Executive Housekeeping Today - February 2008 - (Page 7) met. Follow-up from the contracted company was not there.” There was a general sense, even though much was promised by the contractor(s), that less was delivered than promised. One respondent indicated, “I have tried custodial outsourcing with three different companies and have yet to find a winning situation.” Another respondent stated that they brought part of their outsourced operation back in-house because, “ the contractor we were using at the time could not provide the level of service required to maintain standards.” One respondent who had brought custodial services in-house stated, “The level of service is at least as great and, in most cases, better.” • Ownership: Respondents lamented that contract cleaners did not seem to demonstrate the same sense of “ownership” in the cleaning operation. One respondent stated, “ the custodial service did not have a personal stake in the school.” The sense of ownership, pride, and belonging seems to be the basis for some organizations to bring services back in-house. Another respondent indicated, “Employees take ownership, contractors don’t.” • Turnover and absenteeism: These issues plague many operations, and it seems to sometimes be a critical issue in custodial outsourcing. As one respondent indicated, “ the turnover was out of control.” This may be one of the reasons for a lack of ownership. Years ago, I had a contractor who worked for us and he indicated that on average, a new cleaner or custodian did not last longer than 59 days on the payroll. That may be an extreme, yet I have read about turnover rates from 60% to as high as 300% per year. The rapid turnover and absenteeism creates voids and the work often does not get done. • Supervision: Even if an en- tity such as custodial operations liberate in their responses. Since is outsourced, someone has to su- many of them were aware of why pervise and monitor the contract. their organization had outsourced This is an additional overhead and their operation, they wanted to has to be provided to ensure that make sure that once they brought contract specifications are being the service back in-house, they did met. This management of a con- not recreate the problems of the tract supervisor places additional past. The responses covered many burdens on the organization, espe- areas such as: • Hiring a new staff: Establish cially if there is no “follow-up from the contracted company” on issues a supervisory structure to handle the in-house operation, and make identified by the organization. • Social reasons: During the sure that quality supervisors are last two or three years, there has assigned to manage the operation. been increased sensitivity to the One organization indicated that social implications of outsourcing they did not take the time to do and living wages. Some organiza- that and, “Our original supervisor tions are now requiring that con- was less than satisfactory and had tractors pay higher wages for their to be replaced.” That caused all employees, thus narrowing the sorts of problems, and the orgaperceived savings from a contract. nization indicated, “That greatly When the cost margins between in- slowed our learning curve.” The house operations and outsourced answer: Hire quality managers operations narrow, the social (continued on next page) benefits to the organization and the community tend to outweigh the minimal savings. One organization indicated that when they were in the midst of outsourcing, their leadership made an affirmative decision not to take that social benefit away. - Durable, Stainless Steel Carts & Fixtures Prior to - Factory Direct Prices bringing a ser- 10 Year Guarantee Against Breakage vice back inhouse, managers need to be aware of some of the issues they will have to address. The respondents Request your free catalog today. were quite www.RoyceRolls.net toll free 800-253-9638 fax 616-361-5976 clear and de- Royce Rolls Ringer Company February 2008/Executive Housekeeping Today 7 http://www.RoyceRolls.net http://www.RoyceRolls.net
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