International Women's Day 2023 | #EmbraceEquity

In the US, women represent 36% of all business owners. There are several reasons why representation remains lower for women. According to the New York Times, the reasons range from a lack of access to capital and networks to a lack of mentorship and role models. When women do pursue business ownership, they often face more adversity. There are many reasons, among them, the imbalance of household and childcare responsibilities that conflicts with the demands of business ownership, creating barriers that are difficult to break down. 

Today, on the eve of International Women’s Day, we want to take the opportunity to celebrate women’s achievements and accomplishments in our industry and in our company. As women working in tech for a company that builds software for the commercial cleaning industry, we are surrounded by women making a difference in technology, our business, and the commercial cleaning industry.  

Celebrating the Women at Swept

As of 2022, women make up 28% of the tech industry workforce; today, 52% of our team at Swept are women. From our Engineering Team to our Leadership Team, women play key roles in the design, development, and support of our product and our business. In an industry where women are currently underrepresented, we are proud of the team we have built.  We are also proud of the women we have the privilege to work with as our customers.

Celebrating Women in the Cleaning Industry 💪

Cleaning businesses generally have very low barriers to entry as far as costs go; however, they are labour-intensive and sometimes require a 24/7 time commitment. While entry is easy, the demanding schedule can create conflicts and challenges. While the challenges are real, we have seen it is far from impossible. Over the past few years, we have met some amazing women who have leveraged technology in a way that has allowed them to build thriving businesses and families. We have witnessed them grow their businesses and become leaders in their industry.  

How do they do it? 

Recurring themes emerge when we review the reasons women approach us looking for ways to solve key challenges in their business. They want to know how they can operate efficiently and how they can grow. They are aware that in order to accomplish this, there are 3 fundamental requirements for their business operations: 

• Organization

• Communication

• Tools to Scale

Organization

Running a commercial cleaning business can be chaotic, especially when managing field teams that often work off hours and at multiple locations. This can lead to a BIG challenge if it isn’t appropriately managed and organized. Technology for scheduling, time tracking, and payroll reporting is critical to stay organized and developing efficiency in a business.     

Communication

Using technology to facilitate and streamline communication is a top priority for women business owners in our industry. The value and importance of this rank high on the list of requirements for a good reason. Managing a field team of any size without a way to clearly communicate will result in time-consuming errors and costly oversights.

Tools to Scale 

The women we work with regularly are in it to WIN it.  They are looking to build successful businesses. They have a plan and know how important technology is to scale their operations. They want to build processes and workflows that can easily be incorporated into the system.

Commercial cleaning companies have been slower to adopt digitization and incorporate technology into their operations.  It has held many of them back from realizing their potential.  When we think about our mission at Swept, (to be the most loved Janitorial Software in the industry), we envision a future where Janitorial Operators are free from the day-to-day tasks that prevent them from reaching their potential. We see wildly successful businesses powered by technology, which is changing the way commercial cleaning companies operate. Today we celebrate the women in our industry who are using technology to build strong and competitive businesses and are changing the way janitorial businesses grow. 

International Women’s Day (IWD) is the day we celebrate the achievements of women globally. This year’s official IWD 2023 theme is #EmbraceEquity. This theme aims to spark conversation about how we can come closer to a world free of bias, stereotyping, and discrimination. At Swept we are proud to #EmbraceEquity and are committed to continuing to celebrate our team’s and our customers’ achievements. To celebrate them, we spoke to some of our incredible female customers and heard about their experiences and lessons from the janitorial industry.

Check it out here: