DH Advisor

In this time of economic gloom many businesses are looking in depth at their budgets for potential savings.

I know some managers have started to think about doing their own office cleaning in Aberdeen in house and drawing up a business proposal for approval by the board. But what are the consequences of doing this? Is it really cost saving 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?

Firstly you will need to start buying a number of different cleaning chemicals and some equipment on a fairly regular basis and hope you don’t run out if people are using too much. Who is going to take responsibility for going out to buy more cleaning products when levels run low or are all used up? This is a cost implication for time spent and time not doing their normal job!The professional cleaning service in Aberdeen will already have a stock of their own professional grade cleaning products that are used for a number of jobs.

If you are not going to hire an extra person to do the work then it is likely you will be utilising one of your existing admin staff members taking them away from their regular duties. This could have an extra cost effect on your business if their normal work is not being done effectively and on time.

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.

Consider the cost of mistakes when untrained people are cleaning your premises. Will someone try to remove a mark from a painted wall and remove the paint as well. Additional cost of repainting the wall! I heard about a receptionist /admin person who poured concentrated bleach on a floor to clean it and burnt off the top surface. That was a very expensive mistake to make. Will you be budgeting for additional repairs caused by trying to save money? There is also the danger of mixing cleaning chemicals e.g. some toilet cleaners when mixed together generate considerable amounts of heat and poisonous gases.

• 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.}

At the end of the day the main questions you need to ask yourself is

• ” Will I lose more money by taking staff away from the main business focus than I pay to use a professional cleaning company”

• ” 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? ”

Those issues are dealt with best by hiring a professional cleaning company in Coatbridge just as you consult a lawyer, an accountant or any other specialist worker for the business.

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