Using training to get the most out of staff

BICSc explains best practice for cleaning and the benefits of investing in staff training.

The UK is lucky to have 1.47 million people working in the cleaning industry. And with this number steadily growing and the amount of new cleaning businesses popping up regularly, now has never been a more important time to promote best practice when cleaning. With turnovers increasing in the industry, reinvesting in your staff and company is the best way to consistently achieve high standard cleans which in turn will help win new business.

But how should we reinvest?

Training is one of the greatest ways to reinvest, and having the chance to reinforce best practice will have significant improvements on your business. Proper knowledge when it comes to key areas such as health and safety, manual handling and safe dilution is important for an operative’s competence. Training investment should not be undervalued. The training an operative receives has the chance to improve your cleaning quality and may even help towards improving productivity.

So how can this be achieved? Start by investing in the correct staff training.

Cleaning standards

You should always train staff responsible for cleaning tasks. But if you have the budget, expand on this and train all of those employed so everyone knows the standard expected. Having your site supervisors and managers understand what it takes to complete a task and what the outcome of doing such a task should achieve will help to put everyone on a level of understanding.

Some would argue that in an industry such as the cleaning sector, where staff are always coming and going, with a low retention rate, what is the point of training? But this does not negate the fact that poor hygiene levels are off-putting to building and premises users. So, a change in perspective to look at how training will ultimately improve your business and its reputation for cleanliness, rather than the cost of training would prove wise.

If your staff have had training, can you say with confidence that they are fully trained? Do they understand the fundamentals of cleaning science? Do they know about the use of proper PPE and why it is important? And do they know how to effectively clean an area?

Choosing the right provider

Cleaning training can vary from training provider to training provider. Some teach only the basics and will demonstrate the training in the most generic ways.     Have your staff been shown how to effectively clean different area types correctly, using the latest methods?

If they haven’t, then you may want to reconsider not only who needs training within your workplace, but also, who trains your staff.

The next step is to look at who needs training to see what is available and what suits your staff best – whether it be face-to-face training or online training.

With BICSc training, you have the ability to start small and expand onto greater knowledge at your own pace. We have a variety of courses which can be taken face-to-face or online, so the choice is yours.

Start off by accessing our free courses on our Virtual Training Suite. There you can access a wealth of free content which you can enrol in at any time. Free courses consist of lessons in hand hygiene and explanations of the correct PPE to wear during cleaning tasks.

We also have important lessons on proper colour-coding when cleaning. Teaching the use of different coloured equipment for different area types and stopping the risks of cross-contamination by implementing such a system cannot be more highly recommended.

If you want to learn more about colour-coding, visit our web page dedicated to the topic.

You can also learn about it through another of our free courses, Understanding colour-coding, on our Virtual Training Suite.

In-depth training

Once you have trained your staff with our free courses, you will want to progress to our more in-depth courses and skills training.

Our courses cover topics such as cleaning science, health & safety, and cross-contamination – allowing your staff to build a good understanding of how to be safe when cleaning and how to protect customers by using the best cleaning methods. These courses are available to be taken online.

BICSc skills training covers a variety of tasks that an operative would face daily. For example, BU1 – Dust Control Mop Sweeping, looks at ensuring the cleaning of a floor in a controlled manner. Skills can be trained in person or online through our Virtual Training Suite.

So, take a look through our catalogue of courses and find the best training options for your staff.