Questions To Ask Before You Hire An Office Cleaning Company

So you want to hire a janitorial service to keep your office building clean. Be sure to ask questions and be certain you know all about the company you choose to allow into your office. If the cleaning company does not have all of the right systems and precautions in place, you may find yourself in a major legal bind and with a less-than-clean workplace.

Does the janitor service carry workman's compensation and general liability insurance? It is not a legal requirement in Texas for employers to carry workman's comp and many cleaning companies do not. Should an accident occur, this puts the liability on your plate. Also, limits on coverage should be one million for both policies or at minimum $500,000. Another good policy for the company to have is a "non-company owned vehicle" rider. This covers you if there is an incident in the cleaning staff's vehicle on the way to your location. A surety bond is good as well, but many are not aware that it only pays out if there is a conviction of a crime which rarely happens in this industry.

Who is going to be doing the cleaning in your office? Does the cleaning company have their own staff to do the job or will they be using sub-contractors? Many cleaning services use sub-contractors to save money. In this case, they are not responsible for payroll taxes since they are not an actual employee. The Texas Workforce Commission and the IRS agree that anyone cleaning an office associated with your company should be an employee. And, any liability insurance that the cleaning company carries will not cover these sub-contractors again leaving you at risk.

Which additional services will you use from the cleaning company? Avoid lumping additional services like floor care and additional products like toilet tissue, hand towels, etc. in with the monthly cleaning price. Instead, ask for separate pricing on floor care, carpet cleaning and other services on an "as needed" basis. This puts you in control of your budget and keeps your monthly cost lower. Often, it looks like a better deal up front but many cleaning services will simply neglect to perform all the add-on services during the course of the year when no one is noticing. As for hand soap, trash can liners, toilet tissue etc, buy your own. The janitorial company is simply going to add 20% or more to the cost for the convenience of handling it for you.

Does the cleaning company do inspections? Find out of inspections are done and how often you can expect them. You should let them know that you will be expecting a visit from a supervisor at least once a month to discuss service and results of onsite inspections. Of the companies who advertise that they do inspections, many of them never follow through. Inspections should not be optional and if they fail to occur odds are that the cleaning company will not be doing quality work when servicing your office.

Finally, what is the pay scale of their cleaning staff? We all know what minimum wage help will bring us. It is said that "you get what you pay for" and often minimum wage workers will provide lack of quality cleaning and massive turnover. Neither of which will result in your satisfaction. Also inquire as to whether the cleaning company provides healthcare benefits to their full time staff. Most don't but doing so indicates a stronger commitment level to both low employee turnover and your satisfaction.

By simply asking a few questions up front, you can prevent dissatisfaction with the office cleaning service and problems that may occur in the long run. Protecting yourself and your business is a must when hiring a cleaning company to come into your office space.