CONTRACT CLEANING

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Contract Cleaning
Contract cleaning is a growing industry in India at
present.
In Europe it is a very big industry and nearly all
offices and airports are cleaned in this manner.
The contract cleaning business has developed so
much universally that hotels sometimes contract
out whole housekeeping department.

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DEFININING OUTSOURCING AND
CONTRACTS
Outsourcing is a conscious business decision to move
internal work to an external provider.
A contract can be defined as an agreement between
two parties negotiating a business deal.
Both these terms are now being used interchangeably.
However, while all outsourcing involves a contract, all
contracts are not necessarily related to outsourcing.
For instance, you can have internal staff (that is,
employees) on contract as well.
Some of the first processes to be outsourced in hotels
include janitorial, security, and catering services.
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WHEN ARE OUTSOURCED
SERVICES CONSIDERED?
The services of contract cleaners will be used in two
broad types of situation:
1. To carry out general accommodation and cleaning
services where management considers that the use of
a specialized company will be more economic,
management and staff do not have sufficient
expertise and/or it is preferably not to be responsible
for the day to day administration of this aspect of
their activities.

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WHEN ARE OUTSOURCED
SERVICES CONSIDERED? (Contd..)
2. To carry out specialized or periodic cleaning
tasks where specialized skills and equipment are
unavailable and it is uneconomical to teach staff
specialized skills or purchase specialized
equipment.

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Contract Services in housekeeping
Hotels may go in for the following types of outsourcing
contracts:
Complete cleaning programme, with all the work
and responsibility undertaken by the service provider.
Regular, selected cleaning within an establishment
to assist the existing housekeeping staff, for example,
the cleaning of public areas at night.
Periodic services to assist existing housekeeping
operations such as window cleaning, cleaning of walls
and ceilings, cleaning of carpets.
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Contract Services in housekeeping
(Contd..)
Hiring contracts with various rental firms for linen, equipment,
conference utilities, etc.
Leasing contracts for equipment, furniture, and
furnishings, which are drawn up for a given number of years.
For furniture and upholstery, these are usually written for a 5-7
year lease period; for soft furnishings, the lease is generally for 3
years.
The entire housekeeping operations of the property put out
on contract by a hotel, with the whole gamut of housekeeping
activities becoming the responsibility of the contractor.
Consultancy services, where a housekeeping expert visits the
hotel and guides the existing staff on achieving professional
standards.

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Contract Services in housekeeping
(Contd..)
The following are some areas of housekeeping where
services may be offered on contract basis;
Cleaning------deep cleaning, public area cleaning,
cleaning of hard to reach areas, polishing of different
surfaces, carpet and floor cleaning or full cleaning
services.
Linen hire-----entire hotel linen or specialized linen
like banqueting items.
Equipment and furniture hire.

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Contract Services in housekeeping
(Contd..)
Laundry-----complete or part.
Flower arrangements and decorations
Pest control
Horticulture and landscaping
Eco-friendly garbage disposal
Other services such as shoe-polishing machines,
guest amenities such as hangers, etc

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Hiring Contract Providers
These are the steps the management should follow once
they have decided to outsource a particular service for the
hotel:
Put out tenders to at least three contractors and compare quotes.
Check out their existing market credibility by contacting
previous/current clients.
It is very important to get reliable referrals from other hotels,
members of professional organizations or business associates.
Check references thoroughly and visit other job sites.
Check whether the contractor is registered and licensed under
The contract Labour Act 1970 of the Government of India.
Preferably select a contract provider with a local office.

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Hiring Contract Providers (Contd..)
Check on the degree to which the contract provider
undertakes supervision of the work.
Prepare detailed contract specifications, indicating the
exact number of working hours, areas of operations
and responsibility, processes to be used, frequency of
service, time-table, and any special projects.

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Hiring Contract Providers (Contd..)
Some guidelines a hotel can follow to make its
outsourcing contracts a success are provided below:
Greet the contracted workers when they arrive and review
the job parameters.
Visit the job site shortly after work has begun to ensure that
the hotels expectations are being met.
Give the project a spot-check and a rundown at completion
to review the contractors work and to ensure that
specifications are being met.
Keep equipment and supplies belonging to the hotel and
those belonging to the contractor separate.
Consider not paying in advance.

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Contract Specification
It is essential that the executive housekeeper provides the service
provider with a clearly defined and detailed specification of the
work to be done, how it is to be done, and so on.
It is from this that the service provider draws up the contract.
Contract specifications should be carefully worded and
should necessarily cover the following points:
The period or duration of the contract, date of signing the contract,
and a provision for regular review of the specifications.
The schedule of areas to be serviced and the frequency with which a
job is to be done.
This is important, as the level of cleanliness depends on the time lapse
between successive cleaning processes.
For example, horizontal surfaces may need daily dusting and vertical can
do with weekly.

