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Although it may not seem like something you’d consider yourself, hiring an in-house office cleaning service is not as rare as you may initially think – and as more businesses twig on to the benefits of a clean and tidy workplace, the instances of in-house hiring climb higher and higher. 

But is this really the most efficient way to keep your office tidy, or is the answer – like with so many services these days – to outsource cleaning duties to an outside contractor? As the North West’s only cleaning contractors with a 100% reliability guarantee, we can’t help but argue the case for outsourced cleaning – and we’ve put together five (very good) reasons why this is the case:

• Time is Money

When a staff member falls ill, they’re legally entitled to a paid day off – or as is the case in our tech-savvy world, they’re able to work remotely. For in-house cleaners, however, there’s no opportunity to work from their bed, and instead companies have to fork out to outsourcing agencies to replace them for the days they can’t make it in. Instantly, you’ll be paying for two lots of time: the regular salary of your in-house cleaner, and their part-time replacement’s fee. Unfortunately, there’s little room for manoeuvring in these circumstances.

• An Expensive Myth

As we discussed in an earlier blog, the persistent myth that hiring a contract cleaner is a costly effort isn’t at all true – and it’s the perceived savings that often lead business owners to hiring in-house as the cost is assumed to be lower. Merco, however, is happy to dispel those rumours – and we have the fantastic feedback and water-tight testimonials to support it!

• Not Hired to Clean

For some businesses – especially startups and those focusing on immediate growth – the need to keep costs down has led to employees pitching in to keep the office tidy. Although this is a great team effort, there are many downsides to this strategy. For starters, these employees haven’t been hired to clean and don’t expect to tidy when there’s more pressing work to be done. Productivity and pride aside, they also simply don’t have the training to bring an office space up to the high standard of cleanliness you could expect from a professional contract cleaner.

• Flexibility is King

Realistically, not every business requires an in-house cleaner to be on duty all of the time, but it’s difficult to negotiate such flexibility when they’re tied into a contract – even though flexibility is what you really need. With a contract cleaning team at your disposal, you only have to engage them when it’s necessary, leading to great savings and a service tailored to your business.

• Keeping it to the Bare Necessities

Although we’ve talked about costings, timeliness and the myth of expensive cleaners, it’s also important to acknowledge the elephant in the room: is an in-house cleaner really necessary? For a fraction of the price and at greater flexibility, it’s now possible to outsource your workplace cleaning to an individual or team of hard-working, dedicated contractors – all of whom have the support of auxiliary staff and a team of office-based managers and customer service experts. When you can so easily take up great service outside the organisation, why look to keep it in-house at all?

Interested in introducing a reliable, efficient and high-quality office cleaning regime to your workplace? Get in touch with Merco to discuss how our hard-working and dedicated team can help your business to thrive (without hiring in-house)!

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