Cleaning staff unwilling to learn?

13th of June 2022
Cleaning staff unwilling to learn?

Do cleaning staff have a resistance to learning new things? VSR’s John Griep is ECJ’s Dutch reporter.

Thirty-nine per cent of cleaning staff say they are not particularly willing to learn new things. At least, this is one of the results from a sector analysis published by the Dutch Council for Industrial Relations in the Cleaning and Glass Cleaning Sector (RAS) in mid 2021. As far as VSR is concerned, we do not recognise this as their usual attitude.

The sector analysis describes a number of characteristics that relate to employment. One of these is the sustainable employability of employees. Within this theme, ‘being competent’ is of great importance. Here, the Labour Relations Board identifies the following bottlenecks: low literacy, low education, low digital skills, little belief in one’s own abilities, inadequate access to training and therefore: little willingness to learn new things.

We discussed these outcomes in our People & Market Committee in the autumn of 2021. The committee suspects employees are willing to learn new things but experience barriers, such as travel distance to the training site, language deficiency, fear of failure, fear of the exam. We also realise these are only our assumptions. We are speaking for our employees.

I give Charlotte Michels of CareB4 a call. She has about 20 years of experience in educating and training employees and trainers, particularly in healthcare. “From a healthcare perspective - and this may also be true for other sectors - I could explain the low willingness to learn new things as a result of the workload among this group of cleaning staff. Their role has been eroded. They often work extraordinarily hard but then fail to finish and hear negative comments about their work. When this is the case, you don’t tend to think about learning new things. You are just surviving.

“At the same time, I find when I address groups, the vast majority of people are grateful for the knowledge they are gaining. Most are enthusiastic, especially if it relates to something they can use in their daily work. They regain work motivation as a result. Employees might not look forward to training in advance, or think it’s an extra burden, but once they start they find it a positive experience.”

But Charlotte has another possible explanation for cleaning staff’s resistance to learning new things. It’s something that worries me, and is a sentiment the market should be aware of. She explains that employees often have negative preconceptions as soon as they are asked to attend training. They have previously found that this type of meeting often means that they have to do even more in less time. So, there is a lack of trust.

In short: there are plenty of reasons why cleaning staff may experience barriers to learning new things. But what’s the real deal? VSR wants to gain more insights. To begin with, therefore, we are seeking contact with teachers through a survey in the near future. They see and speak to the target audience every day and undoubtedly have a better idea of what concerns them.

Our goal is ultimately to work with the people involved - teachers and employees - to remove any existing barriers and to increase the opportunities for cleaning employees in the job market and in their lives.

The Association for Cleaning Research (VSR) is an independent platform, and knowledge and research institute for professional cleaning in the Netherlands.

 

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