After a challenging 18 months it would seem that the challenges are not over yet with many industries suffering with staff shortages and that includes the cleaning sector. Pre Brexit, there were concerns across the sector that there would be a shortfall in staff as historically UK Nationals have chosen not to join the sector…
With the worst of COVID-19 hopefully behind us, international travel soon to resume and furlough coming to an end in the coming months, employers particularly those within the hospitality and cleaning sectors are hiring again but the impact of COVID and Brexit is starting to be felt and is now a new challenge to be…
Business restrictive measures, HSE spot checks and inspections, social distancing and public concern all play a part in why it’s so important to ensure your premises are COVID-19 safe and thus this means that expectations of the cleaning sector are higher than ever. To maintain the highest level of customer confidence in USS and the…
Recruiting and retaining people has long been a challenge for both the hospitality and commercial cleaning sectors and as a professional cleaning company that has been providing cleaning services to the hospitality sector for over 25 years, USS experience these challenges too. Both sectors face a number of misconceptions, such as low pay, unsociable hours…
Recruiting for the cleaning industry has always been more challenging than for most other industries for reasons we all know well including low wages, unsociable hours, lone working and the image the industry has to name but a few and with the uncertainty that Brexit has caused and is still continuing to cause and the weakness of…
In the UK alone there are well over half a million outsourced cleaning operatives almost of whom are working outside of normal office hours at client sites and often alone. They may occasionally see area management but as a norm all communication e.g. pay queries, holiday requests etc. is handled by email or telephone so…
Government have recently decided to delay T-Level vocational courses until at least 2020 and a proposal for a Cleaning and Hygiene Operative NVQ Level 2 apprenticeship has also been rejected which means despite a huge challenge within the cleaning industry to close the skills gap, no training based route is available for young people within…
Training and education within the cleaning sector is vital to the continued development of the industry and with the rise of tablets and smartphones, training staff has never been easier, yet according to a recent report from the British Cleaning Council, the UK cleaning sector still has a poor perception amongst the general public and…
The clocks have gone back and weather forecasters are predicting the coldest UK winter in 10 years, we have already seen temperatures plummet this week and at this time of year we are always warned about the dangers of flu. In 2017, GP’s saw a major rise in patients suffering from flu-like symptoms and not…
In April 2017, the government introduced the Apprenticeship levy meaning that many businesses within the cleaning industry who are required to pay the levy now have a dedicated budget for the training and development of their staff. The levy enables companies to invest in workforce development and allows for best practice of management techniques and…