A price war
For 50 years, few major innovations have come to fuel the market for cleaning companies. This is why, faced with increasing competition, certain service providers have not hesitated to cut their prices to win contracts. But far from boosting the sector, this has considerably contributed to a devaluation of the profession. Less margin for training or renewing equipment, reduced cleaning time, poorly motivated employees: the consequences of this price war were particularly harmful.
Originally, theoffice cleaning price was simply calculated based on a schedule taking into account the surface area, the type of floor and the size of the space. As the use of offices has evolved considerably, producing acleaning estimate requires taking into account the particularities linked to the use made of the space. Acleaning company should therefore systematically ask questions about the use of premises and the habits of employees in order to determine the duration of cleaning instead of proposing a schedule classic.
The necessary cleaning time
1. The characteristics of the premises
In addition to the surface area in m², thecleaning companymust adapt its service to the composition of the premises, i.e. i.e. whether it is a single open space or closed offices, but also the number of floors the premises have.
The nature of the rooms and coverings is also taken into consideration. Indeed, while a carpet only requires a single vacuuming, a PVC or parquet floor also requires a damp cleaning, for example.
2. Use of space
This is the main reason why costing a cleaning service based solely on usage has become completely obsolete. The influence of the layout of the spaces on thecleaning quote is such that for a strictly identical surface area and number of employees, a quote can vary from simple… to triple! Themaintenance of the premiseswill depend in particular on factors such as:
- the number of collaborative spaces: coffee areas, herbal tea areas, catering, terraces, etc. These spaces, major busy places for employees, naturally require daily cleaning visits or even several visits per day
- opening to clients or external people
- the number of meeting rooms, their size and their configuration
- finally, the adoption of a mode of Flex office work, that is to say with offices not assigned to employees, involves daily cleaning of the offices.
Depending on the uses, several visits during the day may even become necessary. For example, in a company of more than 50 employees with a cafeteria, it is considered necessary to be on duty after lunch.
3. Habits and empowerment of employees
If the number of permanent employees is an important point in the calculation of theoffice cleaning price, it is not not enough. Thecleaning companymust also take into account the empowerment of employees, which fluctuates a lot from one company to another.
There is different ways for employees to be more responsible and thus makecleaning in the office faster: cleaning the lunch table, picking up your belongings when leaving a meeting room, tidying up your desk in the evening, putting your coffee cup to wash…
Note:
- A move is a very good time to implement new habits| ||343
- Plus le fonctionnement de vos locaux est flexible (home-office, flex-office…), plus la responsabilisation devra être importante pour ne pas être chronophage pour les agents de nettoyage
Your company cleaning service can also help you to make your employees responsible with a display for example.
Tip: Why setting up a recycling service with voluntary contribution can save time on the cleaning service?|| |351
Depuis 2018, le décret 5 flux impose aux entreprises de mettre en place le tri sélectif dans leurs bureaux. En choisissant de fonctionner par apport volontaire, c’est-à-dire en supprimant les corbeilles individuelles au profit d’îlots de bacs de tri, vous supprimez pour l’entreprise de nettoyage une tâche à faible valeur ajoutée et réduisez ainsi le temps de nettoyage.
4. Premium service
Last element to take into consideration for pricing: spaces that must particularly reflect the image of your company and for which a more in-depth service is required. Some examples: reception halls, management offices or showrooms and other premium lounges welcoming customers. Of course, this directly impacts the time spent on site by the Cleaners.
The price per hour
1. Labor cost and training
Of course, the first factor to impact thehourly rate of the cleaning company is the remuneration responsible for cleaning agents working on your site to meet your needs and requirements. In addition, the main element which can vary the remuneration of agents: their seniority and their classification in the collective agreement. For example, if the proposed team includes a team leader, the latter will have higher remuneration and therefore a higher hourly rate.
2. The products and materials used
The cleaning products and materials necessary foroffice cleaningare most often included in the hourly rate from your service provider.
However, you can take a closer look at:
- the type of products offered: acleaning company vous proposant des produits écologiques va probablement avoir un taux horaire plus élevé, car ces produits sont plus chers à l’achat.
- the attention paid to cleaning equipment to facilitate the working conditions of agents. Example: trolleys with 2 waste bins (DIB and recyclable), the provision of trolleys allowing employees' cups to be collected from the desks…
3. Resources at the service of operational efficiency
As mentioned in the preamble, the race for price has been particularly harmful to the cleaning sector. It is synonymous with less margin and therefore also fewer resources available to train agents and to improve the management of services.
Some companies have decided to take the opposite approach and invest in the training of cleaners, as well as in new technologies to optimize the daily lives of agents and their quality of service. These investments of course have an impact on the hourly cleaning rate, so this is an important point to explore during a consultation phase.
Lmaintenance of premises || |389est trop souvent perçu comme une prestation obligatoire, n’apportant aucune valeur ajoutée. Pourtant si l’cleaning companyopts for an advisory role, provides a form of certification and support for your responsible initiatives, this can really bring to your company, whether for the well-being of your employees or for the image you send to your customers.
