Executive Housekeeping Today - September 2008 - (Page 16)

don aSlett (continued from previous page) relatively invisible to the public. We just disappear into the budget and the back room. The better we are, the more efficient we are, the less we are noticed—our customers tend to take all of the positive for granted and report the negative.” Aslett notes that over the past 20 years, the production of the housekeeping industry has doubled, yet the pay for employees has remained almost the same. In order to resolve this issue, cleaning industry professionals of all sectors need to unite to sell the profession to the public. Aslett feels that housekeepers are still viewed as the “phantoms in the night” by the public, and awareness is the next bridge that needs to be built. “Our country as a whole has also accepted the erroneous ‘adopta-highway’ mentality: Clean up after others. That just reinforces bad behavior, when what we need is a new highway sign that says, ‘Adopt a habit!’ (of cleaning up The Varsity Contractors corporate staff outside the headquarters in Pocatello, Idaho. Varsity has offices across the country. after yourself). People are far too preoccupied with sports, cars, sex, food, and money—they need to realize that we, each and every single one of us, are the environmental solution for the planet! We’ve got to educate the users, the ones that make the mess and waste things. Our job is to maintain facilities, not restore them,” says Aslett. business at age 19 while a freshman at Idaho State University. My business now has thousands of employees and has branched off into several other businesses. I’ve also written more than three dozen books, sold almost four million copies of them, and have been on Oprah, Live—Regis and Kathie Lee, the Discovery Channel, and hundreds of other TV and radio shows. If I could do that starting at the bottom in one of the least prestigious and lowliest occupations around, there is no limit to what you can do!” As a cleaning industry “guru,” Aslett has done much to help improve the housekeeping industry as a whole, and to raise its visibility. Below are some of the things that he and his company are most proud of: 1. He has built his little college employment sideline into a fullscale, sophisticated total facility services company that now operates in all fifty states and grosses more than $150 million yearly. 2. He’s authored 42 books, centered on the subjects of cleaning and the bettering of life. These books have helped to bring profes(continued on page 18) Achievements In the introduction to his autobiography How I Swept My Way to the Top: The Don Aslett Story, Aslett says, “I’m a toilet cleaner, floor cleaner, window cleaner, a ‘cleaning man.’ I got started in this Mindi Robinson, Operations Manager for Don Aslett’s Cleaning Center, welcomes Aslett to the Cleaning Center store in Pocatello, Idaho. 6 Executive Housekeeping Today/September 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Executive Housekeeping Today - September 2008

Executive Housekeeping Today - September 2008 Contents Executive Corner 2008 Salary Survey Results Strengthening Worker Safety in a High Throughput Laundry Frugal Housekeeper How CIMS Relates to You Feature Article The Green Scene The Un-Comfort Zone: What's Pushing Your Buttons? Inside the Industry Product Highlights New Members Joint IEHA/ISSA Members Advertisers’ Index Calendar of Events Inside I.E.H.A. What I.E.H.A. Has Done For Me

Executive Housekeeping Today - September 2008

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