Mary Kimali Luhende
Defining the Concept and Creating the Training Materials for
Commercial Cleaning and Hygiene for the Fine Dining Segment
Metropolia University of Applied Sciences Master’s Degree
Degree Programme in Business Informatics Master’s Thesis
25 May 2022
Author Title
Number of Pages Date
Mary Kimali Luhende
Defining the Concept and Creating the Training Materials for Commercial Cleaning and Hygiene for the Fine Dining Segment 84 pages
25 May 2022
Degree Master of Business Administration Degree Programme Business Informatics
Instructor Zinaida Grabovskaia, PhL, Senior Lecturer
The objective of this study is to define the concept for commercial cleaning and create the training materials for commercial cleaning and hygiene for the fine dining restaurant segment. The need for the study emerged due to the increase of customers complaints and the decline of employee’s productivity and performance in restaurant cleaning among the case company´s customers in this segment.
The study is conducted using Applied action research methodology and mainly uses qualitative research methods as it suits best to this study. The thesis is implemented through various data collection methods such as interviews, benchmarking, workshops and discussions, observations, as well as document analysis. The data was collected in three phases, firstly, for the current state analysis, secondly, for the proposal building and reviewing the ideas selected from of existing knowledge and best practice, followed by small- scale testing and validation of the initial proposal. The proposal is built by first using the customers empathy mapping, defining the commercial cleaning and related concepts, then ideating the training materials, prototyping the training, and then testing the training materials.
The co-created proposal focused on creating the training materials and the training “pipe”
for the cleaners, by empathizing with the customers problems and pain points by the cleaners, and later developing the training materials that can be used to train the cleaners, and thus address the company’s need, namely, to increase the level of professionalism and alleviate the level of cleaning quality. The commercial cleaning concepts for fine dining are defined, and later the cleaning process and the training process are created to showcase cleaners the knowledge and skills that are needed in professional cleaning.
Keywords Commercial Cleaning, Restaurant Hygiene, Employees Training, Cleaning Quality
To define the concept and create training
material for commercial cleaning and hygiene for fine dining restaurant segment
SUB-TITLE
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Business Context 1
1.2 Business Challenge Objective and Outcome 2
1.3 Thesis Outline 2
2 Method and Material 3
2.1 Research Approach and Methods 3
2.2 Research Design 4
2.3 Data Collection and Analysis 5
3 Current State Analysis of Commercial Cleaning Practices in the Fine Dinning
Segment in the Case Company 8
3.1 Overview of the Current State Analysis 8
3.2 Description of the Current Service Process in the Case Company 9 3.2.1 Analysis of the customer perspective via the customer log 10 3.2.2 Analysis of cleaner’s perspective via feedback-to-feedback discussion
with cleaners 13
3.2.3 Analysis of the current training process and materials in the case
company 18
3.3 Other Findings from the Current State Analysis (Data collection 1) 20 3.3.1 Results of the SWOT analysis of the case company as an employer 20 3.3.2 Challenges of commercial clearning process in the case company 22 4 Existing Knowledge and Best Practice of Creating Training Materials for Commercial
Cleaning 24
4.1 What is Commercial Cleaning and Hygiene for the Fine Dining Segment 24 4.1.1 The Oiva System for Restaurant Cleaning and Cleaning Quality for Fine
Dining Restaurants 25
4.2 How the Training of the Cleaners is Done and What Training Materials
(Publications) are Currently Used (Best examples) 28
4.2.1 Cleaners training 28
4.2.2. Contents of the cleaners´ trainings (what should be trained & the
training content) 31
4.2.3 Further possible contents for training (future-oriented training contents) 40
4.3 Using Design Thinking Tools to Improve Training Materials for Commercial
Cleaning and Hygiene for the Fine Dining Segment 46
4.3.1 EMPATHIZE. Empathy mapping, Customer persona, Customer gains
and pains & Customer Journey 46
4.3.3 IDEATE 50
4.3.4 PROTOTYPE 52
4.3.5 TEST 52
4.4 Conceptual Framework of This Thesis 52
5 Building Proposal for the Training Process and Materials for the Company 55
5.1 Overview of the Proposal Building Stage 55
5.2 Inputs into the Proposal Building and Stakeholders Suggestions (Data 2) 55
5.3 Initial Proposal: Element 1, EMPATHIZE 58
5.3.1 Initial Proposal: Element 2, DEFINE 59
5.3.2 Initial Proposal: Element 3, IDEATE 69
5.3.3 Initial Proposal: Element 4, PROTOTYPE 71
5.3.4 Initial Proposal: Element 5, IMPLEMENT 72
6 Validation of the Proposal 74
6.1 Overview of the Validation Stage 74
6.2 Findings from Data 3 and Developments to the Initial Proposal 74
6.3 Final Proposal 76
7 Conclusion 79
7.1 Executive Summary 79
7.2 Thesis Evaluation 80
7.3 Closing Words 81
References 1
1 Introduction
Restaurant cleanliness and hygiene are one of the essential factors that influence the overall quality perception of the dining experience in today’s market. Cleanliness and hygiene are highly valued in the restaurant and has influence on how customers perceived positive feeling toward consumer satisfaction. Many studies now show that delivering good food and service in the most glamours ways are not enough to influence customer satisfaction if the environments are not well cleaned. Customers are more concern of their health’s many of them are looking for entertainments and pleasurable environments to enhance their dining experiences, so the customers’ expectations about physical environments on the restaurant have a direct impact on their overall experience.
Even though the quality of the food is essential to customers satisfaction, but it does not guarantee success of the business when the restaurant hygiene and cleanliness is neglected (Abdullah et all. 2013).
