SMA Custodial Schedules:

SMA Custodial Schedules: Help manage the largest part of your facility program: At a point in time, for example 8pm in the evening, you may have 100 custodians in 20 buildings yet know specifically where they all are cleaning. You may walk to a spot in any of your buildings and find the custodian in their schedule; you may quality inspect the areas they have already cleaned. Each building s assignments are refined by your own people; schedules become an increasingly more detailed reflection of the flow needed for a successful cleaning program. If acceptable cleaning in a room is off of the standard the schedules are adjusted to deploy your cleaning time where it is needed the most. These adjustments will be quite frequent in the early life of the schedules. Adjustments to the schedules are the best ongoing communication of your expectations to your custodians. The second set or alternate schedule set allows you to adjust for labor shortage yet keep order and accountability in place. New or replacement custodians have solid directions for successful cleaning coverage on their first shift. Each custodian has realistic cleaning expectations regardless of the schedule square footage (from 15K to 50K); custodians know the schedule format from building to building. The workload is balanced regardless of the schedule set. The building customer is involved through an initial interview and ongoing updates during the scheduling process. This gives the customer the opportunity to communicate their cleaning priorities. You may want to tell your customer (such as the building principal) the schedule set in use each day; with knowledge of the schedule sets the customer should know what to expect. Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 1

Custodial Operations: Five program aspects needed to do a complete job, balancing service and financial stewardship. Proper schedules are the foundation for managing financial challenges while maintaining program integrity. All five circles are necessary for a complete program. Expenditures by Category Thousands $1,000 $800 $600 $400 $200 $0 Leadership Payroll Custodial Labor Maintenance Labor Grounds Labor Utilities, Electric Utilities, Nat Gas Custodial Supply Maint Supply Benchmarks Actuals Grounds Supply Maint. Purch Ser. Custodial Equip Other Expenses Custodial labor is the largest facility expenditure. Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 2

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An example of a typical schedule: Breaks and Lunch times set Minutes per area for proper pacing 1. Statistically developed 2. Runs on any computer 3. Easily modified on-site Steps of cleaning are listed The sequence of cleaning is worked out with building input Time is allotted for event coverage and other duties Typical chemicals are listed High dusting and detailed cleaning are scheduled Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 4

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Methodology used in the SMA review The following methods are used: Statistical review of cleaning using national standards. Each school s spaces are inventoried to evaluate the cleaning load. Field interviews with custodians and facility leadership to determine Other duties beyond daily cleaning. The use of custodial schedule software with eleven years of input by school custodians. Schedule writing is the most detailed custodial time study. Application of our experience of working with the facility management systems in over 100 school districts. Schools with adequate staffing are not necessarily clean; all aspects of a complete custodial program need to be in place to insure consistent high quality cleaning Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 12

Consider the Density of staffing: ESTABLISHING EXPECTATIONS FOR CUSTODIAL EFFORTS Planners, administrators, and community members must agree on what constitutes cleanliness. While there is not a nationwide standard for describing standards of cleanliness, a five-tiered system of expectations is emerging to help guide decision-making: Taken from page 82 of The Planning Guide for Maintaining School Facilities by the School Facilities Maintenance Task Force; National Forum on Education Statistics and the Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO ) Sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics and the National Cooperative Education Statistics System February 2003 Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 13

Level 1 cleaning results in a spotless building, as might normally be found in a hospital environment or corporate suite. At this level, a custodian with proper supplies and tools can clean approximately 10,000 to 11,000square feet in an 8-hour period. Level 2 cleaning is the uppermost standard for most school cleaning, and is generally reserved for restrooms, special education areas, kindergarten areas, or food service areas. A custodian can clean approximately 18,000 to 20,000 square feet in an 8-hour shift. Level 3 cleaning is the norm for most school facilities. It is acceptable to most stakeholders and does not pose any health issues. A custodian can clean approximately 28,000 to 31,000 square feet in 8 hours. Level 4 cleaning is not normally acceptable in a school environment. Classrooms would be cleaned every other day, carpets would be vacuumed every third day, and dusting would occur once a month. At this level, a custodian can clean 45,000 to 50,000 square feet in 8 hours. Level 5 cleaning can very rapidly lead to an unhealthy situation. Trash cans might be emptied and carpets vacuumed on a weekly basis. One custodian can clean 85,000 to 90,000 square feet in an 8-hour period. The figures above are estimates. The actual number of square feet per shift a custodian can clean will depend on additional variables, including the type of flooring, wall covers, and number of windows, all of which must be taken into account when determining workload expectations. Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 14

Building Your Custodial Schedules SMA will cover all the steps for custodial schedules or assign some steps to your team to finish the scheduling process. Step 1 We need to have the following information to establish a Room/Space Inventory: 1. Scale drawing of the building floor plans. 2. Designation of which areas are carpet vs. hard surface floors. 3. Fixture counts by room/area i.e. toilets, urinals, sinks and drinking fountains. 4. Designation of room usage, such as: classroom, office, lounge, locker room, cafeteria, gym etc. 5. Several rooms need to be measured to give us the scale ratio needed to calculate square footage. 6. The names and shift hours of all the custodians including their break and lunch times. 7. Any other important major notes such as areas not in use or areas only cleaned upon request. 8. Contact information (phone number, cell phone, email) of a key person who can answer follow-up questions about custodial scheduling. Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 15

The SMA Team will tabulate the Room Measurements and the Red Numbered Floor Plan. Step 2 This step is completed by SMA Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 16

Step 3 Tour the schools to interview the Primary Customers, fill in the Sequence Sheet and edit the Other hours. The Primary Customer Interview The custodial staff is a site based support for the school principal and will typically receive a favorable review. Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 17

