The Scrub S2E4: Employee Appreciation for Cleaning Businesses with Gloria Strauthers

Improve your organization's marketing and sales as well as management and field operations by tuning in to the Scrub. Welcome to another episode of the Scrub. I am Sam Clayton. We got Kaden Hutchins and we are on the executive team here at Clean Intelligence Software. Excited to bring you another episode. To recap what we talked about last year time we were talking about employee retention and how it is key to an organization's competitiveness, the productivity of that organization. And we discovered that a major factor in employee retention is employee appreciation, which is what we are going to be talking about more today, which is exciting. We also had the Porcelain thought where we talked about clarity. Clarity never faileth. Good managers provide clarity to their employees about why they are doing what they are doing. And I think that clarity really drives people, helps them feel more successful as they move through it. Caden, any thoughts as we based on what we talked about last week before we dive into today?

No, I'm excited to bring in our guest and it's going to be a fun episode today.

Okay, well, let's dive right into it. Let's not waste any time here. We're going to be talking to Gloria Strothers and let's get going. Gloria Strothers is principal consultant at Exodus Management and Consulting. She is a multi industry credentialed professional who volunteers as a certified score business mentor, guiding small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs in business growth and development. Gloria, welcome to the Scrub. So excited to have you here. An awesome opportunity to get to know you a little bit and get your take on employee appreciation and why it matters. But before we do, tell us a little bit about yourself, about your journey and how you got started in this industry. What got you to where you are today.

Thank you. Well, first of all, again, thank you for inviting me. This is an awesome opportunity. How I got started in the cleaning industry is kind of, kind of, you know, I don't know how to say it, so to speak, but I've been cleaning all my life. But it really started to make sense after my particular experience in property management. I did that for five years. I oversold property, the maintenance and repairs, and then that included cleaning contractors as well. So I did that about five years. And in 2014 I actually entered into higher ed, overseeing building operations, which actually included custodial staff. I was always intuitive and structured in my approach to checking behind custodial staff, making sure they met our cleaning standards, but it never really made sense in 2015 when I became a registered environmental services executive through IH IEHA. Then it all Makes sense to me.

Right.

And so since that time, I've been passionate about, you know, cleaning industry and our custodial staff making sure that they're educated and that they get the information that they need to become successful.

That is awesome.

I love that you use the wording becoming educated, which is, you know, the rock star cleaner mindset from Dave, which was on a former episode. So I love, I love the terminology.

Hey, like, minds think alike.

That's right. It's all about educating those individuals beyond just training. Right. Like telling them why, why does it matter? Right. And that, actually, that's a good segue into our next question for you. So, Gloria, what or why, why does employee appreciation matter? When you look at how you were working with these individuals on the front lines or even in management or upper level, when you work with individuals, why does employee appreciation matter?

Well, because of the shifting environment, for one thing. What mattered then to me in 2015 does not necessarily matter now because the trend is money is no longer a motivating factor for these employees. Work life balance is. And so in order to kind of bridge that particular from then to now, you have to understand that humans, your employees, they are humans first and employees second. So you always have to remember that your employees are human and you must be attuned to their personal issues and take time out to really talk to them and get a feel of who they are as a person. So understanding what actually motivates them as an employee can give you greater insight on what you can do as a manager to help them succeed.

Love that. Employee appreciation for me is, like you said, it's really kind of touching. The heartstrings getting to that point. It's beyond just giving them, hey, here's a money bonus, right? Yeah. Like you said, now it's work life balance. Like, do we understand that there's a mental health aspect to all this and how are we going to help them take it to the next level and make them feel like they're taken care of rather than, again, an employee, then a human? It's the other way around, right? They're humans and then their employees. KADEN, THOUGHTS?

So, O.C. tanner, they did an employee engagement survey, and 37% of the respondents said that more personal recognition and engagement would encourage them to produce better work. And I love Gloria, what you said about, like, money isn't the only factor, especially nowadays, it's how much are they appreciated and recognized for the work that they do. Anyways, I just, I agree with it. It's awesome.

So, so I think too a level of it when it comes to effective management, when we see it's not just the cleaning industry, every industry has this issue of retaining employees, excuse me. And it's how you take care of them and what you know about them and how you're building relationships with them so that they trust you and they know that you have their well being in your best interest. I think that goes a long way. So love that. Love the response that you shared. Another question. How can managers create a culture that prioritizes employee appreciation?