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Contract Specification (Contd..)
A description of the method, equipment, and
materials required, as well as the hotels quality
expectations, including appropriate penalty and
cancellation clauses.
A provision for adequate supervision, listing the
hotels requirements specifically.
A provision for storage areas, lockers and perhaps
accommodations for the contracted staff.

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Contract Specification (Contd..)
Specified frequencies of inspection agreed upon with
the service provider.
The renumeration for the job, the terms and
conditions of payment, and a termination procedure.
Both parties should sign these contract
specifications.

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Pricing of contracts
The basis of payment for outsourced services may
include one or more of the following:
A management fee for consultancy services.
A unit rate agreement
A fixed period cost.
A cost for the job plus a percentage of profits.
A cost for the job plus a fixed fee.

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Unit Rate Agreements
Most contracts are agreed on a unit- rate basis. The executive
housekeeper provides details of the area to be covered and the
frequency of the job, and asks the service provider for the costs.
The contractor measures the area and calculates the cost thus
Man- hours = areas x time x frequency
For example, if a contracted firm has to clean five different areas,
taking two hours each, twice a week, then man-hours will be
calculated as:
Man-hours=5 x 2 x2hours
= 20 hours
To the cost of wages (for workers and supervisors), the firm adds
costs of equipment, agents, and supplies, plus over heads and
profits, and then quotes a price.
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Cost Plus Fixed Fee
Better than the above mode of pricing is one in which
the contractor is paid for the costs of the job and given
a fixed fee.
In this case, as there is no point in the contractors
cutting costs, as he has a guaranteed profit margin.
With the costs-plus-fixed fee type of contract, the
executive housekeeper specifies the staff, equipment,
and so on, to be employed.
The specifications should be the same as for in-house
labour and the housekeeper should compare the
contractors bid with her own in-house cleaning costs.

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Advantages of using contract
services
There is no capital outlay for equipment, so that
money is available for investment in other purposes.
(In most cases, the contractor provides all supplies and
equipment.)
Contracts alleviate the necessity of buying or hiring
specialized equipment.
The difficulty of finding, training, organizing, and
supervising staff is passed on to the service provider.
Good contract firms provide skilled labourers, well
trained in their area of expertise.
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Advantages of using contract
services (Contd..)
Extra work may be carried out at certain times without
increasing the basic staff.
Accurate budgeting can be done for a fixed period.
Contractors provide uniformed workers and take
responsibility for all their wages and benefits.
Contract services alleviate many of the problems
between the management and workers union.
Contract services can generally be terminated faster
and more easily than the services of regular employees,
while reducing the likelihood of employment claims
and lawsuits.
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Disadvantages of using contract
services
Contracting weakens the authority of the management
over the quality and loyalty of the staff.
Workers brought in by the contract providers are not
representatives of the hotel and may not have the requisite
skills for guest interactions, or the same pride in their work
or job satisfaction.
There is loss of flexibility in effecting changes, as the
housekeeper no longer controls the entire operations.
There is a natural tendency among contractors to use
cheaper products, which may be of poor quality and may
damage the building and its contents in the long term.
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Disadvantages of using contract
services (Contd..)
There may be poor supervision, with the standard of work falling
below par as a result.
Workers may not show up within the designated time frame.
There may be problems regarding security.
There may be problems regarding liaison and cooperation
between departments.
Contract cleaners may not meet the hotels standards of quality.
One of the reasons for this is the sudden growth of contract
cleaning firms, resulting in cut-price tenders being offered and
accepted which do not enable the contractors to employ a sufficient
number of employees of the right caliber to do the job properly.

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Work to be carried out daily
Offices
Dust and clean all furniture, fittings, window edges, radiators, clean and polish all metal work.
Vacuum carpets--- carry out any spot cleaning.
Corridors
Sweep, buff or spray clean.
Stairs
Damp-mop all steps and landings.
Clean metal handrails with a metal cleaner.
Lavatories
Remove all waste paper and litter.
Scour and disinfect lavatory bowls ---W.C. & urinals.
Damp wipe tiled surfaces and window ledges, cisterns, fittings.
Damp wipe mirrors and pipes.
Damp mop floors.
Replace toilet rolls, soap dispensers, towels.
Clean hand basins and taps.
Waste paper
Empty all waste paper baskets in bins as directed, (all waste paper must be retained for 24 hours before destruction), clean and
replace linings.
Ashtrays
Empty, damp wipe and/or polish.
Work to be carried out weekly
Offices
Damp wipe all glass fittings, skirting, etc.
Corridors
Sweep and spray -clean floors. Damp wipe all skirting, glass fittings.
Lavatories
As daily operation, but a very thorough and complete clean in every respect.
Work to be carried out periodically (as arranged)
Offices
Damp wipe venetian blinds, electric light fittings.
Spot clean and shampoo carpets.
Spot clean and shampoo upholstered chairs.
Corridors
Strip off old wax and replace with 2 coats of emulsion wax.
Windows
Clean thoroughly inside and out

An example of a cleaning contract specification at office building

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