This study aims to define the commercial cleaning concept and create training
materials that would help the employees of the case company to alleviate the level of cleaning quality and reduce the likelihood of customers complaints and same time increase the employee’s motivation at work.
1.1 Business Context
The case organization for this thesis, is a Finnish service company which offers cleaning, laundry and dishwashing services in Helsinki, Vantaa, and Espoo city. The company have been existing about 30 years. The company currently employs approximately 37 staff members and in summertime they are closer to 80 employees of which about 85%
are of foreign background. The company core values are high quality, professionalism, and flexibility. The company have been successful except in the recent year where the Corona pandemic hit the cleaning industry and cause huge impact the case company lost about 80% of its turnover.
The target customers are the fine dining restaurants, Michelin restaurants, restaurant chains, hotel chains, lunch places, homes as well as private customers. The case company´s long term vision is to make sure they provide their customers with high quality cleaning and hygiene at a minimal cost and ensure that their operation allows the combination of high quality and low cost. To reach these purposes, the case company wants to improve the cleaner’s knowledge of commercial cleaning to match with the customers’ expectations. High competition within cleaning industry and the increased need for commercial cleaning pushed the case company to start thinking of more ways to improve the cleaning quality, meeting the customers’ expectations as well as increase the long-term revenue.
The case company is now trying to improve the employees training in professional level.
The cleaning knowledge will enhance the cleaner’s ability to perform their work easily and achieve high quality results, as well as streamline own process for the employee training. The company is also investing more in employees to develop their skills and be able to provide them with more work possibilities. Training is given to develop their performance at work.
1.2 Business Challenge Objective and Outcome
The case company for some time now has been receiving customers complaints and has also experienced the decline of employee’s productivity and performance in restaurant cleaning. The situation is bringing more worries to the case company especially at this moment when commercial cleaning is facing a huge competition with the customers switching from one cleaning company to another without any cost at any time when they are unsatisfied with the existing company.
Another challenge of the case company relates to the fact that the case company´s 95%
of all the employees are from foreign backgrounds and speak less or no Finnish language at all. Moreover, most of them have zero cleaning knowledge at the time when they start work. This situation has forced the company to invest in employee training from the beginning to the level when they can handle the work by themselves. The employees should be able to provide professional quality cleaning, engage and encounter with customers to communicate and provide their best ability to handle the cleaning and keep the customers satisfied. To ensure that the employees are committed and can provide best results and improve the work quality, the company understands that it is very important to invest in employees training.
At the same time, a common challenge for the cleaning industry is that the quality of commercial clearing may lie on individual eyes. This is due to that fact that, first, people who come to work in this industry may have different cleaning standard level, but also the customers may have different expectations. Thus, the study also needs to clarify the concept of commercial cleaning and hygiene, especially for the employees of the company. Such clarification should help in trainings as well.
Accordingly, the objective of this thesis is to define the concept and create training materials for commercial cleaning and hygiene for fine dining segment that can assist the cleaners to perform their work better and alleviate quality level.
The Outcome is the concept and training materials of commercial cleaning and hygiene for the fine dining segment that can assist the cleaners to perform their work better and alleviate quality level of cleaning.
1.3 Thesis Outline
To achieve this objective, the thesis aims first to understand the customers’ needs and expectations by exploring customers logs, and second, to discuss with cleaners and find out and specify the current problems to why they cannot provide the best results as promised to the customers and suggest how to tackle these challenges via the improved training. To gain more knowledge about the commercial cleaning industry, thirdly, the study will look at the available knowledge about commercial cleaning and fine dining and will create the conceptual framework to guide the creating of training materials. In the final step, the proposal is developed for the training material for commercial cleaning.
Thus, this thesis will develop the training materials to train cleaners in the professional cleaning and looks for new ways to educated workers of foreign backgrounds in the cleaning industry, e.g., by using a better, clarified concept of commercial cleaning.
Defining the concept of commercial cleaning in the fine dining segment should help the cleaners to understand the purpose of their work - and wider - the service concept provided by the case company - and thus help in their meaningful work.
2 Method and Material
This section presents the sketch of the methodology, research design and the data collection and analysis which was applied in this thesis. The section is split into four sub- sections which describe the research approach, research design, data collection and data analysis as well as evaluation plan of the thesis.
2.1 Research Approach and Methods
Research is a scientific and systematic careful consideration studying something by using scientific methods and approaches. Research can be divided into two types, which are the qualitative research, and the quantitative research. The purpose of conducting research is to understand specific problem and try to find solution. From the business point of view, research can be used to identify the potential customers, develop the company product market strategies, addressing business challenge as well as identifying the new market opportunity. Selecting the proper research strategy and approach is essential in any research (Kothari 2004).
“Research is a diligent search, studious inquiry or investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery of new facts and findings; or broadly, it may relate to any subject of inquiry with regard to collection of information, interpretation of facts, revision of existing theories or laws in the light of new facts or practical ideas.” (Adams 2014.)
Adams (2014) describes two basic of research categories which include applied and fundamental research. Applied research involves the suggestion of the remedial solution for an immediate problem faced in the society or an organization, while the fundamental research focuses on generalizing and formulating theories. Research is essential in identifying the company problems and building solution toward best solutions to avoid the future business challenges. (Adams 2014.)
