At Blue Jay Cleaning, we are working to improve the lives of our cleaners in Tulsa and other locations through a multi-faceted approach.
Tulsa Cleaning Service Industry Demand.
We must mention industry demand before explaining the approaches we are launching and preparing.
Demand is going up. 6.6% industry growth has been seen year over year. We may see some stalls over the next couple years depending on the economies effect on households and businesses. But, the need for outsourcing domestic and office cleaning duties cannot be denied. Professional households with 2 income earners are our primary residential client. Many families find that after a long workday, kids’ practices, dinner and such, there is no time left for house cleaning. It really is that simple. For the cost of going out to a nice dinner, we can solve a problem and deliver our clients peace of mind all while they are at work.
As the cleaning demand from busy households rises, the workforce declines.
Willing workers going down. The number of qualified applicants who are wanting to do skilled and labor-intensive jobs is declining.
Some reasons behind the sluggish workforce include:
- Lack of affordable childcare
- Societal shifts in work ethic
- No transportation, valid driver’s license, drug/background check issues
If childcare is in place, many staff do not have a support network available to help when a child is sick, summer break/school break takes place or a school professional day catches them off guard. Increased remote work positions have eaten away at part of the labor force in the cleaning industry
As a company, we want to be pushed to be better. We care deeply about staff who are willing to show up and service our communities. Although recruiting may be challenging, we are up for it and aim to be the best cleaning company in the nation one day.
What does this mean for the Tulsa cleaning industry?
- Wage increases: we must pay our cleaning technicians more. As a company, we have done a wage increase each year since Covid. In ever decision we make, we must consider the bottom line.
- Company culture & appreciation
- Safe place for open, professional communication
- Flexibility with family responsibilities
- Clear expectations
- Core Values
- Benefits. Benefits is a challenge for many employers who primarily staff part-time employees.
- Seeing cleaning as a trade and career vs. “anyone can do it”
- Recognizing professional cleaning is a skill
- Proper training needed
- Recognizing physical demands
What is Blue Jay working to improve for cleaners in Tulsa?
Cleaners in not just Tulsa, but our other locations as well, have seen a cultural shift.
We are working to celebrate the wins, and recognize individual effort, weed out dissatisfactory staff who bring down company moral and handle conflict in an investigative approach to find root problems and not blame and point fingers.
Birthday and holiday are also to be celebrated.
Better training is also in the works. We want our staff to feel confident in our client’s homes and know how to handle different surfaces, materials, etc. We are completely re-doing our training program.
Blue Jay has also brought in a supervisor to provide more staff support. Doing this has created much happier cleaning technicians.
When it comes to benefits, we have been researching helpful and creative perks that we can incorporate for 2023. Employees already get paid vacation, flexible shifts and an insurance option for full-time staff.