ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Digitisation is one of the hot topics in all areas of business, including cleaning. What are the potential impacts of digitisation at the ground roots of the workforce, the cleaners themselves? This is what concerns Eddy Stam, head of property services at UNI, the global trade union.

UNI Global Union, based in Switzerland, represents more than 20 million workers from 900 trade unions in skills and services – the fastest growing sectors in the world. Its mission is to ensure justice and equality for working people. Heading up the property services division, which encompasses cleaning, is Eddy Stam.

At the World Federation of Building Service Contractors (WFBSC) congress in Berlin, the theme was digitisation in the professional cleaning sector. Among the many presentations exploring the ‘big ideas’ of digitisation it was Stam who asked the question: what will be the impact of this trend on the cleaning staff themselves?

“There are still so many questions to be answered around the subject from the workforce’s point of view,” he says. The key issue for him is data. “If a cleaning company is gathering data on workers via their smartphone, for example, and they are being tracked, who owns that data? The cleaner could be using their own phone. The employer could have information on how fast that cleaner is moving around a building, which areas they are going to. What is the employer doing with that information, how long is it stored? Whose property is it?”

Employers gathering data

Stam is unsettled by the fact employers could be gathering all kinds of data from various systems, which means they can effectively vet their workforce. “So what do they do with that data? Can they dismiss an employee on the back of it? What exactly do they store? Does it go to the extent of monitoring toilet visits, how long those visits are, etc?

“And what if the client on a cleaning contract wants to see that employee data? What then? Who owns it - worker, cleaning company or client?”

Sensor technology, whereby rooms are serviced according to occupancy within a building, is now a reality however Stam is sceptical about the benefits for the workforce. “The efficiencies are a little exaggerated in my opinion,” he says. “I understand technology can help make the job more efficient but what are you going to do with the 15 per cent saving for example? I doubt savings will be passed to cleaners  - it will be the client or the employer that benefits - and in fact I worry they will actually be penalised.”

In the longer term, Stam believes many cleaning companies will be pushed out of the market because of new technology. “Their expertise essentially lies in the allocation of cheap labour. If that labour becomes more skilled because of digitisation, they are not equipped to manage that. Platforms will be prevalent in my opinion and cleaners go could the way of the gig economy.”

Job losses

He says there will also be job losses. “Or if jobs do not go, hours may be cut. Smart buildings and offices will be constructed so there’s less cleaning work needed. If you have a 15 per cent efficiency drive it can only result in fewer cleaner hours. It will be great if they can then do other tasks, as many companies are predicting, but I still question the reality of that scenario.

“The fact is the profitability of cleaning companies remains fairly constant, so where are
the efficiencies? Clients are putting on pressure when it comes to costs, and those are the drivers for the developments in digital solutions.”

As the market sees a growing trend for more ‘experience-based’ services, based around feedback from building users, this could bring rewards or penalties for the cleaning company believes Stam. “It also often means having more public-facing cleaners.”

This brings extra dimensions to the job as far as UNI is concerned, which must be addressed by employers now. “Workers should be given proper training if they are more public-facing for example,” he says. “And as robotisation and digitisation increases their skills need must be met.”

Provison for the digitised future must be made in collective agreements, concludes Stam. “It’s better if the industry faces the new future and develops together.”