This thesis choses the applied action research (design research) approach as it suits best to this study. This approach acknowledges the complexity of the environment and identifies the causes of the problem and seeks for improvement, development as well as changes solutions. In the background of Applied action research, “there is phenomenon, process or situation that one wants to be improved after development of change”
(Kananen 2013, 13). It combines research and development parts which typically relates to continuous improvement in organizations, and the result of this improvement is typically a change to the better (Kananen 2013, 20). Applied action research is close to development work as it is conducted in organizations to improve operations (Kananen 2013, 21). In this arrangement, the development work becomes research work since it is conducted according to the research traditions: data is carefully collected, documented, and analyzed using research methods, which means the methods that produce reliable and novel (for this context) results (Kananen 2013, 20-22). Applied action research makes difference with Action research as it has fewer iterations (typically, only one iteration), and is less focused on studying the change process. It is mainly concerned with the practical result of improvement to the better.
2.2 Research Design
The research design for this study is illustrated in Figure 1 below. It consists of a step- by step process on how this study is carried out and point to the data collection stages, and the outcome of each step.
Figure 1 below shows the research design of this study.
Figure 1. Research design of this study.
As seen from Figure1 above, the study starts with identifying the objective, which is to define the concept of commercial cleaning and create the training materials for the cleaners in the fine dining segment.
The study starts by conducting the current state analysis that identified the challenges of the case company that came from the customers log and discussion with the cleaners performed from December 2020 till May 2022 by the case company. Analysing the customer logs feedbacks from customers was done to see how the customers thinks and perceive the case company services now, and what issues seem to be the most critical
that may put the company into risk of losing customers if they are not given attention. On top of that, to gain more understand to why certain issues went in the wrong way and see the big picture from the cleaner point of view. For this end, the discussions with the cleaners are conducted followed by the discussions with company supervisors. The discussions specified some situations and general perception of what kind of feedback customers have sent regarding the work not performed as it was promised. The interview and discussion questions were the same questions or feedbacks that customers have sent via customer service logs. The cleaners were asked to explain to why the situation happen, on top of that cleaners were asked to give own point of view on how things can be changed and achieve best results. Hence with the help of these answers, the current state analysis arrived at the picture of the current challenges in the fine dining cleaning.
These results points to various problems that are then explored in the literature and best practice section. These results also helped to get a clearer picture of concreate suggestions for the proposal and the recommendations, gathered later in the study.
Next, the focus area for literature and best practice search is the concept of commercial cleaning and hygiene and creating the training materials to alleviate the level of cleaning quality and hygiene in the fine dining segment. The literature review touches on existing trainings, its needs, methods, and the cleaning sector generally, including its innovations.
Based on the conceptual framework, the results from the current state analysis and inputs from the stakeholders, the proposal for the concept of commercial cleaning and hygiene and the training materials were developed. They were later validated with the cleaners and staff into the final training materials for the case company.
2.3 Data Collection and Analysis
In this study, the data collection was gathered in three rounds. Table 1 shows details of Data collections 1-3 used in this study.
Table 1. Details of Data collections 1-3 used in this study.
Participants / data
source Content Date and
duration Documented as Data 1, Current state analysis
1 Customer service log (customer calls)
Tel. calls, observations
1.12.2020- 31.1.2021 (in 2 months)
Field notes
2 Interviews and interactions with cleaners
Face-to-face Interviews &
discussions, observations
1.12.2020- 31.1.2021 (in 2 months)
Field notes
3 Experience stories Observations past & current Field notes 4
Existing training materials
Document
analysis Past & current Field notes Data 2 for Proposal building
5 Interviews &
discussions with:
- cleaning Managers 3 - cleaners (10)
Co-creation of initial proposal Face-to-face Interviews, Workshop &
discussions
March -April Field notes
Data 3 from Validation 6 Testing with cleaners
(in the next training session)
Test with cleaning managers
On-site training Face-to-face, discussions
April-May
Field notes
7 Interviews with 10 cleaners
Face-to-face
discussions 1.5-25.5.2022
Field notes
As seen from Table 1, data for this Thesis was collected in three rounds. In Data 1, customer log was analysed that were collected from the customers (started in December 2020). The customer service log was collected by the thesis researcher for the case company a few months before this study. Next, the customers feedbacks were collected from customers via, email, phone and text messages in dairy working days. This was done to get information and views of customers toward the case company service performance. Then the discussion with cleaners were done to get more insights about what hinder cleaners from deliver the quality that customers want. The discussions with cleaners made it clear that there was a need to have more training sessions with the cleaners and help them to learn.
Data 2 and 3 were gathered through face-to-face discussions and training, workshops, and on-site training. All the keys’ stakeholders were involved during data collection. Field notes were taken from each discussion.
The interviews in this study were conducted with the key stakeholders, first were the cleaning supervisors of the case company, then the cleaners who were the main target of this training, as well as the interview with some of the customers of this service. During the interviews, the participants were free to make their comments and give their opinions and feedbacks to this topic of training. The customers feedbacks were also taken into accounts to create the training materials. The interviews were conducted as face-to-face interviews, on the company premises, and/or on the cleaning sites with cleaners. The field notes were taken during the interviews.
All three round Data were analyzed using thematic/content analysis.
Table 2 gives an overview of the internal documents which was analyzed in this thesis.
Table 2. Internal documents used in the current state analysis, Data 1.
Name of the Document Number of pages/other content
Description
A Customers logs 25 pages
Contains the customers feedbacks and complaints regarding cleaning service
B Cleaning manuals and instructions 1 File
Contains all the cleaning instructions for all the cleaning sites
C Timeworks 10 pages Cleaning reporting systems and
all the cleaning instructions
D Instructions for new cleaners and
current training materials 9 pages
Information guide for new cleaners regarding the cleaning work and the training process E Cleaners training guide 33 pages Process description
F Restaurant hygiene guide (Oiva
scales) 5 pages Process description
As seen from Table 2, the main documents included the customer log which contained the two-month customers feedbacks and complaints regarding the cleaning work. The current training process were examined to find any gap that could be improved to make the training more easy and shorter for cleaners. The cleaning training guides, and cleaning manuals were also analyzed to understand more about the concept of commercial cleaning and be able to create the training materials for cleaners. The documents were analyzed for Data collection 1 round, the current state analysis to understand more about the customers need and demands and prepare the cleaners to solve the customers problems by meeting their expectations and hence customers satisfaction.
