Facility Cleaning Managers Advocate for Departments

Key Takeaways:
• Cleaning managers must align janitorial operations with broader organizational goals.
• To secure critical resources, commercial cleaning leaders need to track and share data-driven key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Jan/san professionals can maintain operational visibility by documenting workloads and innovation return on investment (ROI) continuously.

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Commercial cleaning is essential. Those who didn’t fully understand that certainly learned it during the pandemic. Yet even with greater awareness of the role cleaning plays in health, safety, and occupant experience, cleaning teams are often overlooked or ignored—and the departments remain among the first areas targeted when budgets get scrutinized.

That reality raises an important question: How can a facility cleaning manager demonstrate the value of the department, its frontline employees, and the work they perform every day? More importantly, how can that demonstrated value translate into the resources needed to succeed—from competitive wages and staffing to equipment, training, and professional development?

Those questions sparked the angle of this month’s cover story, which examines why investing in a well-funded, high-performing cleaning department is essential. The goal is to make a compelling case for treating cleaning as a strategic function rather than simply a cost center, but I was surprised to learn that many managers are missing the mark.

During challenging times, most managers simply request more employees, equipment, or funding without substantiating the request. A more effective way for cleaning managers to advocate for these resources is to connect cleaning operations to organizational goals. Outline how those investments support safety, occupant satisfaction, sustainability, asset preservation, and operational efficiency.

Supplying supporting data will strengthen that case even more. However, metrics such as cost per square foot, inspection scores, complaints, response times, overtime, turnover, and other outcome-based measures are often omitted because of their negative perception. But managers I speak with find success sharing this type of information because it can reveal both the department’s performance and its resource needs.

That data won’t help managers if it’s not properly documented, which is a step that I was surprised to learn is often excluded. Rather than absorbing additional work without recognition, documenting out-of-scope services can help leadership understand the department’s true workload. Cleaning managers should define service expectations, cleaning frequencies, workloads, and productivity standards to demonstrate how staffing levels are determined and what happens when resources fall short.

The same approach applies to technology and innovation. Pilot programs and measurable before-and-after results can demonstrate whether new equipment or processes improve productivity, quality, safety, or long-term costs.

Ultimately, cleaning managers need to keep their departments visible throughout the year. By consistently documenting results, communicating accomplishments, and connecting cleaning performance to organizational objectives, cleaning managers can help leadership see cleaning for what it is: an investment in the people, places, and operations that make an organization successful.

Corinne Zudonyi has been in the commercial cleaning industry for over 20 years and is proud to serve as Editor-In-Chief of Contracting Profits (the official publication of BSCAI), Facility Cleaning Decisions, and Sanitary Maintenance (the North American media partner of Interclean Amsterdam) magazines, publications that serve the professional cleaning industry. Additionally, Corinne manages CleanLink.com, the leading digital resource for the commercial cleaning industry, and she uses her industry knowledge to steer educational topics for Clean Buildings at NFMT East.
Corinne is the sole U.S. representative to serve on the international Interclean Amsterdam Innovation Jury, where she weighs in on product trends impacting commercial cleaning on a global scale. She also works closely with Healthy Green Schools & Colleges to advance healthy and sustainable cleaning in educational facilities. As a member of the CLEAN Awards Jury, through the Building Service Contractors Association International, Corinne also helps recognize cleaning contractors and their companies for outstanding service to the industry.
Corinne can commonly be found moderating industry panel discussions, presenting education, and focusing on bringing awareness and affirmation for the wonderful work that people do to keep facilities clean and building occupants safe and healthy.
Follow Corinne on LinkedIn here.