We asked over 300 commercial cleaning business owners/managers & supervisors what keeps them up at night. The top answers all revolved around staff communication and retention. Do any of these problems sound familiar?
- Cleaning tasks missed
- No shows
- Cleaners not understanding what’s expected of them
- High turnover, resulting in always needing to be hiring
These things all tend to get worse as your commercial cleaning business grows. As a result, you spend more time putting out fires than working on things you enjoy.
Our Founder Michael Brown, went through all of this pain himself when he used to own a commercial/residential cleaning business. He looked high and low for some kind of technology or an app that could help and found nothing quite right for the needs of a commercial cleaning business.
So, he created Swept.
Here’s how we’ve built the platform to tackle these issues.
Swept checklists: reduce missed cleaning tasks
Our checklists are much more than simple to-do items.
Checklists let cleaners know what tasks need to be completed each shift and enable Managers to track completed and incomplete tasks. Managers can track the status of items in real-time to catch and correct any slip-ups before they become an issue.
Swept GPS: manage no-shows with location-aware checkins
You do not want to hear about a no-show from an upset client.
Yet, no shows are always going to be a reality.
Our solution is simple: cleaners using Swept can be required to check in to their location once on site. It is GPS enabled, so if someone “checks- in” and they’re not physically on-site, we’ll catch that too.
Managers have real-time insight to all shifts, so if someone misses their check-in, or tries to fake a check-in, the manager can act quickly to try to resolve the issue. Sometimes it can be as simple as messaging the cleaner (more on this below)—perhaps they’ve simply been delayed by traffic.
For true no-shows, the manager can proactively get the shift covered and inform the client about the delay instead of having the client be the one to notice first.
Swept translation enabled messaging: manage staff expectations
Swept has a built-in messaging system with a powerful translator feature.
Every location has its own ‘Inbox Location Channel,’ which connects cleaners and managers in one place. It will also give you information on whether the message has been read and by who has it been read.
If someone isn’t a native English speaker, Swept can auto-translate messages in whichever language the persons’ device is set to. Swept can translate in over 100 languages.
This powerful communications hub is where many would-be issues are handled before they get out of hand. Using the tools listed above, managers can catch things like missed tasks or late arrivals, then reach out to the cleaners to help take corrective action.
Cleaners, managers, supervisors, clients can use the messaging feature to ask questions and get clarification when required—helping to build trust and familiarity around the entire process.
Swept mood checks: catch issues before cleaners quit
Being a cleaner can be a tough gig. Many commercial cleaning businesses don’t use technology like Swept, and their communication practices leave something to be desired.
People get frustrated, feel alone, unsupported, and they move on to another gig with a different company. It’s a story that anyone in the commercial cleaning business knows well.
Our answer to this problem involves all the previous features: an app that helps connect cleaners directly to their team. On top of this, at the end of every shift Swept asks cleaners a very simple question:
“How are you feeling about cleaning?”
There are three emojis to choose from, and the answers get sent to managers.
If this seems quite basic, you’d be right. But it is also quite powerful. Because it is simple, easy, and requires no elaboration or explanation from cleaners, most will answer honestly. And with those honest answers, trending mood issues can be proactively intercepted or analyzed by managers.
The difference between someone quitting and staying might be as simple as re-arranging a schedule, excluding a certain location, or being flexible in allowing someone to take the next week off for personal issues.
Too often, these small needs are never asked after, and cleaners have no clear way of confidently making a request. This issue compounds even more if the cleaner has a language barrier! Mood check ins combined with all the features above create an environment of trust and solid communication practice.
Swept: commercial cleaning technology for building trust through communication
While we have many other features that are tailored to growing your cleaning business, one of the biggest problems we tackle are tied to staff communication and staff turnover.
Good communication is the heart of any business. When there’s trust and smooth communication both internally and externally, a business will:
- Provide higher quality service
- Catch and correct issues before they become problems
- Manage the expectations of employees and clients
- Enjoy much stronger staff retention
All of these things are key ingredients for growth!
If you’re a commercial cleaning business owner and would like to see a demo of Swept, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us here. We’ve also prepared a short video that briefly highlights some of the features offered by Swept.