The findings from the current state analysis are discussed in Section 3 below.
3 Current State Analysis of Commercial Cleaning Practices in the Fine Dinning Segment in the Case Company
This section discusses the results from the analysis of commercial cleaning practices used in the fine dining segment of the case company. The analysis is built on the customer log and discussions with the cleaners and cleaning managers. It analyses the customer complaints currently in the fine dining segment, customers, and cleaner’s perceptions where they see the most problems as well as shows how the cleaners are trained now.
3.1 Overview of the Current State Analysis
The current state analysis aimed to identify the current state of the training process in the case company, discussed via the needs of the stakeholders (the customers, cleaners, company´s mangers, regulators etc). Before focusing on the training processes and materials as such, it was necessary to describe and analyse a wider context - the current cleaning process, the customers complaints, the cleaner’s perspective, and the requirements from the regulators. Thus, the current state analysis embraces a wide picture of the working environment.
First, the analysis focuses on the customer log which was purposefully collected for this study through emails and phone for two months, as well as on creating a discussion with the cleaners which was done through personal meetings and conducting phone interviews. The results of this analysis illustrate the current state of the commercial cleaning in the fine dining segment of the case company and show the challenges in the training materials which are aimed to elevate the level of cleaning quality. Another aim was to find out what kind of issues that customers are not happy with now.
Second, the discussions with cleaners aimed to find out what hinders them from delivering the quality that was promised to our customers. The topic for the discussion related to the complaints and feedbacks that we received from the customer log, so the cleaners were asked to respond to why certain issues was not done in correct way. The cleaners responded to the discussion on why certain things go wrong and why the quality may not be as good, some of them respondent that the poor methods that was applied it’s the reason for why the quality was poor, place being big than the amount of the hours that is given to clean, or not knowing the types of the floor that they were cleaning. This was done to gain a more concrete picture of commercial cleaning in the fine dining and be able to develop the training materials that cleaners can use to improve their work performances.
Third, the current state analysis analysed the current state of the training materials.
The outcome of the CSA stage is (a) the list of problems and issues related to the current commercial cleaning services by the case company provided in the fine dining segment (based on the customer log), and (b) the problems clarified in the discussions with the cleaners, (c) as well as the current training materials at the case company. Among these topics, the study choses the problems related to the current commercial cleaning quality in the fine dining segment, training in quality management and the cleaning methods, and collecting feedback from the restaurant to develop own methods at the cleaning site and engage cleaners in the service process and quality development as priority for
improvement. These findings indicate what is wrong and what should be done to elevate the level of cleaning and improve the cleaner’s performances via the improved training materials.
3.2 Description of the Current Service Process in the Case Company
The case company of this thesis is a professional cleaning service company operating is the fine-dining restaurant segment in Finland. The case company has existed since 1992 and it is a family-owned business. The case company offers several services to fine dining, which include cleaning, dishwashing, laundry services as well as supplying cleaning products and hygiene related products. This thesis will only focus on the cleaning side and more specifically, on the fine dining restaurants. The customers are currently segmented as “Happy”, “Neutral” and “Unhappy”.
To start the analysis, it is important to understand that each stakeholder in commercial cleaning has its own perspective to the service process. Table 3 summarizes the 4 perspectives to commercial cleaning: 1) from cleaners, 2) customers, 3) Oiva (the regulator body), as well as 4) the service provider (the case company) perspective.
Table 3 provide an overview of the four perspectives regarding commercial cleaning from key stakeholders.
Table 3. Four perspectives for commercial cleaning.
Cleaner perspective
• Set of tasks that must be done in given time and if not, they will be complain coming.
• Tasks changes depending on customers and company requests
• Cleaning as an alternative career option, no room for learning it, learning looks like wasting of time
• For some cleaners, take cleaning as optional they don’t want to commit for it for longer period
• The cleaner should be flexible to fit the customer's needs and demands
• Follow the cleaning manuals and work instructions depending on customers’ requests
• Work is performed in the agreed area, on the agreed times, and should be accomplished on time
• Poor cleaning skills and knowledge about the industry
Customers perspectives
• Best services, high-quality results, everything must be done in order and in a time frame.
• Tasks may change depending on end-users; cleaning companies should flex to the changes.
• Work must be done in a very professional way to meet customer expectations.
• The cleaning company must be flexible to serve at any time, solve customers' challenges.
• Tasks may be added or reduced even a few hours before the work starts
• Work must be done in Finnish environments with respect to Finnish culture
• The work is done in order, smoothly with high-quality results
• Customers can complain at any time when there are task neglection or poor end results, and quick to send feedback
• The correction about mistake is expected to be done immediately otherwise it may result to end of the contract
• Cleaning must be done at minimum costs compared to any expenditures in the restaurant
• (Customers are not willing to pay much for cleaning)
Oiva Perspective
• Oiva is a publication system for the review data of the food industry control system, which is coordinated by the Finnish Food Authority. Inspections according to the Oiva system are
• carried out by the municipal food inspectors in accordance with the inspection plan.
• The restaurant must pass the five scale to qualify to sell food
• The Oiva test results must be placed in front of the restaurant door so the end users can see what the restaurants have scored
• The cleaning room must be organized, cleaned and everything must be placed up
• A consumer can see the inspection results of food establishments on the Oiva system and next to the establishment's front door.
Oiva assesses the company's food safety, such as food hygiene and product safety.
