CM/Spotlight: Training Sponsored by: Training Doesn’t Cost, IT PAYS By: Amanda Martini-Hughes, assistant editor Training is the only surefire way employees will learn how to do something correctly, so don’t write it off. I Amanda Martini-Hughes is the assistant editor of Cleaning & Maintenance Management magazine. A graduate from Siena College, she can be reached at AMartini-Hughes@ NTPMedia.com. Since join-ing the publication, Martini-Hughes has worked on numer-ous industry articles and is responsible for populating the industry’s only daily electronic newsletter, CM e-News Daily. Chat online: Facebook.com/ CMMOnline and Twitter.com/ CMeNewsDaily. for more info Visit www.cmmonline.com and type in search keyword: Education . For more information on related products, visit www.cmmonline.com , select SUPPLIER SEARCH from the main navigation bar, and enter keyword: Training . If you want something done right, do it yourself. But, more than likely, you don’t have the time or resources to personally do every little thing that needs to get done each day. And, unless you are superhuman — Flash Gordon or Wonder Woman, perhaps — chances are good that you have people working for you. How, then, can you ensure that every customer receives the level of quality they would get if you were handling each and every detail? This question can be answered with one simple word: Training. Training your employees — even if you think a task is a no-brainer — is the only way to guarantee a uniform system of cleaning and maintenance throughout the building or throughout multiple properties, if dealing with larger contracts. If training is such an important concept, why do many businesses and organizations forego it altogether? This can also be answered very simply: Cost. And, the perceived cost of training often out-weighs its true value. If you want the job done properly, you have to start by giving your employees the tools they need to consistently succeed. Not A Four Letter Word Training and continued education can be tedious and time-consuming; there is no way around this. Custodial and maintenance professionals, espe-cially those considered veterans, may be resistant to training, as they often feel they know how to do their job better than anyone else; after all, they have been doing it for years. But, if you want your staffs to invest their time in the places they maintain, the time must be invested in them to make sure they are prepared for every scenario that might come their way. A well-rounded staff member not only knows the ins and outs of the tasks they must perform each and every day, but they are also able to troubleshoot any unforeseen problems that might arise. The more your staffs can handle on their own, the less likely your customers are to complain about having to wait for an issue to be resolved, no matter how trivial it might seem to you. When cleaning and maintaining someone else’s place of business — be it a private office or a public building funded by taxpayers — what seems trivial and insignificant to you could be a very big deal for someone else. If your workers do not know how to handle these situations, the process to get something fixed becomes long and drawn out and can tarnish your reputation, something that you have carefully crafted over the years. For well-trained staffs, these situations are not problematic; for staffs that have not been trained because it was deemed “unnecessary” or “not worth the time,” they may be steps away from dis-ciplinary action, unemployment or a contributing factor to a contract loss. Making The Investment With all the things that could go wrong from the moment a staff member begins a job, lasting until well after that job has been completed, training is the only way to ensure the job gets done as if you were there to personally oversee every step. 12 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • August 2012
CMM – Archives August 2012: 12
