5 Ways to Navigate a Cleaning Hiring Shortage

Even though a cleaning hiring shortage affects all businesses alike, there are several ways you can navigate the situation to buffer the impact.

However, on the bright side, a cleaning hiring shortage doesn’t have to halt your business growth.

In fact, there are several ways in which your cleaning service business can continue to grow and thrive during the crisis.

Within this guide, you’ll discover the top 5 ways to navigate a cleaning hiring shortage.

For example, you’ll find out how to continue to grow and thrive by taking advantage of pro strategies like:

• Accommodating for higher labor costs with higher pricing
• Utilizing the best hiring strategies used by cleaning business owners
• Uncovering the best ways to keep top talent in your business for years to come

By the end of this guide, you’ll explore winning strategies like these (and MORE), so you can continue growing during a cleaning hiring shortage.

1. Grow Your Cleaning Service Business on Autopilot

By far, the best way to survive a cleaning hiring crisis is by using the best cleaning service software to save time and money while also streamlining everyday operations and putting it all on autopilot.

Plus, when you use the #1 cleaning service software, you’ll have the ability to take charge of your business again by freeing up your time for more important things with everyday task optimization.

By choosing Service Autopilot, your team has the ability to instantly complete tasks that previously took extra time to finish.

Dive into a world of optimized everyday operations such as:

• Instant invoicing
• Automatic routing
• Detailed reporting
• Same-day payments
• Estimates from anywhere

There’s no limit to the growth you can achieve and goals you can conquer with Service Autopilot.

Take advantage of software features like these and others to decrease workload while simultaneously increasing work capacity to navigate the cleaning hiring shortage.

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2. Raise Cleaning Pricing to Offset Rising Employment Expenses

Did you know, within the past year compensation has increased by 2.6%, wages and salaries have increased by 2.7%, and benefits have increased by 2.5%?

Due to the rising cost of employment, in order to conquer goals, it’s necessary to reevaluate cleaning pricing.

In other words, to offset rising employment expenses, you’ll have to raise cleaning prices on clients who aren’t meeting the new profit goals.

Take a look at this simple five-step process for increasing cleaning service prices:

1. Find your break-even point, then take profit goals into consideration.
2. Raise prices on unprofitable clients first.
3. Don’t raise prices during the selling season (helps prevent clients from leaving for the competition). Raise prices during the middle or end of your busy season.
4. Test the price increase on least profitable clients first, then slowly roll it out to everyone else once you’ve perfected the process.
5. Send a letter to clients explaining the price increase. Make sure to really sell them on it. After all, the increase ensures their continued high-quality cleaning services..

To make life simpler, use a great cleaning service software, such as Service Autopilot, to instantly pull the information you need, whenever you need it.

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3. Use the Best Cleaning Hiring Strategies

By using the best hiring strategies, you can better navigate the cleaning hiring shortage.

Attract the right employees using these three easy steps:

1. Create a professional image of your business using the best cleaning marketing strategies.
2. Focus efforts on creating effective, low-cost Facebook Ads to target specific neighborhoods.
3. Use local connections to network. Ask vendors, great existing employees, friends, and family for great talent recommendations. Also, consider starting an employee referral program to attract more top talent.

After attracting promising prospects, it’s time to begin the cleaning hiring interview process to ensure they’re the best fit for your cleaning service business.

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4. Make Cleaning Employee Retention a Priority

Since you now know how to hire the best cleaners, it's time to explore how to keep your best cleaners for many years to come.

One of the most effective ways to keep great employees is by properly compensating them.

In addition, not only does the right wage help keep the top talent you already have, but it helps to attract new talent as well.

Discover the perfect, competitive cleaning employee wage by following these steps:

1. Price your services right.
2. Know the average wages in the market.
3. Pay your cleaners well - usually payroll makes up about 15%-30% of gross sales.
4. Use incentivizations like bonuses for consecutive years worked annual pay raises to keep employees happy in the business.
5. Obey Overtime Laws.

Use this basic newfound understanding of cleaning hiring practices to attract, hire, and keep the top cleaners in the area.

Pro Tip! Other Ways to Keep Your Best Cleaners Happy

In addition to properly paying your cleaners, there are various other ways to keep your best cleaners happy.

Take a look at a few numerous other ways to motivate cleaners year round:

• Award gift cards “just because”
• Host monthly drawings for prizes
• Lay out a clear career path for them
• Provide end-of-year or seasonal bonuses
• Be an example to your cleaning employees
• Implement a commission program for new clients
• Provide a membership to a gym or warehouse club
• Privately and publicly acknowledge their accomplishments
• Address their mistakes and provide a path for improvement

While this is an excellent starting point of ideas for additional employee compensation programs, there are countless other ways you can keep top cleaners happy during a cleaning hiring crisis.

If you’re ever in doubt or stumped for ideas, it’s always best to directly ask employees what compensation plans they’d like to have implemented!

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5. Implement Commercial Robotic Vacuums into the Workforce

Even though commercial robotic vacuums may not be the right solution for all businesses during a cleaning hiring shortage, it just might work for your business.

If you work in commercial cleaning in commercial office spaces, and many of your jobs are regular maintenance cleanings, then professional robotic vacuums might be the solution you’ve been seeking.

For example, a commercial robotic vacuum might cut out the need for an additional cleaner if one cleaner is wiping surfaces while the commercial vacuum is cleaning the floors.

While some commercial robotic vacuums might have more limited vacuuming times and square footage capacities than others, it can still be used to help cleaner complete jobs more quickly.

Determine the number of commercial robotic vacuums you’d need based on the vacuum’s capacity and the amount of square footage you vacuum every day.

Depending on the number of commercial robotic vacuums you’d need, you can decide if this transition is right for you.

Continue Growing During a Cleaning Hiring Shortage

While it’s easy to become stressed and overcome with worry about the cleaning hiring shortage, this simple guide has given you everything needed to continue growing.

When you utilize these pro strategies, you can experience accomplishments like:

• Keep your best cleaning employees
• Hire and keep the top talent in the area
• Automate your cleaning business growth

Take back your business and thrive again by taking advantage of these effective strategies for navigating a cleaning hiring shortage!

Related: How to Hire Cleaning Employees for Your Business

Originally published Sept 23, 2021 7:00 AM