“How was I not using this before?!”
This is what Justin Reus, Area Manager at Zoë Facility Services (Zoë), had to say when we asked him about his experience using implementing a cleaning management system. Justin is responsible for operations throughout multiple counties in southern Indiana, and has always recognized the value of Zoë’s professional cleaners and focused on that relationship.
Justin and his team know that strong communication results in stronger relationships, but the systems they used before working with Swept were limiting. Without an adequate system to communicate with his team, Justin was often inundated with text messages and other forms of updates that didn’t provide a clear path to take action.
Implementing a Cleaning Management System - A Proactive Culture through Real-time Messaging
Within days of purchasing Swept, Justin was able to benefit in the following ways:
- Quickly learn about issues on site and immediately take action to support cleaners and clients;
- Create clear lines of communication with his team and ensure everyone knew exactly what they were responsible for;
- Increased accountability and fellowship of his cleaners
Even when cleaners are in the same building, they are often spread out over hundreds of thousands of square feet of space and in many ways are working independently. If something comes up or they need help, they know they can send a text and count on Justin. However, with the message board, everyone knows what is happening right away and can collaborate and help each other.
This has truly united the day and night crews, and the number of messages I receive has decreased greatly.
Prior to Swept, it wasn’t always clear when something was missed or who was at fault. “It was mind blowing to see the fellowship between our cleaners once they were able to communicate with each other. No longer were they shifting blame to one person or another, it became ‘we are a team’,” says Justin.
Implementing a Cleaning Management System - Acknowledge and Engage Your Team
Using Swept has enabled Justin to better allocate his time and become more effective as a manager. This has resulted in a higher and more consistent level of support to his cleaners and clients.
By spending more time doing inspections and providing feedback to cleaners, the entire team has an opportunity to continually improve — something Justin noted his clients quickly noticed and appreciated.
We care about what we do, and love that we make ‘dirty work’ into ‘good work’. Swept is a big part of that.
Implementing a Cleaning Management System - Struggles With Old Software
The old software Zoë used was a cleaner clock in/out system and didn’t provide an opportunity to engage with or support their cleaners. Justin used text messages to aid in real-time communication with his cleaning crews, but the two major downfalls were a lack of context of what site the cleaners were reporting on, and silos of knowledge because the messaging did not include other managers or cleaners.
He notes, “Often times, I would get the same message from multiple cleaners because they didn’t know someone else already messaged me.” These major gaps in communication made it extremely difficult for Justin to manage the day and night time cleaning crews and to ensure everyone was on the same page.
Implementing a Cleaning Management System - Collaboration Through Communication
Justin recalled a time when using other software and being faced with 1,900 messages. “The last system we used didn’t provide a clear picture of what was happening on site — it was an overload of messages that didn’t help,” says Justin. Now, when a cleaner reports a problem on Swept, Justin receives an alert and can instantly action it and help his team.
I keep hearing over and over again, from both clients and cleaners, that our management team is so much more responsive now.
When looking back, he said it was clear that this level of communication was needed, they just didn’t know how to put it all together.
“Having a digital message board for every location we clean gives managers a bird’s eye view of how the day progresses in every facility without us physically being there,” says Justin.
If you’ve read this far, we should talk!
To learn how you can engage cleaners, increase quality, and create your own story with Swept, request a demo below:
