ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Lynn Webster in the UK on how the challenges resulting from unavoidable rising costs can be met.

The beginning of April sparked some considerable activity in the UK with the increase in minimum wage to £12.21 (€14.37) per hour but more so with the most dramatic hike in employers’ national insurance contributions. The main change was an increase in the rate from 13.8 per cent up to 15 per cent. The threshold (the point at which employers become liable for national insurance contributions) was reduced from £9,100  (€10,710) to £5,000 (€5885).

The British Chamber of Commerce report 82 per cent of the companies they surveyed said the rises will negatively impact on their business, will discourage their recruitment by 58 per cent and raise their prices by 54 per cent.

Freeze on plans

This has hit the FM and hospitality sectors with their reliance commonly on significant increases in employment cost with higher payroll cost; hiring practices and wage increases. The impact has been felt across the board, forcing some companies to face restructuring the business, curtailing investment in technology, new projects, training people, growth and sustainability initiatives, a freeze on recruitment plans with cleaning and FM service providers reconsidering the viability of some low margin contracts. The economic pressures may erode contract profitability and make maintaining service quality unsustainable.

There will be an overall refocus on service delivery. This may also create opportunities for those service providers willing to adapt, innovate and align themselves with the inevitable changes.

In hospitality service outcomes are being reduced. Reports have included hotels considering removing some guest amenities as standard  - the need to request a facecloth normally provided; individual high quality branded products being replaced with refillable containers in washrooms/bathrooms; the evening turn-down service only on request rather than the norm with the gift of a chocolate placed on the pillow being removed completely.

Commercially, service providers are questioning their ability to provide those added value but uncharged-for extras that signified the enhanced service. Reputation may be the casualty of such cost driven measures.

So it was refreshing, if rather surprising to find a healthcare service provider entering into a full hotel service project offering the hotel experience for their patients. Additions have included: guest amenity packs provided on arrival with quality products in a what could become a highly coveted wash bag; dressing gowns and slippers; top branded teas/coffees suitably arranged for a welcoming impact; interactive TV screens highlighting the services on offer; privacy protected hotel style trolleys with branded covers for patient personal items on ‘check in’ re just the start. Such a great vision, especially when a patient‘s choice for personally selected hospitals for their care become a norm in the future.

Need to invest

This highlights the need to be careful in these challenging times when it is all too easy to recoup extra cost being incurred with a drop in service provision. We need to act decisively, invest in efficiency measures, upskill the workforce and focus ourselves on innovation.

Losing sight of this for short-term knee-jerk resolution will likely result in greater losses in the future.

A little imagination is all
you need, to succeed, in being a sensation!
“Come with me and you’ll be
In a world of pure imagination
Reach out, touch what was once
Just in your imagination”

The song Pure Imagination, taken from the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.