I am writing this with the assumption that you already have a formal training program for both new employees and existing employees. Many of us, myself included, will develop a training program and feel so good about our accomplishment that we never go back to see if it is still the way we want to be performing our service.
Let me suggest that you today begin the process of assuring you are teaching what you want taught. Try this process,
1. Sit in on a training class being conducted for your new employees. Take notes. Is the trainer following the prescribed lesson plan or have they strayed from the original message? It is natural to stray somewhat so don't be to hard on them if they have, unless they have completely strayed from the message.
2. Take a couple of evenings and days (if you have day crews) to visit several sites to observe how the cleaning is being done. Does it match up with the formal prescribed program? Take notes of any variances. Here is something important to ask the employees in the field. What training do you wish we had given initially that you needed when you got on the job? This is an important one. We may know cleaning but it is also possible we forgot to include something very important that would have made life a lot easier on everyone had we included it in the initial orientation and training. Take good notes here because the landscape continues to change rapidly and if your training program is a few years old it may not include some very vital steps in the cleaning or customer relations process. By the way, doing these visits is a great time to inspect your equipment and your closets to see if they conform to your standards. I suspect you will possibly have some challenges in this area. The visit also serves as a great checkup on how well the supervisor is performing. If you are a supervisor, take heed and get everything in order. It should be there whether a visit is coming or not.
3. Conduct a working session with Human Resources, Operations, and the trainers to review you findings. This should not be a "gotcha" session but rather a workshop to refine and update the training so it conforms to what you want and your sales department is telling the customer is happening in your training process. Take this opportunity to review how you are delivering the training in the first place. Be sure to place a timetable on when your new updated training program will be in place so it doesn't just drag on. This is important and should be treated as such in your scheduling. If you haven't already done so, perhaps this is the time to develop follow up training using the internet with
---Pod casts on the various subjects in more detail with raises or prizes etc. for completion of various training subjects.
---Follow up training done on iphones or tablets that the supervisors carry. You can download a number of subjects that are the ones most often overlooked or done incorrectly such as restroom training. Track your complaints, if you get any, and then develop short training videos on those subjects and be sure supervisors have them on there tablets or iphones.
--- If you use telephone timekeeping, create short messages that employees need to listen to before they can clock in. These can be short reminders like explaining the first task to be done when cleaning a restroom etc.
4. Schedule sessions for ALL of your employees to attend a "refresher" training class. Pay them to attend and include any new processes you have developed in item 3 above. I insisted on an every 6 month renewal or refresher class of everyone in the company. It really kept us on our toes to be sure we were doing what was supposed to be done and doing it the correct way.
With the rapidly changing cleaning landscape and the numerous new great products coming onto the market, I consider it critical that the professional BSC constantly be reviewing and updating their training program if they want to be the leader in their market. I realize that you still have to dump the trash and vacuum the carpet but we all know that new innovations have shown us how to do it better AND faster. Keeping up with the new ways may just allow you to present a proposal that gets that new large contract because your training program leads the way in innovation.
By the way, many of you may already be taking advantage of the innovations for safety while driving. Some companies, like Sprint, have systems that will automatically turn off the outside phone and texting capabilities of your employees phone as soon as the vehicle engine starts. With all of the accidents these days attributed to these distractions, it seems prudent to at least investigate how the systems work. I don't believe any company would welcome a lawsuit over an accident caused by one of their employees texting etc. while driving the company vehicle. I am told that this feature can be added for as little as $5 per month per phone. I suggest you investigate for yourself this feature and the cost. It might just save a life or two. If you find features like this, how about sharing with others that read this weekly message. We would all appreciate it.
One last thing. I can't let a training blog session go by without reminding everyone that "on the job" training is a recipe for "on the job failure". Hiring someone and then sending them out to work with an "experienced" long time employee who has probably picked up several bad habits in cleaning is not the path to a successful training program. You need a program that is formal and is updated on a regular basis. Now I feel better, I have told you my pet peeve.
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Till next time.
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