Danish cleaning sector - some bright spots...

15th of March 2016
Danish cleaning sector - some bright spots...

As we start a new year, ECJ Scandinavian correspondent Lotte Printz reports from Denmark on the challenges facing the cleaning sector.

“It will be too expensive.” “We need to make money!” “I know for sure it can’t be done.” “We don’t have time for it.” “We are too small.” “This is how we’ve always done it – why change that?”

The road to hell is paved with bad excuses… or efficient idea killers as they are called in a mini booklet with 25 tear-off pages, each containing one idea killer speech bubble. It’s meant by The Danish Technological Institute, which is behind the booklet, as a fun reminder for companies but according to Erik W. Hallgren from the Institute’s Ideas & Growth unit, several of these real-life statements are alarmingly true for the Danish cleaning industry.

Speaking in broad terms – there are of course exceptions to the rule – Danish facility service firms develop far too slowly in Erik W. Hallgren’s point of view. And thus, fall behind on an international scale. According to Hallgren, communication is another area in which cleaning businesses fail.

Consultants close to the industry seem to agree. “This industry is really conservative and quite reluctant to take on new technology. It also astonishes me why more of them do not provide training for their cleaners in customer care and communication. To pinpoint, for instance, that the cleaner switched off the coffee machine on ‘his watch’ is what adds value to the service,” says Erik Nørskov, partner and managing director of BizDoc, a cloud service provider for cleaning companies, adding: “Besides, if employees are well trained, the higher the likelihood is that they stay on.”

The fact that the industry consists of a considerable number of small or even one-man firms, the influx of cheap labour from Eastern Europe that holds down prices and a general lack of harmonisation of expectations are other challenges, Bjarne Overgaard of BO Consult offering cleaning based consultancy services believes.

“It’s important that the cleaning business allocate the right amount of time for a job, instructs its cleaners properly so they can save steps, but perhaps most importantly communicates to the customer how things are done and what the customer can expect for his money.”

Every cloud has a silver lining, and luckily the future for the Danish cleaning industry also has its bright spots.

Last year saw the first Danish trade fair for the cleaning industry in more than a decade – a fair focusing on how to tackle some the challenges of the trade, among other things. Earlier the same year, a new pioneer bachelor programme in hygiene and cleaning techniques for facility service administrators, people starting their own business in the cleaning sector and cleaners eager to advance was introduced – hoping to boost qualifications and the quality of cleaning.

And that’s not all. “Foreign workers are beginning to join the trade unions and customers are beginning to make demands, not just asking for the cheapest service. So I am optimistic on behalf of the industry after all,” says Bjarne Overgaard.

 

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