the desired outcome of the governments strategy can only be one that’s positively encouraged and supported – for many companies it’s proving harder to deliver.

There have been casualties in the Edinburgh area already this year with a number of cleaning companies having already closed their doors. Whether this was down to more enforced legislation increasing costs (pensions and wages) or other operating problems I’m not sure but one thing is for sure that many cleaners are facing the rough end of the stick.

To compensate for the increased costs there is a re-balancing act that we see many companies apply. Such as:

1. Employ staff on a self employed basis
2. Only employ staff on a zero hour contract basis
3. Deliberately cap hours to make sure nobody reaches levels of automatic pension enrollment, or qualify for sick pay and also means they’ll be paying zero employers NI
4. Take on younger staff in order to pay far lower minimum wage levels
5. Put work out to agencies to remove all of their responsibilities so hiring and firing is made much easier and jobs become far more of a disposable commodity.

We’ve never agreed with any of the above practices and that’s why we have a very low staff turnover in comparison with the industry average.

We understand that cleaners are often the forgotten heroes that keep everything going. Often unseen and unheard, due to the working hours they keep, they perform their duties diligently across the city topping up toilet rolls, emptying bins and ensuring Edinburgh offices are dynamically clean and ready for another day’s business.

However, this doesn’t happen by magic. It’s the result of carefully crafted cleaning schedules created around client needs and delivered by motivated people with the right tools and techniques at their grasp. And this comes at a price.

It’s like pretty much everything in life – you get what you pay for. However, what many folks never really account for is how much bad cleaning actually costs. Too often we pitch to office managers that have reviewed their Cleaning Contracts twice in the last year and at a cost of many hours and days of their time. Or they’re turning in most mornings and spend the first half hour of their day tidying up things the cleaner missed the night before or find themselves staying late in the hope that they can catch the cleaner later on that evening to pass on instructions for things that are constantly being missed. This really shouldn’t be happening.

Our Cleaning proposals will always include a full breakdown of what you can expect from us on a daily basis. Right down to the cleaning schedule you’ll also have contact details for senior managers, how we intend to manage your contract, any other considerations that we feel may important will be noted and you’ll be provided with a list of current clients that you can speak with that should be able to provide references on the quality of our work.

Most importantly you’ll receive a price that incorporates everything we know you need – and at the top of that list is a fully experienced staff member on the best terms and conditions in town. Working any other way just leads to risks we think aren’t worth taking.