• The results of food control inspections are publicly available.
The assessment received by the food establishment (excellent, good, to be corrected, poor) is presented by a so-called smiley face.
Case company perspectives
• Cleaning as professional work it must be done with professional methods process and professional cleaners
• Work must be done in the time that customers have agreed on, any extra work which is not agreed with customers would not be billed to customers
• Work contracts and payments are done based on Finnish law and labor union rules
• The work is done as customers have instructed and according to customers wishes
• Cleaning instructions must be followed to ensure all the customers' requests are followed
• Work hand by hand with customers
• The company must flex according to customers need, customers influence company changes and strategies
• Employees follow the work instructions and communicate wherever need help.
• Work quality is necessary for customers' satisfaction.
As seen from Table 3, there are four perspectives to commercial cleaning. This study will analyze just two out of the 4 perspectives, the customers, and the cleaners, as these two sides seem to have the most contradicting views to the clearing process and results, and it needs to be considered when improving/developing the training materials.
3.2.1 Analysis of the customer perspective via the customer log
The fine dining customer log was collected by the thesis researcher a few months before this study via emails, phone as well as customers text messages. The interaction with the customer happened in the normal working days where the cleaner performed the regular work and after the work the customer sent the feedback about this work. After receiving the customer feedback, the normal procedure of contacting the responsible cleaner and finding out why certain issue were complained about by customers.
Customers were contacted back for apologizing and promising quality improvement on the following day. In the emergency, the cleaner and supervisor would go to the restaurant immediate and corrected the mistake on the same day.
Table 4 below shows the customers log interactions from the restaurants where many of the feedback were register in similar kinds of situations. As seen from Table 4, cleaning quality issue seemed to be the highest concern, followed by poor sanitation or things not done in the right way as well as causing a wrong alarm or leaving the door open. Even though these interactions look very bad, the case company cleaning quality is mainly of very high quality, and many of happy customers appreciate the quality level.
Table 4 provide an overview of customer log in fine dining.
Table 4. Customer log from the customers in the fine dining segment (over the period of 1st December 2020 - to 1st May 2021).
Participants / Roles
Data type Topic Date,
length
Documente d as Restaurant 1:
Supervisor
Email Low quality, not following orders
1.12.2020 Saved email
Restaurant 2:
Owner
Email Low quality, dust and stains, poor sanitation
9.12.2020 Saved email
Restaurant 3:
Supervisor
Call Poor hygiene, wrong methods, damaging floor
20.12.2020 Field notes
Restaurant 4:
Supervisor
Call Employee was working at the wrong time
3.1.2021 Field notes
Restaurant 5:
Supervisor
WhatsApp Poor quality, too quick working due to other working places
21.4.2021 Saved message
Restaurant 6:
Manager
Call Cabinet had been forgotten to take care of
23.4.2021 Field notes
Restaurant 7:
Security guy
Call Cleaner had caused an alarm. Could not stop the alarm.
8.5.2021 Field notes
Restaurant 8:
Owner
Email Too many hours at the bill 30.4.2021 Saved email
Restaurant 9:
Supervisor
Call Poor hygiene of the cleaner 3.5.2021 Field notes
Restaurant 10:
Supervisor
Call Restaurant door was left open over night
26.4.2021 Field notes
Restaurant 11:
Supervisor
Call Restaurant door open and items were stolen
28.4.2021 Field notes
Restaurant: 12 Email Cleaner went late, the customer had opened the restaurant
1.5.2021 Saved email
Restaurant: 13 Call Cleaner doesn’t through trashes in the right places
12.4.2021 Field notes, photos Restaurant: 14 Call Cleaner coming to work very
late
15.4.2021 Field notes
As seen in Table 4,this study analyses the customer log to find out what are the customers pain points and their frustrations. Understanding the customers makes it easy for us to meet customers’ expectations, same time the cleaners will get to know what the things need to be done, to elevate the level of cleaning quality and be able to satisfy the customers.
Table 5 provide an overview of the cleaner feedback to feedback.
Table 5. Cleaners feedback to feedback in the fine dining segment which was collected in the period (1st December 2020 - to 1st May 2021).
As seen in the Table 5, the cleaners discussion and interview were done to get to understand more about the cleaner’s perspectives and find out the skills gap, same time to impact the commercial cleaning skills to the cleaners and get to learn more, how to apply the professional cleaning methods to alleviate the level of cleaning quality
In the situation where a similar complain comes repeatedly from the same place, the cleaner will be changed to another place and a different cleaner will replace him or her.
Even in case of change. the same cleaner will be observed in the other place and given more training. In case the cleaner can’t cope at all, the company would think for a warning paper and ending the relationship if the person can’t adapt and learn the work.
Data 1: Interviews with cleaners 1 Respondent
1
Face-to-face interview
Quality, hygiene 7.12.2020 60 min
Field notes 2 Respondent
2
Face-to-face interview
Quality, hygiene 8.12.2020 50 min
Field notes 3 Respondent
3
Face-to-face interview
Processes, methods, improvement
10.12.2020 50 min
Field notes 4 Respondent
4
Telephone interview
Quality, methods 3.1.2021 30 min
Field notes 5 Respondent
5
Telephone interview
Cleaning methods and safety
5.1.2021 45 min
Field notes 6 Respondent
6
Telephone interview
Working rules, use of chemicals
8.1.2021 30 min
Field notes 7 Respondent
7
Telephone interview
Hygiene practice and colour coding
11.1.2021 30 min
Field notes 8 Respondent
8
Telephone interview
Cleaning safety, chemical data sheet
16.1.2021 50 min
Field notes 9 Respondent
9
Online meeting Behaviour at work, following the rules
25.1.2021 30 min
Field notes 10 Respondent
10
Face-to-face interview
Importance of good hygiene practice
25.1.2021 45 min
Field notes 11 Respondent
11
Face-to-face interview
How to improve quality
5.5.2021 30 min
Field notes
Even though the complaints look quite bad, the mistakes are collected immediately, and customers are mostly satisfied with the services. As far as the restaurant hygiene is concerned, it’s obviously important for customers to contact the cleaning company immediately when they notice a sign of poor hygiene or when cleaner neglected some cleaning tasks, ideally on the same day, which is the reason why the number of complaints may vary.
