Cleaning in France gets a national day

1st of November 2018
Cleaning in France gets a national day

In France, the cleaning industry is prospering currently and even held a national day in October. Christian Bouzols reports for ECJ.

The French professional cleaning sector is currently in good shape. According to the most recent figures, it registered a three per cent growth during the first half of 2018.

With an improvement of the economic situation in France, cleaning contractors are recruiting more people and looking for new competencies to respond to increasingly diversified requirements.

Unfortunately, as is the case for many other commercial sectors, recruitment is no easy matter.
The number of cleaning jobs is about half a million (generated by 47,000 firms with a combined turnover of €13.6 billion). The number of sector jobs has in fact increased by 90,000 (20 per cent) over the last 10 years. But despite these indications of good health, the sector still has to face a negative image and struggles to attract new talent.

Better image

That’s why for the very first time the branch was holding the first Journée Nationale des Métiers de la Propreté, or National Cleaning Trades Day, on October 18. The aim is to project a better image of the many trades practised within the cleaning sector and of the companies that keep it going. To support this initiative a global communications campaign has been launched. Who has it been targeting? Well, obviously the general public, but also cleaning companies and their employees, whose activities will be promoted vigorously.

Videos were being broadcast on social media and photos of cleaning professionals at work have been exhibited on different platforms, including the press, on the theme: “500 000 visages: la propreté, des métiers à voir” (which translates as ‘500,000 faces: cleaning - trades deserving to be looked at).

The objective of this unprecedented mobilisation is to showcase cleaning trades and enhance their image. But it will also be a matter of taking the campaign out to the country by organising events at regional level. In cities such as Angers, Marseilles and Bordeaux, “villages de la propreté” (cleaning villages) will be set up and include stalls, animations and other events dedicated to the various cleaning trades. One such event will be a window cleaning competition open to all. In Nantes, a photo exhibition will be set up in the main railway station to display the work of a young cleaner whose activities will have been followed in the Instagram social network.

A dedicated website (www.journee-nationale-metiers-proprete.com)  was launched in the spring of 2018 to promote and develop that national event.

Dozens of cleaning companies from the whole of France have been involved. They have had every reason to do so as the success of that national day could help to change the image of the cleaning profession and thus help its recruitment and development efforts.

 

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