My Advice to You
With education and experience on
their sides, both managers have advice for
other custodial managers trying to get the
job done and satisfy customers.
In terms of getting the job done,
Wormwood suggests having a good sense
of custodial staffi ng standards: "I'm a
fi rm believer that using APPA custodial
standards to design housekeeping assignments for maximum efficiency. If
you don't have an assignment that is well
designed and adhere to it, then housekeepers create their own work flow, and
that doesn't always equate to doing a
really good job."
Wormwood also recommends investing in your staff by hiring capable, energetic people. "Often, these folks have not
done housekeeping before, so training is
important," he observes. "If we don't provide training, they'll clean the way they
52
know, and that's not always the best
way in that it makes it difficult to
provide excellent customer service."
Gowe suggests always trying to go
above and beyond. "It's hard to please
everyone," he notes, "but never,
never, never give up." Similarly, it's
about dedication. "This is not a 7:00
A.M. to 3:30 P.M. job for management,"
he says. "It's a seven-day-a-week,
365-day-a-year job."
In terms of satisfying customers,
Wormwood advocates developing
relationships with building managers.
"We're depending on people telling us
what to do," he says, "so we have to invest
in our customers." He similarly stresses
communication. "If customer service
recovery is required," he says, "we need
to communicate quickly and effectively."
That includes taking responsibility for the
service and placing the responsibility on
COLLEGE PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / MARCH 2013
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CUSTODIAL STANDARDS: FROM BETTER TO BEST
the front-line staff.
Gowe indicates that your staff is your
best defense for satisfying customers.
"The most important advice I can share is
that you win with people," he says. "You
can have all the greatest plans and equipment but, if you don't have the people,
you're not going to get the job done."
Spoken like a winner — an award winner, that is. CPM
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