The COVID-19 pandemic changed quite a bit about the way businesses operate. Some of those changes will fade away as vaccination rates continue to rise, while others will endure well into the future. We’ll probably make some mistakes as we decide which pandemic-era alterations stay and which ones fall by the wayside, of course. But one that we should be careful to hang on to is the increased appreciation for and recognition of cleaning professionals that blossomed during the most uncertain days of the past year.
And, in some ways, we are seeing that trend continue. The demand for janitorial services is booming now that more and more people are returning to work, restaurants, shopping centers, hotels, etc. Trained cleaners and the companies that employ them should expect their customer bases to expand vigorously as pandemic-related health orders expire. That increased demand will almost certainly drive the prices of services upward, and those two factors make for a healthy financial outlook for cleaning professionals. That’s certainly a kind of appreciation.
But payment for a service rendered isn’t the same thing as recognition of a job well done—or, in the case of dangerous jobs, done at all. Simple acts of acknowledgement that speak to a person rather than their checkbook can be massively impactful for little-to-no material cost. It’s in our nature to appreciate praise, and we tend to work just a little bit harder for people who show it.
For business owners and managers, employee recognition is a phenomenally effective, embarrassingly inexpensive way to reduce turnover and increase production. It doesn’t even need to be a formal, “Employee of the Month” sort of thing, either. Informal acts like passing out gift certificates for coffee or lunch after a challenging week will tell your employees that you value them and their contributions. And that kind of consistent recognition often inspires loyalty.
For the communities served by cleaning professionals, acknowledgement of their job and it’s importance has given rise to enhanced pride in the work. Custodians have seen an outpouring of appreciation from the people they’ve kept safe since the start of the pandemic, and carrying that wave of support forward will be crucial to preventing burnout or an increased churn rate in the industry.
At Benman Industries, our business has been and will always be supporting the professionals that make the world run. On behalf of our family and our communities, we thank you for your tireless efforts over the last year.