National labor shortages in the cleaning, landscape, and maintenance sectors are predicted to extend well into the new year, partly exacerbated by fears of a COVID-19 resurgence this winter, resulting in lower quality outcomes and potential health and safety issues.
Predicted Labor Shortages Into 2022 Will Impact Cleaning Quality Outcomes and Bottom Lines
Recent data predicts a protracted national labor shortage impacting the cleaning, maintenance, and landscaping industries well into 2022.
Driving factors include fears of a COVID-19 resurgence combined with depressed wages and historical challenges with job satisfaction resulting from low mobility and the absence of quality training, safety, and access to updated equipment.
Additional data suggests a pending large-scale migration of industry workers away from current employers once pandemic fears subside and markets return to a semblance of normal.
Such a move would likely result in additional labor shortages and increased challenges with cleaning quality outcomes and facility health and safety issues due to a lack of qualified service workers.
Current trends underscore the severity of the issue, with some organizations offering large sign-on bonuses or resorting to reduced cleaning frequencies.
In a survey of economists, only 6 percent expected the shortages to end by the end of 2021, according to Bloomberg.
Data shows that layoffs and firings are low, indicating that employers may be forced to keep low quality workers for fear of having no workers at all.
A national employee survey reveals that twenty-seven percent of U.S. employees plan to leave their employer as the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, according to Eagle Hill, indicating that we haven’t seen the worst of this shortage yet.
Even Walt Disney World Resorts is having trouble attracting new labor and has resorted to offering housekeepers signing bonuses.
Some hospitality brands are considering decreasing the frequency of cleaning to compensate for shortages.
Cutting corners and reducing quality of cleaning and maintenance is certainly not the answer, especially amid concerns of a pandemic resurgence.
The Labor Shortage And 5 Reasons Outsourcing Cleaning Can Help
Challenges Facing Custodial and Maintenance Departments
In-house custodial departments have faced higher than average (between 200% and 400%) turnover rates for years, resulting in:
- Increased operation costs required to recruit and train new hires.
- Reduced cleaning quality due to a lack of new hire experience.
- A constant flow of facility occupant complaints due to low-quality cleaning outcomes, and;
- Low-quality occupant output as a result of increased illness and other health issues commonly found in poorly cleaned facilities.
Reasons commonly cited for the high turnover rate include:
- Minimal training.
- No incentives.
- Low-quality relationships with upper management.
- Better employment prospects elsewhere.
- Feeling undervalued, and;
- Low pay.
These issues have a real-world impact on repeat business and an organization's bottom line.
It doesn’t matter how good the service is or how wonderful the employees are, it’s how clean and fresh a hotel, restaurant, salon or office is that matters most for 92% of consumers when deciding if they will become a repeat customer.
In fact, 9 in 10 (91%) agree that they are more likely to have an overall negative opinion of an independent business if the public spaces (lounges, restrooms or lobbies) are not clean.
5 Reasons to Outsource Your Facilities' Cleaning Services
Outsourcing your facilities' cleaning requirements will address all of the challenges commonly faced by in-house departments by:
- Saving you time and money - There is no overhead associated with recruiting, training, incentivizing, or direct management.
- Providing experts - Franchised janitorial service providers are small business owners with years of experience, are backed up by a regional master franchise business, and have access to advanced training not typically available to custodial workers in smaller organizations.
- Providing state-of-the-art equipment - Outsourced cleaning service providers specialize in their industry and have access to advanced equipment, products, and technologies typically well outside of the budget of organizations with a different operational focus.
- Eliminating the need to deal with turnover - Successful outsourced cleaning service providers typically enjoy far lower turnover numbers than comparable in-house departments, and replacing and retraining are not the financial burden of the customer organization, and;
- Improving occupant satisfaction - Studies show employees prefer to work in a cleaner building and are more concerned with facility hygiene than ever before. Further studies have shown a direct correlation between high levels of facility hygiene and worker performance and job satisfaction--both of which contribute to better financial outlooks.
References & Resources
- How Janitorial Turnover Impacts Your Business
- Cleaning industry stats and trends for 2020
- U.S. BLS - Janitors and Building Cleaners
Takeaway
Industry labor shortages impacting the cleaning industry are predicted to last well into 2022 and likely increase once fears of a COVID resurgence abate.
Outsourcing now protects your facility, business, employees, and customers from the challenges facing organizations struggling to retain skilled custodial labor and maintain in-demand cleaning frequencies and quality outcomes.
Outsourcing is a proven method for quickly onboarding highly in-demand custodial and facilities maintenance services at a fraction of the cost of managing a similar service in-house.
If you would like more information regarding the effectiveness of high-performance infection prevention and control measures, or if you would like to schedule a free, no-obligation onsite assessment of your facility's custodial needs, contact us today for a free quote!
In Bakersfield, CA, call (661) 437-3253
In Fresno, CA, call (559) 206-1059
In Valencia CA, or Santa Clarita CA, call (661) 437-3253
In Palmdale, CA or Lancaster, CA, call (661) 371-4756
