Survey highlights cleaning professionals' response to recession

15th of April 2010
Survey highlights cleaning professionals' response to recession

Up to 85 per cent of cleaning professionals have adopted a 'doing more with less' approach in response to current economic conditions. That's according to a survey by Procter & Gamble Professional - 'Cleaning in a Down Economy'.

The cleaning products specialist carried out the survey to  gauge how decision makers managing in-house or contract cleaning services in the healthcare, education, retail, commercial, food service and hospitality industries have reacted to recent business conditions.

The findings suggest cleaning service managers must often tackle the same tasks with fewer employees, placing increased demands on staff productivity and cleaning efficiency. Many managers have been forced to streamline operations, with 76 per cent reporting being under pressure from upper management to keep operating costs down over the last six months.

Staff reductions

To address these demands, nearly nine in 10 respondents have made cutbacks, including staff reductions. While these cutbacks have not been easy, 97 per cent of the decision makers surveyed feel they have been able to effectively keep expenditures down. In fact more than nine in 10 respondents using this 'doing more with less' approach are likely to do so even after the economy improves.

“Managers in charge of cleaning services were faced with belt tightening activities at the same time as the H1N1 outbreak,” says Matt Koloseike, customer development manager, P&G Professional. “To meet this challenge and ensure the effectiveness of their cleaning programme, decision makers maximised efficiencies across the entire breadth of their operations, including getting more out of their staff and the products they purchased."

Product selection vital

When it comes to increasing efficiency and delivering cost savings, the importance of product selection was noted, with 22 per cent of respondents highlighting “products that get the job done right the first time” as most helpful when it comes to performing their cleaning services. Surprisingly, the survey also found that in spite of constrained resources, cleaning professionals primarily judge the value of a product based on its quality and effectiveness (56 per cent) and versatility of use (36 per cent) rather than its price point (five per cent).

www.pgpro.com 

 

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