Hygiene has become part of today’s business. No matter what kind of business you have and how big or small your building, people do love clean buildings. No garbage, clean toilets, fresh air, shiny glass, etc. This is how your business should look like today. The cleaner your office, the better your company image.
Now, since it has become a part of your company image, it’s your job to keep it as perfect as it can be. The solution is as simple as you think: find the right cleaning company, including one who has cleaning insurance. However, the problem is: how can you find one? How can you be sure that you’ve picked the right one?
Well, don’t worry. The solution lies in setting up your parameters. To do this, we’ve compiled a list of questions for you. These questions will eventually help you find the right cleaning service.
Questions to Ask When Hiring a Cleaning Company
Question #1 Are you CIMS Certified?
- CIMS-certified cleaning service is the best option for your business. It is because CIMS (Certified Industry Management Standard) certification requires the cleaning services to have a proven track record of applying the best cleaning practices for industry level. These practices include delivering effective, responsive, and consistent service to any business.
- CIMS certificate itself is one of the most difficult certifications a cleaning service can get. It is set to meet the highest standards in cleaning industries. With this certification, you can rest assured that you’ve picked the right service for your business.
Question #2 How long have you been in this business?
Experience matters. Most likely, you will have proposals from several cleaning services and all of them are CIMS-certified. You surely can’t randomly pick one of them. In this case, you should consider their experience. The more experience a cleaning service has, the more you can rely on them. Their experience means they’ve dealt with more hygiene problems than other companies. Their experience can help you in case you are dealing with serious problems; something new cleaning services can’t handle.
Question #3 Are your employees well trained?
At this point, your candidates should have enough experience to deal with your problems, and all of them are CIMS-certified.
Now, your next concern should be their employees. Are they just people randomly picked for the job? Well, let’s hope not. You can’t expect to have the best cleaning service delivered by those people.
To prevent this, ask your candidates about the training they provide to their employees. What kind of tools they have? Do they have certain SOPs to follow? Do they have to pass certain tests before they can be deployed? Dig as much information as you can about this training. Learn the methods as well as the expected output. Use this data to measure whether their employees are skillful enough to handle the job or not.
Question #4 What type of QC do you use?
Remember, only the best cleaning service apply quality control over their service. Stamford Cleaning Services, for example, provide janitorial inspections in their service. This gold standard in cleaning industry bridges building owner/manager and the cleaning service. By using the latest technologies and standards in the cleaning industry, they strive to provide the best cleaning service for your business.
Question #5 Are you insured?
This goes both ways for the cleaning company and you. Yes, you’re right. Only the best cleaning company can protect their services and you. The types of insurance may differ, depending on your area. However, some common insurances include general liability insurance, umbrella policy, automobile liability, and workers’ compensation. Before finally hiring the cleaning service, make sure you check each of these insurances. Make sure they are available in your region.
General liability
With this insurance, all your assets are protected against alleged wrongdoings or negligence by the cleaning company. Your cleaning company should dedicate at least $1,000,000 for this insurance. You should be able to get more details on the insurance policy.
Workers’ compensation
With this insurance, all cleaning company employees are protected against job-related accidents that may disable, injure, or even kill them. Please verify with your cleaning company that they have more than $1,000,000 ready in fresh cash for this insurance.
Automobile liability
With this insurance, all properties and people in your building area are protected against accidents that involve the cleaning company’s fleet. Please verify the cleaning company has more than $1,000,000 under their Automobile liability insurance.
Umbrella policy
No one knows the future, not even you and the cleaning company. Sometimes, even after delivering the best cleaning services, accidents do happen. In rare occasions, one or more of them can leave your company in catastrophic financial events. Some functions in your building may stop working after the service that also affects the whole system. Next, you fail to deliver service to your customers and begin getting complaints. You suffer loss from one day after another. After some investigations, you believe the problems were caused by the cleaning company. However, those specific problems are not covered either in Auto Liability, Workers’ Compensation, or General Liability. In this case, you can claim the Umbrella Policy Insurance. This insurance is meant for this specific occasion. You should never be left with a problem for a service you paid for. That’s why before hiring the cleaning company, make sure the company has at least $5,000,000 under their Umbrella policy insurance.