3.2.2 Analysis of cleaner’s perspective via feedback-to-feedback discussion with cleaners
Following the analysis of the Customer log, a series of discussion was conducted with the cleaners (the feedback-to-feedback discussions) to underrate their perspective and identify the roots of these problems. Through the discussion the cleaners responded to why certain issues went the wrong way and they give their perspectives why they did not achieve best end results. The discussion was done with both old and new cleaners as well as the discussion topics related came from the customer log and it was asked to the responsible cleaner who is taking care of same place where the complaint came. Table 5 above showed the list of the cleaner’s interviews.
In addition to that the cleaners were also asked other questions from other restaurants just to collect more points of view on how we can develop training materials that would assist both cleaners in their working areas.
The results of the discussions are analyzed below.
Cleaner has left some debris of the floor, there was sprint of alcohol as well as toilets was not cleaned well “why do this has happened?
“I have spent so many hours to clean the whole place was very dirty, there was so much dirty, there was broken glasses, I did my best I even spend more time than I should in future the restaurant needs to be cleaned every day and not 3 times a week, the place is very dirty since the customers doesn’t clean themselves instead, they are waiting for cleaner to come”.
(Respond 1)
The cleaners have discussed and open about the place to be very dirty as we clean three times a week and the customers does not clean in the days that cleaner is not going that leave the whole lot to clean and cleaner must spend unpaid extra time to clean the place.
Cleaner has opened the whole load is too much compare the amount of hour he uses to finish its work.
Cleaner has been cleaning using lot of water, and we have wooden floor that we are worried is going to be damaged also he did not clean the changing room yesterday
“There was dry alcohol on the floor that would not have left without using wet mop, I did not remember if I need to clean the changing room
yesterday because before we use to clean it on Wednesdays and Saturdays” (Respond 2)’
Because the restaurant supervisor has been changed and new supervisor did not know the cleaning room is cleaned on Wednesdays and Saturdays there was mix up of when the cleaning room must be cleaned. The cleaners have been informed about the right cleaning methods and avoid using wet mops because may cause damage to the wooden floor. Instead, he should use moisture mop and in case of alcohol splint he should consider removing the stains on that specific area first and ensure that the stains have left, and the place is completely dry instead of applying lot of water in the whole restaurant floor. Cleaner had promise to be careful with his methods and the supervisor was informed of the days where the cleaning room need to be cleaned. After this both cleaner and restaurant supervisor know which days, we clean which places.
The toilets have been cleaned very bad, hand papers and toilets papers have not been filled
“I did not see the papers, I look in the cleaning room, but I could not see them customers should put the papers always in the cleaning room so I can see it, I left because I thought the papers is finished, as for the toilet I clean same way I clean every day” (Respond 3)
The hand papers were placed somewhere close to the kitchen where cleaners did not see it, before all the papers have been placed on the cleaning room by customers who usually buy them and our cleaner fill it, on this incident the papers were placed on the different place and no information was given to the cleaners. When the cleaner didn’t see the papers in cleaning room, he left without adding papers and he did not inform supervisor about it or customers. Supervisor discussed with the cleaners he cannot leave the toilets without filling because end users need it, we discussed about the communicating before leaving the restaurant would have make it easy to solve the problem than leaving the restaurant without filling the papers. Cleaners felt he has made mistakes and promised to not do the same mistake again. Supervisor asked the cleaner if he needs the cleaning manual of how to clean the toilets again and he was given the manual which show step by steps how to clean the toilets.
The cleaner has been cleaning using outside brush, our carpet has been forgotten outside, the hand papers in the kitchen were not filled and the new trash bag was not replaced.
“I didn’t know if the filling of hand papers in the kitchen our job, yes, I did forget the carpet outside and I forgot to replace new trash bag because I was in hurry. The supervisor explains to cleaner that during the training time he was shown all the methods and he was given orientation and was handled the cleaning manual that tell everything that must be done sincere the cleaner did not have much explanation and he felt that he made
mistake. The supervisor has learnt that the cleaner was in hurry to finish his job and leave the place, so all the mistakes happen because the cleaner did not have any time to follow the cleaning methods and do the job as he was instructed”. (Respond 4)
The cleaner had made wrong alarm at night, place wrong light button which he should not touch the light button has mark we wonder why he is placing the wrong one, coming to clean at the evening time instead of mornings, the overall restaurant cleaning is not good
“I come to clean at evening time because in morning I have another workplace that I must be at 6am if I can’t come at night, I can’t make it at morning. I had the right alarm I put alarm code and press stop but I don’t know why the alarm could not stop it keep making noisy later the owner of the restaurant come and the security guys and stop the alarm”. (Respond 5)
This cleaner come to clean at nighttime instead of morning time, the reason is that he must go to another work at early morning, he also has difficulties to understand and remember to press the alarm codes correctly he keeps placing the alarm code number and forget to push the letter button to complete the code that was the reason why the alarm was not stopping. Same thing with the light, the place where all the restaurant light was coming there was many other light buttons which he should not touch, there was only two button that must be pressed to on the whole restaurant light, but he was pressing all the button some of them was for example kitchen appliances which should not be touched. This cleaner has also been showed the restaurants two times before he started cleaning alone, he was given orientation of the place, and instructed about how to open the door, how to off alarm, how to on the alarm when he is living, as well as where the light is coming. And in that restaurant, it was very clear that there are only two buttons of light to press and nothing else, but he was pressing another button as well. He also was given the cleaning manual where all tasks and methods were listed in the manual.
