Cleaning and beaming: Our approach to staff wellness

There are loads of generalisations about those who undertake cleaning work. You may have heard that cleaning is only a job for women, that cleaners don’t require training, or that cleaners don’t care about the job they do.

Precision FM is proud to prove these stereotypes as simply – in our organisation at least – unsubstantiated. We know that our cleaning teams have a valued role, not just within our business but within the places they work too. We also place a high degree of importance on their physical and mental well-being and invest in ongoing training and development.

We were delighted to receive the Commitment to People Development award at the East Midlands Chamber of Commerce Business Awards in December 2021 and although it was great to receive this award, we don’t rest on our laurels.

As our CEO, Brij Thankey, always says: always try to be better today than you were yesterday. This continual evolution sees us implement our core company values every day: passion, promoting positive well-being, and continued personal development.

Passion.

We believe that everyone at Precision FM should be passionate about their work. Now, let’s not pretend otherwise: we know that there are tasks in cleaning which aren’t necessarily glamorous. We’d be hard pushed to say that anyone really enjoys scrubbing a toilet, for example!

What we can do is ensure that those who perform that task are recognised for the vital job they do. Praise, pay rises, promotion, employee of the month programs – there are many ways to show appreciation.

Brij continues: “Our aim has always been to be seen as the FM provider of choice with exceptional people, delivering exceptional customer service. We pride ourselves on being able to offer our highly engaged workforce an abundance of opportunities to display their passion and positivity for the company and achieve strong personal growth.”

People are more ardent in their jobs when they feel it’s tied to a bigger purpose. We remind our cleaning teams that although the individual tasks may seem arbitrary at times, there is a company or a person helped by their dedication and hard work.

Richard Theobald, our Operations Director, says: “When people are passionate about the job they do the benefits can be felt not just by the individual, but by our clients too. We know that by giving people the opportunity, you get the best out of them.

“We help our teams to develop, provide them with opportunities, and create a desire to achieve. They are able to showcase their true talents and skills and this willingness has created formidable employee loyalty.

“I like to make sure that managers visit the sites where our cleaners work so that we have an idea of what they’re doing, our open team structure allows us to deal promptly with any issues and support our teams to take advantage of the opportunities we secure.”

Well-being.

Our organisation positively engages with and advocates for the mental well-being of all its people. The company has an online resource system, the Healing Hub, which offers many resources for addressing anxiety and pressure. We also proactively champion the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) programme, which ensures managers are correctly prepared to handle mental health issues at work.

Frequent staff appraisals and check-ins are imperative, says Richard: “We like to make sure we catch up with all our staff to make sure they’re happy in what they’re doing. While development needs are discussed and assessed formally during appraisal and supervision, we do not wait for a date in the diary to talk with our staff if they have any concerns.

“Never was this more apparent than during the pandemic. Our building was closed temporarily, some of our clients’ buildings were closed, but all our staff remained on full pay. No one was made redundant nor furloughed and we redesigned some roles and responsibilities and stayed open for business. We felt – and still feel – a great responsibility for our staffing family.”

Personal Development.

We place a great deal of importance on the value that our different team members bring to their roles. Certainly, the last thing we would want is some jobs within FM being viewed as less important or low-skilled. We go some way to combat this by investing time and money into Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for all our staff.

In essence, this means that we believe that all our professionals should engage in continued learning to develop their skills and abilities further and it should always be an ongoing process.

With CPD, Precision FM can guarantee that learning is pursued in a focused, organised, relevant and practical way to maximise its effectiveness.

Whilst many of our team will have specific mandatory training requirements due to safety and other legislative requirements needed for their job, we also have an allocation of up to £400 per person to improve skills. This is available for any training (including non-work related) and all employees apply through their line manager.

Richard believes that CPD should be at the nucleus of every business: “People don’t want to feel they’ve stopped learning because no one wants to remain static. We want our staff to know that they’re on a progression towards not just being better at their job but being better trained and knowledgeable in all aspects of their role, or for a role they might wish to take up in the future.

“We never underestimate our team members’ willingness to learn new skills and about new technology. People often can’t wait to learn a new approach or how to use a new device because it’ll make their job easier and deliver benefits for our customers. Everyone at Precision FM should always be learning and improving, and this runs from top to bottom within the business.”

When choosing a Facilities Management company whose cleaning teams’ well-being and training are valued, consider Precision FM. We’d be glad to answer any questions you have about how we do business or perhaps you’d like to speak to us about working together, please do get in touch with the team.