Meet the team – Delivering top customer service

Next in our Meet the Team series is Julia, who has over 25 years of experience working as a cleaner and now heads up the Precision FM cleaning team at one of our managed sites in the East Midlands.

Here we find out more about her role, her passion for delivering top customer service, and why retirement is out of the question!

 How long have you worked for Precision FM?

I’ve worked as a cleaner for many years and am now the cleaning supervisor at a security manufacturing company in East Midlands. I have a long association with the company, having worked with them for over 25 years.  I went through the TUPE process, moving from one contractor to another over that time, but it was about five years ago that Precision FM took over the cleaning contract and I joined them.

Tell us a little more about your role

I’m one of four members of the cleaning team staff and I am the site supervisor, so I look after the team and ensure we are first and foremost providing a great service. My role also includes things like signing off holiday leave, arranging cover should anyone not be able to come in for example – all the day-to-day operational things. But due to the nature of the site, each day will often be very different.

Sounds interesting…in what way is it a different type of site to work on?

It’s a very unique site, and the nature of the business means everyone that works there needs to have the relevant security clearance. The vetting process is quite lengthy and we all have to sign the Official Secrets Act too.  Even with security clearance, there are still areas within the facility that are restricted.  This makes it tricky for us to bring in relief staff, so we tend to cover holiday and sickness between us, as we can’t just bring a temp in, for example.

Sometimes the nature of their work means we might not be able to access certain rooms in the building, but the team there are great, and they’ll let us know and we can work around them.

Can you describe what a typical day might look like?

Normally, I arrive at about two o’clock. I like to arrive before other members of the team and always start with a look around the building to see if there are any visitors on-site and whether the meeting rooms are being used.  I speak to our main point of contact on-site, to see if anything requires special attention.

Sometimes, the meetings will have required catering to be brought in, so I’ll find out what time we’ll be able to get into the room to clear it, get things washed and put away etc. But as we go around, the team all know us so we’ll chat with them to see how they are as well as cleaning as we go.

Unlike some sites, we are present when the staff are too, so if we are unable to get into a particular meeting room or office, we’ll make a note so that we can tackle it as soon as we are in the next day, to minimise any disruption.

You and your team have obviously built up a level of trust with the staff?

Oh absolutely. I’ve been there for such a long time, as have the majority of the other cleaners – we’re all familiar faces! Our newest team member, Katie, has been with us for about four years, and she only joined us as the previous cleaner had retired.

There’s a consistency with the whole team, we are like a family and we all help each other out. But, we also feel valued by the on-site team as well. They’ll give us little gifts to say thank you at Easter and at Christmas, they look after us because we look after them.

What’s it like to be part of the Precision FM team?

We are fairly self-sufficient, so we don’t need to speak to the Precision team much. But, we know that Louise (Operations Manager) is there at the end of the phone if we ever need her and, if there’s anything that I need to share with the rest of the team, then Louise will contact me and I’ll pass it on.  It’s great to be trusted to do our job effectively, but Precision also take the time to show they appreciate us – at Christmas, for example, we all received gift cards, which was a nice treat.

The valued role of cleaners came into focus during the pandemic, but did it change the way you worked?

Yes, it changed massively, partly because we had to wear masks and gloves. But, we received all the protective equipment that we needed – if I ordered something, we got it.  That’s the thing about Precision, when I or my team needs something, it is sorted really quickly.

We were here throughout the pandemic, even though a lot of staff were working from home. We came in regardless, to make sure that we kept the place clean. Everyone really stepped up to carry out extra COVID cleaning, and some of the girls even did extra hours just to keep everyone safe.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I love the site and I know it like the back of my hand! We even helped the business to move to their current location, so we moved in to clean when they were setting up in the new site. And there’s mutual respect – they know that I care about the company, the building, and all the staff that work there.

It’s a prestigious site and everything needs to be done just right, and I take real pride in the work that we do there. We don’t need prompting on what to do, we are proactive and get on and do it – because of this, we don’t get complaints. I’ve certainly got no intention of retiring, I’m not ready to hang up my boots just yet!

Click here to find out more about how our facilities management services cleaning team could help you with commercial cleaning, or call us on 0116 366 6508 to discuss your project in more detail.

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