Reflection as a part of development – What is your benchmark?
Over the last decade, queries about the “next generation of cleaning professionals” have become far more prominent in the industry. As industry leaders look to take on the next chapters of their lives, with many moving onto well-earned retirement after giving their lives to the development of the industry, we are left wondering, weekly, if not daily, how we are going to “stand on the shoulders of such giants”.
We need to welcome the next generation of cleaning professionals.
Where are they? What are WE as the industry doing? Are we doing the right thing?
There have been great strides in the last few years in making the industry more youth friendly. We have introduced qualifications that are accessible to school leavers, been present in the places where the younger generation are and are fighting tirelessly to have the industry not just as an option to young people, but a known option. Yet, as with everything, there is always more to do. Although HR is an important part of any business, with the cleaning industry and the organisations within this being no different, change needs to happen and we need to understand it differently.
Our industry is run by compliance, rules and regulations. Where the work we do, the equipment we use, in fact, the very way we identify processes are constantly reviewed, commented on or “changed”, and often by people that have no real understanding of what it takes to get something “clean”, or failing that, to clean something “properly”, “efficiently” and “safely”. As an industry, we often bang the rightful drum of “leaving it to the experts”, calling in expert advice, following standards, or creating them to ensure that we follow the best practices we can, protecting our industry, even when we don’t get the recognition that we deserve.
Aside from the rest of the challenges we face as an industry, the introduction of the next generation is a real problem that we all talk about, but we need to fix.
So what are we doing to help it? Are we doing the right thing? Why aren’t we asking for help, why aren’t we checking ourselves?
If we observe a drop in cleaning standard on our site, or we want to ensure that we are delivering the results we wish to, we check. We analyse our successes, our faults and we are proactive on our rectifications required – why aren’t we doing the same for on onboarding process?
Last year, BICSc launched the “Cleaning Careers Hub” on the Youth Employment UK website as a way of creating a hub whereby information written by industry professionals but accessible to young people was out in the world. The idea around this hub was to give young people accessible information about the infinite opportunities in the industry. Featuring real stories, and real people with the opportunity to post job vacancies and get them filled! A fantastic tool, that will only work with take-up of the industry! It’s all well and good having a hub explaining careers in the industry if young people have no idea where to apply for them.
Outside of this hub, there is a lot of work being done by the industry and by employers to try and welcome the next generation. But how friendly is this? Why don’t we revert back to our roots?
Instead of build up in the corners and edges of a floor, think about the issues being created by the lack of the next generation of cleaning professionals. How much of your workforce are you missing? Is it time to analyse our successes, our faults and are we proactive on the rectifications required? Have you heard of ‘The Good Youth Employment Benchmark tool’?
This benchmark is created and is to be used by members of Youth Employment UK – for more information, why not have a look?
Membership | Training | Standards
BICSc is the largest independent, professional, and educational body within the cleaning industry providing training and education, setting standards and procedures for cleaning. BICSc membership now stands at over 71,000 individual and corporate members in the UK and Internationally.
We are a membership organisation that strives to bring recognition of the vital role cleaning operatives play in everyone’s day-to-day life.
Whether you’re shopping, travelling, working, holidaying or recuperating, every one of these scenarios has cleaning staff striving to ensure that the environment is not only clean but also safe.
Founded over 60 years ago, BICSc key objective is to promote the value and professionalism of the cleaning industry, providing training in the key skills required to enhance a cleaning operative’s core role whilst keeping them safe and encouraging them to work in a more effective and efficient manner.
With a range of both practical and theoretical qualifications available, BICSc has something to help further the career of every cleaning professional from entry level, through to supervisor level, and up to an employer with your own business tendering for cleaning contracts.
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