Reduce Employee Turnover through Proper Training

Cleaning business owners, no matter where they may call home, have something in common, and that's high employee turnover. The cleaning industry is legendary for it and as competition for employee's increases, so will its turnover rates. But there is hope and that hope comes in the form of training.

However, there is a common misconception when it comes to training employees. Many small business owners fear that extensive and ongoing training is expensive and time consuming, and thus, training is a fruitless endeavor since most employees will end up leaving the organization soon anyway, so why waste the time and money.

Reduce Employee Turnover through Proper Training

Training Employees Properly Can Reduce Turnover

Providing the proper training for your employees can actually have the opposite effect as the misconception stated above. Training can not only reduce the chances of employees leaving, but provide them with job satisfaction, which breads motivation and increases productivity. What this boils down to is improved employee retention.

So what makes employees perform at their peak while on the job? It is dependent upon many different factors, but among them; two stand out above the rest. They are the employee's general attitude and their job-specific skills. To reduce employee turnover, it is vital that an employer look at both of these characteristics and do what can be done to improve upon them. Happy and well trained employees will be in it for the long haul.

Consider the following; the standard rate of turnover within the cleaning industry is commonly within the range of 200 and 300%. Yikes! Not to mention the cost of trying to replace them! Obviously, this is a disturbing number for any cleaning business, big or small, and creates quite the struggle for the employer who is trying to run a successful business on limited resources. So how can an employer alleviate this situation?

When it comes to creating the “superior cleaning crew”, skill sets and positive attitudes rule!

Once hired, it becomes the organization's responsibility to provide that individual with the training and job-specific skills they will require to perform their job properly and efficiently. They also should possess the right attitude, valuing punctuality, teamwork, dependability, and friendliness.

Hiring for attitude and training for skills is the mantra of any cleaning business that aims to reduce employee turnover. Investing in quality training programs and producing a well-trained cleaning crew, will benefit the employer by reduced turnover, but will generate heightened productivity. After all, the company goal is to increase the performance and job skills of the employees while reducing turnover.

Best of all, a well-trained cleaning crew is much more likely to be motivated and content while performing their job duties. When an employee knows precisely what he or she is supposed to do and how to do it, there is a sense of belonging, purpose, and achievement, which is often lacking when there are insufficient or scarce training programs involved.

Employees want to feel as though they are contributing to the success of the organization. The more significant they feel, the more inspired they will become. And this can be accomplished by training employees' to be successful from day one. Most people have the inner yearning to expand upon their knowledge and skill level and continuous employee training programs can do just that.

Training, Programs, and Company Organization

The supported training for cleaning technician skills can range from customer support, safety, general cleaning techniques such as office cleaning, and specialty programs like hard floor and carpet care, ceramic tile, and window washing to name just a few.

Additional or advanced training programs for employees that show initiative and supervisory talents can include areas such as business skills, HR compliance, leadership and management, and marketing.

Cleaning business owners should go about their employees training like they go about their business; organized and professional.

Training should include a training instructional guide that can be used before the training sessions begin. Use it for preparation instructions and to set the agenda for the trainer. Guides can included such things as a checklist, preparing the training room, quiz and answer sheets, and evaluation forms to evaluate the impact of the training. Training attendance forms and training logs should also be part of the entire training processes. 

The more organized and consistent you are with the entire training process, the more efficient the training sessions will become, and less time will be wasted by your company, trainers, and employees alike. In today's rough and tumble cleaning industry, it is imperative that employee training and development become part of the company's overall standard practices and strategy.

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