How to hire employees to clean commercial office buildings

This post may contain affiliate links. Feel Free to review our Private Policy. Thank You!

 

Most professional cleaning service owners will get to the point in their businesses that they’ll need to hire staff. It’s a good thing! The caveat is knowing how to hire employees to clean commercial office buildings. Where to look for prospects? How to do background checks? What is a good hiring process?

 

Hiring employees to clean offices while my husband, business partner and I handled other matters with our cleaning service was the best thing we could have ever done. It almost felt as if we multiplied ourselves.

 

It can be the best thing you do for your company as well.

 

Follow along and I can show you our proven 3-step process before we officially hire new team members to clean commercial office buildings.

 

 

We learned how to on-board employees for our cleaning service business during the 27 years we owned our cleaning business. This process is proven because it allowed us to check off the most important factors to look for with new team members.

 

I guess I should express that right here… you should know what you are looking for in prospective hires. You would want new team members that are a good fit for your core beliefs.

 

Having a few core beliefs is a good start in finding employees who would be a good fit for your cleaning company.

 

A core belief can be a part of your mission or vision statement. It simplifies how you prefer to operate your business based upon your own personal beliefs.

 

Like “Try it better” or “Best is more”. Mottos like these can explain who you are and how you operate your commercial cleaning service business. Your goal is to hire someone who could live out your company’s values.

 

These following 3 steps is what we implemented in our cleaning service business.

 

They’ve helped us to hire the right staff. And we’ve had staff as long as 6 years, 11 years, and one team member for as long as 20 years!

 

First step in hiring employees is finding an employment agency.

Typically employment agencies will vet their clients to a certain degree in order to fit your requirements.

 

Some agencies will do criminal background checks, drug testing, training for job readiness and janitorial maintenance. Each type of agency is different.

 

Two of the agencies we have used are Ada S. McKinley and The Good Will Industries.  Some organizations were local and provided transportation costs up to 30 days for our new hire.  AND, provided financial assistance for us while we trained our new hires.

We also used places such as Employer and Employee Services and St. Sabina Employment Resource Center.

 

Update 2022: Post Covid, things may be different. Please research carefully.

 

Again, each facility is different. Check your local area for employment centers. They can do a lot of the vetting for you.

 

Once you have established yourself with the agency, schedule a group meeting of about 10-20 applicants where you would explain the job description in detail. Collect all resumes.

 

At the same meeting, set up a quick 5-10 minutes one-on-one with each individual. Select the best candidate that may make a good fit for your company. Then have these individuals complete a paper application or an online application for the job position. The application should also include tax information, background check authorization, etc.

 

Second step of this process for hiring employees to clean commercial office buildings.

 

Check the resume. Any large gaps in their employment history is a red flag, so inquire. Call their references, personal and business. Also, check their criminal background at this point.

 

Have a Zoom call, Google Meet call, or a phone interview addressing any lingering questions you may have. This is when you’d want to go with your gut feeling. Pay as much attention to what they’re not saying as much as what they are saying.

 

Sometimes, there may not be anything on their application that you can point out, but, you have to come to a conclusion as to who you think will be the best fit. Ultimately, consider your core beliefs and based upon their interviews, make a choice.

 

Note: if you’re hiring for only one position. Schedule for 2 people at a time to come out to an on-the-job interview. An on-the-job interview is your next step.

 

Lastly, have 2 or 3 eligible people to come for an on-the-job interview.

 

Observe their timeliness, their attire, their overall disposition. Take note of them in action as they perform different tasks. Have one of your key employees observe them also if you have one on site.

 

 

As they clean in the actual position you’re hiring for, 1) notice their ability to follow directions; 2) think about the questions they ask you; 3) take note of their integrity of getting the job right. At this point decide who you will select. (But don’t tell them then).

 

If you are hiring for just one position, I would advise to hire 2 people and divide the work. If you cannot afford to hire two, then hire the one, but inform the other that you would like to let them know how things work out within the next 30 days.

 

It should go without saying that all employees should be within a probationary state for at least 30 days but no more than 90 days. During this time, you are still observing and making sure that your new hire is a good fit and that they can represent your company well.

 

 

Going through this process is long and intentional but well worth it. Like any relationship, it takes time to get to know a person.

 

Conclusion

If you have not already created core beliefs for your company, work on it. Establish a relationship with reputable and local employment agencies who will screen prospective help for you. Set up a meeting of 10-20 people to meet in a group meeting. Select a one-on-one for about 5-10 minutes each for the people you are interested in. (A Zoom call at a later date is fine too.) Arrange an on-the-job interview for the best candidates, two at a time. At this point, make your final choices. This 3-step process is how we hire employees for commercial office buildings.

 

 

“Trust your intuition. You don’t need to explain or justify your feelings to anyone, just trust your own inner guidance, it knows best.” Anonymous ”

 

 

Until next time,

Happy cleaning!

 

P.S.

Here’s another article related to our hiring processes for our cleaning service.

 

 

I grew my office cleaning side hustle into a ½ million-dollar corporation with the partnership of my husband and our amazing staff. In 2020, I retired my service-based business to shift my focus and passion from serving cleaning clientele to serving cleaning business owners.

 

Utilizing my 27+ years’ experience, I offer free and paid products exclusively for cleaning business owners and cleaning side hustlers at A Janitor’s Story® Website and my VIP Group Coaching Membership App.

 

I’ve served other cleaning pros by helping them to turn one time cleaning jobs into high paying recurring customers, create excellent client retention practices, develop hiring systems that really work, build marketing techniques that convert and so much more.

 

If this is a place you’d like to explore, I’d love to serve you too. Simply sign up to my free weekly email newsletter for tips and inspiration. I can’t wait to meet you inside.