As many office and procurement managers know, choosing a reliable cleaning firm for your office can be very time consuming. Although there are hundreds of commercial cleaning companies operating in London, choosing a provider by trial and error is simply not an option, as the health and safety of your workplace (as well as your company's reputation) are at stake.
When deciding between several service providers, you will want to choose one that offers more than just a service that suits your needs and fits your budget. Below we describe the five most important factors to examine when it comes to assessing the quality of potential office cleaning providers.
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1. Local expertise - London Cleaners
London office cleaning companies consist of a mix of well-known multinational groups and smaller independent contractors. Size is not as important as local expertise, so always find out how many years a given firm has been operating in your local area. Well-established companies are more likely to have in-depth knowledge of the requirements and most common concerns among London office and facilities managers, and companies with years of local experience are also more likely to provide additional services like audits, schedule reviews and offer personalised advice on how to improve cleaning operations, maximise efficiency and reduce costs.
2. Social Proof
The next step is finding out about a company's reputation and overall customer satisfaction ratings. Online reviews can complement website testimonials or case studies, but for a fair assessment you should go beyond that and look at the kind of conversation that cleaning firms are driving via social media sites. You can also ask the service provider about past customer survey results.
3. Environmental Record
Businesses that favour environmentally friendly solutions demonstrate their commitment to superior standards and to creating a healthier working environment. This is particularly important in large cities like London, where pollution control and green sustainable practices can make a substantial difference to everyone's quality of life. In the cleaning industry, eco-friendly practices will be implemented in areas like the treatment of waste, the use of biodegradable supplies and energy efficient equipment, and certifications like ISO14001, which ensures that cleaning products and operations have a low impact on staff and clients.
4. Training standards
One of the most common misconceptions about the cleaning industry is that no special skills are required to perform the job. While anyone can clean an office, only the top commercial cleaning providers will make the effort to train their staff and ensure they follow safe and efficient procedures that meet the highest standards. This avoids costly mistakes and gives you the peace of mind of knowing that cleaners will always use the right product for each office and for each surface. Some things to look for in this respect include COSHH training or adherence to the CITS program.
5. Independent certifications
The final factor to take into account involves whether a cleaning provider is accredited by independent third parties. In the UK's cleaning industry, the main certifications to look for include ISO9001, BSI, and UKAS, as having one of more of these confirms a company's ability to implement international standards in the local London market. Professional memberships to the British Institute of Cleaning Science or the British Cleaning Council offer additional proof of a contractor's commitment to quality.
