3 seasonal cleaning strategies to boost your facility’s efficiency

Seasonal cleaning may conjure images of sorting through our closets, clearing out storage on our phone, or dusting off the gardening tools, but it also signifies an opportunity to reset and organize for the season ahead.

This annual practice is the perfect time for facility managers to rejuvenate their approach to cleaning and maintenance and rethink how their hygiene processes can play a crucial role in driving efficiency across the board. After all, hygiene and cleanliness directly influence performance and reputation. A clean facility – characterized by smart cleaning routines coupled with high-quality products – can influence many user decisions, from the choice to fully participate in experiences to the decision to leave a complaint or return altogether.

For everyone involved, whether it is an office employee, maintenance staff, or facility guests, hygiene and cleanliness are essential for operational success. With the summer sunshine right around the corner, read on for three ways to optimize hygiene practices around the facility to drive productivity this season and beyond.

One-at-a-time dispensing

When evaluating how hygiene impacts overall efficiency, it’s essential to consider the solutions provided throughout the facility. In high-traffic areas like restrooms and break rooms, key hygiene products such as paper hand towels and napkins are often used excessively, leading to increased waste and additional workload for maintenance teams.

Leaders can tackle this issue by focusing on the dispensers that hold and provide these products. For example, selecting one-at-a-time dispensers controls consumption by incentivizing users to take only what they need. Not only does this decrease waste, but it also saves cleaning staff valuable time, reducing runouts and the need to restock.

High-capacity systems

Beyond one-at-a-time dispensing, leaders can maximize quality and efficacy in their hygiene systems by choosing high-capacity systems that hold more products per dispenser, serving more guests between each refill and cutting down on time spent restocking.

Think even bigger by streamlining your facility’s hygiene systems so that all products and processes work together seamlessly – research suggests that 80 pr cent of cleaning staff prefer to use one solution across the whole facility.[1]

Data-driven cleaning

Optimizing products and their dispensers is not the only way that leaders can enhance their hygiene management for an overall boost this season and beyond. Facility teams should also be thinking about how their maintenance routines and daily processes, such as refill cadence and inventory management, can help or hinder efficiency.

This is where data-driven cleaning – or using metrics from connected devices like dispensers or people counters – can equip facility managers with specific, real-time insights into service and restock needs across the entire facility. Cleaning systems informed by data have been shown to significantly reduce both the number of necessary dispenser checks and the time spent cleaning. With the increased visibility, cleaning staff guarantee the optimal level of service while minimizing downtime and interruptions.

New season, fresh strategies

With 86 per cent of employees considering cleanliness the most important aspect in an office environment, thinking about simple adjustments, like installing smarter, higher-capacity dispensers or data-driven maintenance routines, can significantly impact facility performance and the end user’s experience.[2]

These improvements are equally beneficial for cleaning staff, whose productivity and satisfaction are elevated by freeing up their valuable time. And with sustainability expectations continuing to rise, it doesn’t hurt that implementing these solutions will help cut down on unnecessary waste.

By taking a thoughtful approach to cleaning this season, facility leaders can set the stage for a cleaner, more efficient operation in the months ahead.

Katrin “Kat” Ferge is the North American Regional Marketing Manager for Professional Hygiene – Commercial segment at Essity. She uses her more than 15 years of experience in brand communications and marketing to focus on Essity’s professional hygiene brand Tork and helping businesses, including office buildings, recreational facilities, passenger terminals, and educational institutions to leverage better hygiene for better business performance. Kat received her bachelor’s degree from Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society in Germany and later received her MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University.

Sources:

[1] Based on a 2023 survey of 500+ facility managers, cleaning managers and other stakeholders in US and Europe).

[2] June 2022 Behaviorally – Qualitative and quantitative office segment research with 600+ respondents in North America and Europe.

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