It is no small thing to say that we’re living in a changed world. The labor market is the toughest it has ever been. The demand on any and all supply chains is through the roof. And the threat of having to shut down again is ever looming over all our heads.

Because of these things your budget might be out of control. You’ve had to raise entry level position wages to all-time highs just to get people in the door and material is more expensive than it has ever been. The pressure is on to run a tight ship. And because of that, we know that janitorial is the last thing you want to worry about.

But, unfortunately, with the price of labor rising, and with the shortage of potential workers in the potential labor market, the cost and price of janitorial is changing. So whether you use an out-sourced vendor or an in-house team, the tips below will help you save money on your janitorial spend.

It is first important to outline the primary responsibilities of janitors. If janitors are performing tasks inside your facility that isn’t included in the below scope of work, maybe you want to ask the vendor to rebid the work excluding the extra work they are performing. Thus getting a cheaper price. These are the essential primary duties of janitors.

  1. Cleaning/dusting/wiping surfaces (often offices inside facility).
  2. Sweeping/mopping/vacuuming floors.
  3. Emptying and removing trash.
  4. Cleaning restrooms.
  5. Cleaning break areas.

The industry secret to saving money on janitorial.

The only real way to save money on janitorial is to reduce the man hours. See this article about the man hours calculation.

Ultimately, the fewer hours a janitorial company is ‘working’ in your facility, the less money you must pay them. But to cut out man-hours but keep the same level of cleanliness in your facility, someone is going to have to do the work. See below how you can reduce the amount of work done in your facility.

  1. Cleaning, mopping, and wiping surface – these types of procedures are often done in the office portion of a manufacturing facility, so firstly, you could reduce the frequency with which a janitorial company cleans these types of spaces. How bad can those office spaces get if they are only cleaned 3 times per week? Disclaimer: We understand that some factory that work with certain products must have their office spaces cleaned daily.

The facility could also provide cleaning supplies to their employees with the instructions to clean their own spaces if they want their spaces cleaned more frequently. This could also be the case with sweeping, mopping.

  1. Trash Collection – this moves us onto our next point. You could organize a central trash collection system. The individual employees from each office would bring their individual trash to the large trash unit. The janitorial company or someone else would only have to dispose of the larger trash unit, rather than going from office to office collecting and disposing of the contents of individual trash cans.
  2. Restrooms – an easy fix would be to install hand dryers and large toilet paper rolls. A time-consuming element of daily janitorial work is changing out consumables in restrooms. By eliminating this element, you could reduce the man-hours it would take to clean. By doing this also, you would save money on supplies as you would not be purchasing paper towels any longer.
  3. Break Areas – Provide wipes and ask team members to clean their own eating spaces after they have finished. You may not want to do this for morale sake, but this is another option.

 

Others.

Outsource Certain Functions of Your Operation to a Janitorial Company.

This is an interesting one when all the cost is calculated. For instance, it is cheaper to have an outsourced employee in your facility than a team member who is on your own payroll. Benefits and payroll taxes, and wages overall, make keeping an employee on your payroll more expensive. So instead of having an employee of yours ride a floor scrubber for 8 hours – outsource that function to a janitorial company and use that employee to a more productive means.

Consumables and Supplies.

This may be a smaller portion of the price of your janitorial budget, but you may want to think about outsourcing your janitorial supplies needs. Janitorial vendors often have cheaper rates on these supplies and could save you money on your consumable spend.

If you’re living in a time where every penny counts, some lower MRO priorities may be where you can find extra savings for your overall budget.