Our economy over the last 30 years has been boom and bust. We are now booming, which means there are more jobs than people to fill them. During these times, an employer is at the mercy of the employ-ee, and so long as you have a body on the job, you try to make the best of a bad situation. If the organization hiring custodial staffs is paying them a fair salary, the likelihood of them remaining with the employer is better. It is a well-known fact that contract cleaners do not pay custodi-ans a fair salary or provide good benefits and, consequently, their turnover is that much higher. Although our custodians are paid a fair salary and have excel-lent benefits, I continue to experience a higher turnover when the boom comes. When the boom is over, employees know that they have nowhere to go, so they stay. Working as a custodian has a certain negative stigma attached to it by the public, so it is not a favored profession for a lot of people. This, in and of itself, reduces the number of applicants and the quality of the applicants. Cleaning staffs are largely composed of various ethnic groups new to the country and deficient in the English language. These individuals are excellent people but, in time, leave their jobs as cleaners for something they are more interested in. The only way we can improve the image of the custodian in our society is to pay them more and staff the buildings with enough of them so the buildings are always clean. Many of our hospitals and schools are dirty because of insuf-ficient staffing. Staff reductions in these institutions have forced workers to do more with less, and due to this, the cleanliness of the facilities has suffered. When cleanliness of a facility suffers, staff morale is poor and maintenance costs rise. A good custodial team reduces maintenance costs because the building occupants have a greater compulsion to take care of their clean, healthy and safe facility more so than one that is dingy. -Jack Salloum, custodial coordinator at Black Gold Regional Schools. CM Choose 1 Product with 9 Uses! 1. Cleans 2. Degreases 3. Disinfects against viruses in 30 seconds 4. Disinfects against bacteria in 45 seconds 5. Sanitizes in 10 seconds 6. Kills fungus in 3 minutes 7. Deodorizes 8. Controls mold & mildew 9. Removes stains For more information, visit our website at www.spraynine.com Get involved To access the CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management Online ™ bulletin board, go to www.CMMOnline.com/Community and comment on an existing string or begin a new discussion. CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management Online ™ viewers as well as CM/ Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® magazine readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor on topics of interest to the professional cleaning and maintenance industry. Send letters to the editor to [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/spraynine Spray Nine is a TM of Illinois Tool Works Inc. Copyright © 2012. Permatex, an ITW company. All rights reserved. 1201-005 Product Information no. 206 on page 24 www.cmmonline.com 7
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