The Sequence Sheet Step 3 The Red Number Floor Plan is used to interview the building custodians on the sequence of cleaning We ask for the sequence by having an informed custodian give the Red Numbers in order they are cleaned for each schedule. Each number is posted in order down the column for the schedule. Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 18

Other Duties beyond the basic five cycles of cleaning each week Step 3 The software suggests a level of Other duties then building custodians are interviewed to verify and modify the Other duty designations. Nominated level from the interview Original level from the software Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 19

SMA will send you the first set of schedules; begin the editing process using the instructions and tools in your schedule file note your changes on the schedules and fax them back to SMA (602.513.7008) Step 4 This step is a combined effort your team and SMA Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 20

You exchange information on schedule refinements with SMA (often faxed schedule copies with notes written on them) to complete the base set of schedules and then design the alternate schedule set in conference with SMA Step 5 Base Schedule Editing Alternate Schedules This step is a combined effort your team and SMA Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 21

The Instructions tab of your schedule file gives some basic procedures for: changing the name on a schedule, moving an area from one schedule to another, changing the sequence of cleaning and adjusting the time standard for an area or type of area. Step 6 Refine! Refine! Refine! This tab has suggestions on how to work with your schedule files; there is also information on the purpose of the columns and identification of the Area Types. Ongoing refinement may be accomplished by your team Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 22

Custodial Staffing by School Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 23

The Schedule View Option You may wish to reduce the number of columns to simplify the view of the schedules for your custodians. This format hides the columns for square footage and fixture counts. Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 24

Alternate Schedule Sets An alternate set of schedules is built to accommodate situations where custodians are missing or large events take employees out of their schedules. This set takes an 8.5 hour schedule and covers the area in 4 hours. The method used here is 1. trash removal, 2. rest rooms (full cleaning), 3. corridors (regular cleaning) and 4. quick cleaning of the balance of the area. Some prefer 6 hour schedules replacing the 8.5 hour schedule this allows any three custodians to cover a vacant schedule. Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 25

Custodial Schedules Provide Value in Various Ways Consider the example of a Kansas school district which had the funds to build a new high school but lacked the operational funds for the custodial staffing. The new high school represented a 20% increase in the square footage of the district. The district faced the need to lay-off several teachers in order to pay for cleaning their new high school. The solution came in using the schedule program to redeploy the custodians with different steps and routes of cleaning to increase their area by 20%: Clear and reasonable job expectations were maintained. The redeployment saved the teacher positions. The managed structure of the schedules kept quality of cleaning within 4% of the quality scores before the change in schedules. Custodial schedules were the key to solving this case of an over $250,000 problem. Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 26

Custodial Schedules Provide Value in Various Ways Custodial schedules are also the key to confirming compliance of outsourced custodial contractors. SMA has been asked on several occasions to write schedules according to the desires of the school district to specifically deploy the contracted employees to meet the needs of the building administration. When each employee has a specific set of standards and a timed route of cleaning, spot checks of the contractor s compliance to specifications can be made on any evening shift. Many building administrators feel loss of control with contracted employees, many complain that they are not even sure that the right number of custodians work the full shift. The schedules give structure with specific duties for all times during the shift, this allows for meaningful inspections of the contractor s performance. Schedules become the voice of building administration when budget constraints require outsourcing. Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 27

Quality Assurance Use e-mail to your advantage. Keep it simple Make quality assurance part of your management flow to meet your customer s needs. Remember 40/60! (logical/political) Quality assurance gives you the information to track the consistency of your program Quality assurance gives your program a more objective evaluation than antidotal stories. Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 28

Quality Assurance Formats: E-Mail 20% of your customers monthly with three simple questions. 1. How clean is your room? 1-5 (5 being Excellent) 2. How clean is our school? 1-5 3. Rate our service? 1-5 Use a form when evaluating with your building administrator CLASSROOMS CORRIDORS, STAIRWELLS Room 1 Room 2 Windows clean? 10 10 Floors finished or carpet cleaned? 20 20 Walls clean and free of spots? 10 10 Corners and baseboard clean? 10 10 Vents clean? 6 6 Walls clean and free of spots? 10 10 Lights clean and clear? 8 8 Lights clean and properly lamped? 10 10 Furniture clean? 10 10 Elevator floors and tracks clean? 12 12 Wastebaskets clean with fresh liner? 8 8 Stairwell walls free of graffiti? 12 12 Floor clean of dirt, dust and litter? 12 12 Fire extinguisher cabinets clean? 6 6 Floor finished or carpet cleaned? 14 14 Vents clean? 7 7 Curtains, draperies clean? 10 10 Drinking fountains clean and 6 6 Chalkboards clean? 12 12 operational? Stairwell ledges and rails clean? 7 7 TOTAL TOTAL Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 29

The Custodial Support Request for Proposal Provide a high quality set of compatible supplies. Provide monthly support visits to inventory the custodial closets and maintain the dispensing stations. The company support coordinator meets monthly with Head Custodians to respond to any needs. Provide eight or more training sessions annually. Provide an annual assessment of the condition and appropriateness of the existing custodial equipment along with recommendations for improvement. Address: Supplies Training Equipment Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 30

Avoid the Obstacles to Custodial Schedule Implementation Issues addressed and solved in the SMA scheduling process: Management and supervision need to buy into the value of scheduling Administration and customers need to resolve any issues on the density of staffing. Make sure implementation doesn t bog down. Schedules need to be written with an alternate set; parallel scenarios are needed because staffing and workload are often different from day to day. Customers should to be involved in the schedule development. Custodians need to have input in the process; they can sequence duties and be asked for their refinements. Copyright 2012 Service Management Assist, LLC 31