In this case the author notice that the cleaner has difficult with time, he live far from cleaning place and uses public transport to get home, next morning at 6am he must be at other work in Espoo, he come to clean at night times starting at 22:00 and close about 00:00 and he live in Vantaa he uses metro then he changes to train in the railway station then go to Vantaa, then at morning 6am he must be at other working places where he works 8 hours. Cleaning at night may be difficult to see well especially in Finland where might be dark during winter times this may results of missing some stains and the overall cleaning quality may be poor. The cleaner is cleaning in too much tense he needs to catch up the metro and the trains otherwise he will end up with late buses which will make his trip too long and he will have to sleep on the way before next morning he should go to other cleaning place at 6am.During the time when the cleaner was given this restaurant to clean he was told were it located and he accepted it, according to him he need this work because he doesn’t get enough money from his other job, so to make sure at the end of the month he have enough money he need to work also at other place to get money.
There are stains on the floor which has not been taken for sometimes, the cleaner has been sprinkle water on the floor with hand then mops, we are worried that our floor can get damaged also the cabinet have not been cleaned.
“I don’t clean like that, I know that we should not use water on the wooden floor, I always use moisture mops, maybe they are talking about last year not now, last year I was doing that but when you told me I stopped, but cabinet I just forget it skipped me today sorry about that I will take it tomorrow, I did see any stains there if I saw it, I would have clean them”.
(Respond 6)
This cleaner has been warned couple of times about using this method, he uses to sprinkled water on the floor by using his hand then he mops according to him this is
quicky method, but with the type of the floor in this restaurant there is risk that water goes under the wood and make them swollen, the restaurant floor is very old wood. Even though we have warned him and showed him the right kind of methods he keeps doing that and forgetting the cabinet is not first times he has forgotten the cabinet also before.
In this restaurant there is list of the area to clean and which days, we don’t clean everything every day there is list where customers write down what we must clean which day. During the discussion we discussed about all the cleaning methods that he needs, and we discussed about how important for the cabinet for end users and when he mis to clean it the customer was not happy at all. We also discussed following the right kind of methods would remove all the floor stains and debris cleaner promise to be more careful in the future he also asks the supervisor if she check the place before the customer comes and call him if he has forgotten something.
Can you remind our cleaner to wash the trash containers since he has not been washing them for sometimes now, also the toilets must be cleaned well since they are now smelling?
“I did not wash the container because if I wash them there is not enough time for me to finish everything, the place is very dirty, as for the toilets I clean well I don’t know why there is smell I cannot spend more than the time you give me to clean I need to go to other work, and the place is very difficult to clean I don’t like that place “(Respond 7)
The author notices that the cleaner is not motivated to clean and following the right cleaning methods, if he would follow the right cleaning methods it would make his work easier, and he would have time to finish everything. Using wrong kind of methods would make the cleaning process to be long and make it easier to mis some places and forget some tasks. He is also having some altitude his respond you can see that he just wants to make hours and go, and he doesn’t want to understand the methods or anything. It’s very difficult to develop someone who is not interested to learn.
Cleaner have left the door open, and the theft have gone inside and took money and other things we have report to the police and make claim to our insurance, but the cleaner must pay because he was the last one to go out and he left the door open.
“I close the door but maybe it didn’t close it correctly how much the company will pay for me and how much I must pay? I cannot pay all the money will be expensive for me”. (Respond 8)
The company had organized that they will pay half of the cost and cleaner would pay half and the reason is that the insurance cannot cover the cost since the door was left open by cleaner.
The cleaner had signed the work instruction rule of the case company which state that cleaner take care of the restaurant keys and ensure that the restaurant door is closed well before leaving the place.
The cleaner doesn’t sort the trashes is throwing all trashes in wrong places, can you go through with him and inform all the trashes must go to the right places.
“Yes, I put everything in mixed waste, I think everything can go to mixed waste it took my time if I should go to through them in different places if I can put everything in mixed waste” (Respond 9)
Trashes must be thrown to the right places for example bio must go to bio, energy waste must go to right places as well as mixed, metal and glasses must go the right places.
The cleaner was taken to the trash collection area and was showed where all the trashes go, and he was explained the important of throwing the trashes on the right places in saving our environments and reduce the likelihood of destroying the environments. The author notices the rush of the cleaner to finish the work and go may be the reason for him to through all the trash in one place and leave, sorting the trashes and make sure they go to the right places seem to take his time.
The cleaner is coming to work very late; he was still clean even the time we almost we want to open the restaurant, would you remind him he should be ready at the latest one hour before we open
“I started late because my train have been cancelled, I also live far but I will try to come early from now on”. (Respond 10)
The cleaner didn’t have any clear reason to why he goes late to start his work, and it’s not one time the situation has been repetitive, the author notices tiredness on him but the cleaner doesn’t tell if he goes to other working places before coming to this work or he can’t work up early at morning.
The cleaner has been explained the cleaning must end one hour before the restaurant is open this will give time to customers to set up the areas before they open to end users.
