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US cleaning industry managers report cost pressure in latest study
15th of February 2016
Cleaning managers across the US are reporting that despite economic optimism, they are still under pressure to reduce labour and other operating costs.
That's one of the findings of the P&G Professional 2015 Cleaning Industry Insights Survey. This annual study reveals observations from cleaning industry professionals and decision makers in the commercial, healthcare, hospitality/lodging and food service sectors.
The recession in the US is over according to 44 per cent of the respondents, with 76 per cent saying they expect their sector to grow over the next year. Within food service 85 per cent of cleaning managers expect their business to improve over the next year - up six per cent from 2014.
Yet despite this optimism the number of managers under pressure to keep operating costs down has increased by five per cent from 2014 to 78 per cent. Managers in healthcare reflected the largest increase in cost pressures, up 11 per cent over 2014, although they recorded the lowest overall percentage by sector (76 per cent).
Most managers (76 per cent) report keeping costs down by finding ways to be more efficient and only 15 per cent say that they would prefer to raise prices for customers or clients. Almost half of all cleaning industry professionals report both retaining staff and reducing turnover (47 per cent) and training staff (47 per cent) are some of the top ways they have become more efficient in 2015 - a significant 12 and 11 per cent increase over last year, respectively.
Cleaning managers in the healthcare and hospitality sectors saw an even larger spike in retaining staff and reducing turnover as a way of being more efficient, with 50 per cent of cleaning managers reporting these increases, 18 and 19 per cent increases over 2014, respectively.
For the fourth consecutive year cleaning industry professionals rank keeping customers satisfied (34 per cent) as the top priority for their business, above growing the business (21 per cent) and making a profit (16 per cent).
Customer dissatisfaction or complaints (52 per cent) also tops the list of concerns about cleaning and disinfection when it comes to their business overall. And keeping washrooms again rank as the area where cleanliness is viewed as being most important to customers (34 per cent).
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