What a Higher Unemployment Rate Has to do With Cleaning

The Illinois seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, as of August 2020, reached 11 percent, up from 8.4 percent a year ago. Typically, when the unemployment rate reaches or surpasses 10 percent, whether in Illinois or across the country, it indicates a recession is currently or about to occur.

Unemployment rates this high can have a significant impact on the professional cleaning industry, and it is this impact that businesses and facility managers should be aware of.  

Lots of unemployed people have families, and they must look for other ways to “bring home the bacon” as quickly as possible. Many soon find one of the quickest and easiest ways to do this is to start a cleaning service. 

After all, everyone knows how to clean, right?  

All it takes is the home vacuum cleaner, buying some grocery store all-purpose cleaner, and you’re in business, right? 

And while cleaning work is usually performed at night or on the weekends, that’s easy to get used to, again, right?

The answer to all these questions is no. To understand the reasons, let’s take a closer look at each one of them:

Cleaning, or should we say professional cleaning, is a skill. Today, many professional cleaners are trained and certified in cleaning “best practices” by organizations such as ISSA, the worldwide cleaning association.  

Best practices means they have been taught how to perform their cleaning duties in the most effective and cost-effective ways possible. These procedures have been tested, evaluated, and proven to produce superior cleaning results. At the same time, best practices improves worker productivity – which helps lower cleaning costs – and promotes safety.  

Further, ISSA and green certification organizations such as Green Seal®, have special training and certification programs focusing entirely on green cleaning. Green cleaning is far more than just using cleaning chemicals, tools, and equipment that have a reduced impact on the environment. It also requires training on how to use these products properly, along with learning green cleaning processes and procedures.

Today, with the pandemic impacting our lives, our schools, and our businesses, are you really going to risk turning over your cleaning responsibilities to an inexperienced person? I will let you answer that question.

Virtually every year since 1975, when Secure Clean began, we have attended cleaning industry tradeshows. 

We attend these shows to see what new cleaning equipment and new cleaning technologies have been introduced. 

I must admit, for years things changed slowly. That is certainly not true today. 

Many of these new systems are robotic, requiring minimal worker attention, and many are designed specifically for infection control, to help stop the spread of infection.

What is happening today is that instead of the slow-paced evolution of yesteryear, equipment designed for the professional cleaning industry is being introduced so fast, it’s hard to keep up. So no, it takes much more than just a home vacuum cleaner to be a cleaning professional in the professional cleaning industry.

Virtually all of us have the same clock ticking away inside of us. When it hits 9 a.m., we are supposed to be at work. 5 p.m., we go home. Six to 10 p.m. its family time. After that, we go to sleep.

You would be surprised how difficult it can be to adjust to a swing, or worse, a graveyard work schedule, which is when many cleaning workers perform their duties. 

Further, many facilities must be cleaned on the weekend, which also requires some getting used to.

Many people cannot make the transition. Further, these odd work hours can upset family life considerably. In my experience, one of the key reasons people walk away from the cleaning industry, is because of these odd hours. 

This can prove very disrupting for a facility manager that hires someone new to the industry, only to learn they are going out of business a few months down the road. As a matter of fact, all the issues discussed here can result in problems for business owners and facility managers.   

Hopefully, the unemployment rate in Illinois and around the country will continue to go down, and more people are back at work. In the meantime, facility managers must do what is best for their building users when it comes to professional cleaning, and that is, hire a trained and experienced cleaning professional.