Summing up, the customer log collected over 5 months (1st December 2020- 1st May 2021) pointed out issues related to poor cleaning quality, using of wrong kind of cleaning methods, as well as poor hygiene in the customers´ place. The discussion with cleaners also showed some performance metrics for example decreasing of cleaning performance and sign of lack of interest and low motivations towards their work which leads to poor quality. These results reveal that “Unhappy” customers and “Neutral”
customers are the customers that the level of quality agreement is low as well as the length of the cleaning varies from once a week or three times a week. Also, many of complaints come in relation to new cleaners who have been in the company less than one year. The results reveal that “Happy” customers are the customers where the quality level agreement is high, and the restaurants are cleaned regularly starting from 5 days a week to 7 days a week. All these factors point out the challenges that may lead to poor customer satisfaction, predict the end of the customer relationship, and may also indicate a poor restaurant hygiene environment which may put the end users at risk of food poisoning as well as bacteria’s contaminations. The results also show a high need for commercial cleaning training materials that would elevate the level of cleaning quality and hygiene of the fine dining. The discussions also reveal the cleaner’s tendency to have many works from other cleaning at same time influence on their tiredness and restless situation which will results to poor quality or use of wrong kind of methods for example. Table 6 below summarizes the customers and cleaners concern, based on the customer log and the feedback-to-feedback from the cleaners, where they see most challenges.
Table 6 summarized the customers and cleaners concern where they see most challenges.
Table 6. Customers and cleaners concern where they see challenges
Customers´ key concerns/ where they see challenges
1. quality challenges in cleaning (The floor is not cleaned well, toilets papers and soaps are not filled, the quality of cleaning doesn’t satisfy the customers eyes etc.)
2. service duties (Cleaner put wrong alarm, coming in the wrong hours to clean than the time, which was agreed, being late,
3. language challenges cleaners are not able to communicate in Finnish language, communication gap between cleaners and customers make it harder for cleaners to defend themselves especially when things go wrong or done in different ways
4. Cleaners changes so often; they don’t stay in one cleaning company for long period
5. Lack of cleaning orders, some cleaning tasks are being ignored or neglected e.g., changing room which is cleaned once a week can be forgotten
6. The trashes are not sorted in the right places, for example bio trashes can be through to mixed waste.
Cleaner´s key concerns
1. distance to the site/ traffic problems (travel time not calculated) cleaners can have four working sites, he or she need to travel form one site to the next and most time uses public transport, which is wintertime for example due to snow the buses can come late and cause the cleaner to be late at the site
2. work schedule does not fit own plans/ inconvenient hours, cleaners have other work from different cleaning company, so they need to finish one work early and go to the next work
3. need to start side contracts due to lack of money / challenges in own life, food, and work permits, since most cleaning companies offer extra contract, and this is since it’s hard to predict the cleaning future
4. basic working conditions (e.g., dishes in kitchen may take about 8 hours and it can be heavy work 5. For some cleaners and dishwashers may feel unappreciation from the customer
6. Lack of commitments and motivation from some cleaners toward the work
7. Cleaning work being a physical demanding type of work, cleaners get tired of the work and at the end influence more tiredness and stress
8. Language gap and culture differences some cleaners have difficult to adopt the working culture and this bring their motivation down.
As seen from Table 6, this thesis analyzed customers and cleaners concern where they see most challenges to find what incentivize both parties and thus help to increase their motivation. And what cleaners considered as good incentive for cleaning place and see how customers are ready to support the cleaners.
3.2.3 Analysis of the current training process and materials in the case company
The current training process for the cleaners are usually arranged once in month or after two months. The training materials are based on the cleaning skills that are needed to perform the cleaning work. This includes the cleaning methods, cleaning quality, floor materials, cleaning chemicals and pH, work ergonomics, and work safety. The supervisor is responsible for creating training materials and teach to cleaners as well as lead the training discussions.
The biggest challenge of the current training is that poor attendance of the employees to the training, lack of interest to learn and apply what has been taught to the working site.
Most of time cleaners would apply their own methods to finish the work quickly and leave to other working places.
Also, there is no official document to describe the current training materials as well as hiring process. The case company uses traditional way of training and hiring new employees, for example, when job seeker visits the office or fill the application online will be asked to come to the interview and supervisor will interview and decide to give contract. The new cleaner is trained to the working site for about three days then he is ready to work alone.
Figure 2 below shows the current training process of the case company.
Figure 2. The current training process of the case company.
As shown in Figure 2, the current training process was analysed to find out how it can be developed, to create better training materials that can make the training process easier. The current training process indicate some weaknesses which among them are lack of criteria for accepting new cleaners, poor attendance , as well as the lack of cleaner motivation toward the work. When the training materials were discussed with the cleaners and the mangers, they pointed out to the following strengths and weaknesses in the current trainings and the training materials.
Table 7 below shows the strengths and weakness in the current training materials.
Acceptance
Supporting Knowledge gap
Feedbacks
Motivating Supporting Feedback Continue training
Interview
• Look for suitable candidate
• Interview
• Checking the work permit
• Sign work contract
• Trial period
• working instructions and rules
• Agreeing on stating date
• Uniform
• Timeworks instructions (Cleaning schedule and reports)
Orientation
• Cleaning site , alarm, keys, signing in
• Cleaning manual and plan
• Cleaning tools
• Cleaning safety
• Cleaning chemicals use instructions and safety data sheet
• Cleaning ergonomics
• Practicing the work with supevisor or experienced cleaner for 3 days or untill the cleaner is ready to work independent, depending of cleaner experience
• Follow up quality control after training
On job learning
• Continue learning while working
• Through customers feedback
• Company training through meetings
• Networking with expert inside industry ecolab, keuda, siivous ry, Vestek, Havia
• cleaning journals, puhtaus ry newspaper, cleaning books, videos,
• Lerning through local and international cleaning exhibition
• Tampere Messu, Finclean
• Interclean
• Quality checking control
