Technologies to outperform for variable occupancy & labor shortage

Which technologies are offering results and ROI for commercial cleaning in 2022?

With a shrinking labor pool and variable occupancy levels in facilities management, some companies are already ahead of the pack by adopting automated scheduling, sensor technology, robots, and dynamic cleaning.  

In this inaugural episode of Cleaning the Built World, Nathan Mah, Co-founder at Mero is joined by Christopher King, Senior Vice President at Hallmark Housekeeping Services, to discuss the challenges of variable occupancy levels, which technologies to adopt to help with labor shortage, and how to boost efficiency without compromising on employee experience.

Watch the full episode:

Three top takeaways:

Here are the three most important takeaways from the episode:

Takeaway 1: Routine-based scheduling is dead

With hybrid working models and occupancy all over the place, scheduling has to change.

Having your buildings equipped with smart sensors allows you to see how many people are coming into the building and how they’re using the building.

This allows you to deploy labor accordingly.

If certain areas of the buildings are not being used, you don’t need to go and do the same cleaning tasks there every single day. You can redeploy labor to the areas that need it most, the areas that are occupied and used.

This lets you adapt your staffing schedule dynamically based on usage and optimize routine on a day-to-day basis. This leads to fewer complaints, better labor efficiency, and cost savings for customers.

Takeaway 2: Use occupancy data to allocate labor more efficiently

Barcode tracking only shows you when staff is going into the washrooms and cleaning.

It doesn’t show you how the washrooms are being used.

Your employees end up moving from floor to floor and into washrooms to discover that no one’s been there and nothing has to be cleaned. That’s time wasted.

With occupancy sensors, you can know exactly how the washrooms are being used. You can get alerts when occupancy thresholds are reached and staff can be routed to get it serviced.

You can zoom out and see reports for a particular month and know for example that the 7th floor is being used 5 times more than the 8th floor, so you have to increase patrols on that floor.

This leads to more efficient service and washrooms not deteriorating.

Takeaway 3:  Robotics for the win

Robotics has come a long way and can help automate tasks during labor shortages.

Floor scrubbing robots that can now do spraying of high touch points with disinfectants have seen a lot of traction in airports and malls.

Other technologies that should be on your radar include UV disinfection, hygiene door handles, and centralized waste.