Well, when you think about it, historically in the cleaning industry, their custodial staff are actually thought of as uneducated, unskilled individuals. Like they're the lower person on a totem pole. So if that's incorporated into the fabric of your culture from top down, it's going to automatically be shared in the organization. So therefore you have more organizations wanting to keep the custodial cleaning in the background. With me when I go out to hotels, when I'm on various trips, I love to see them out front. I love to see them cleaning because it tells me that the organization values their perception. So when it comes to making, incorporating that into your fabric of your organization, you have to consider what we call mattering. That is a concept that is now being utilized to offset the great resignation, as we call it. So when you think about it, you have to look at it from the employee's vantage point, not what you perceive is happening in your organization. You can do things like, well, we give them employee recognition. Every cleaning thing, we do this for them, we do that. But that's not enough. You have to think of it as a two dimensional aspect. What I mean by that, both dimensions are actually communicated. If you listen to your employees when they say things like, I feel my work is recognized by others, or I feel my work has a positive impact on the organization. Those things kind of represent one, the recognition piece and then the other the achievement piece. So if you're not recognizing and you know, demonstrating them how their work plays into the overall scheme of the organization, it really doesn't make sense to them. Right. You have to think of it like from a systems thinking process. How does this whole, this particular entity fits into the whole of the organization? What do I do as a cleaning professional? How does that play into the overall mission of the organization? And what I mean by that, you can do things like have a counter for every person that comes into your building, every person that comes into your organization have a counter up there. You know how they have 500 days without a work injury. Hey, put. You saved 300 lives today. You saved 200 lives, or you saved one life. Let them know how what they do impacts your organization, like utilizing correct products and not wastefulness. You saved us $5,000 this month in products and supplies. So if you can correlate how their particular role fits into your organization, I really feel that's how you incorporate a culture of your employees, feeling appreciated.

And I absolutely love that.

That's. That just.

That rang true. It was one of those things that, I mean, back in the day, I used to clean aspects of different buildings and, you know, the appreciation to do that job, it's not just easy work. And it really is disappointing when people think, oh, that's like the bottom of the totem pole. You're. You're a janitor. And I'm like, are you kid. Like, the fabric of society depends on our cleanliness. And I promise you, no matter where I am in public, and this isn't just because I'm in the cleaning industry as a person, but I'm always thinking about the table I'm eating at or especially the hotel I am staying in. And I love one thing that you said. You didn't say it exactly this way, so I apologize if this skews it. But I wish that one way for the organization to take a more dedicated approach to recognizing these employees is to do it publicly, just like, internally, like, hey, you're an employee of the month. But putting them in the forefront. Like, sometimes it's like, oh, cleaners are the unsung and unseen heroes. Like, happens at night. I don't think it's a bad thing that they're out there during the day to a certain extent. Like, guests are coming in, but you don't want them to be in the way. But I also love that they can be seen. And there's something about seeing something be cleaned that just gives me the confidence that I'm in a safe environment that's being taken care of, so.

Exactly. And I love this. Like I said, especially when you're home away from home and you see them taking pride in vacuuming, you see them taking pride in and disinfecting your surfaces. I mean, it just tells you about that organization and how they feel about you as a customer. Yeah, so that was spot on there.

I.

We all do it at our personal homes, right? We take pride ourselves in making sure our desks and everything are clean or our homes. And, you know, that that same respect and appreciation really, really does need to Be for those who do it for the rest of the public. So.

So I just, I just wanted to share the image of Inspector Kaden Hutchins going into a hotel room while we're at a trade show and just literally throwing the white glove on, like, kay, I've done this place out. It's like, okay, well, let them do their job, you know?

Yeah.

But before we get to the final question we have for you, Gloria, piggyback off of both of you. Like, recognition helps employees see that the company has values and that they care about the outcome. Right. And that their contributions on the front line help the success of the team of the company. And so I think, like you said, Gloria, that is a particularly key ingredient to an organization's growth and change. Right. It helps employees build a sense of security and the value of the company, and it motivates them to continue to do great work. And that's where that cultural piece comes in. Like, help them see the vision and how it's helping the greater cause or the bigger picture. Right. And I love the visual of like, hey, throw up on the wall or the board or the big TV that, hey, this is how many lives you saved, or this is how much money you have saved the company because of your effort, your proactiveness, what you're trying to help the company achieve. And that's ultimately health and safety of the patrons that you're serving. Right. So awesome. And we didn't want to take too much of your time. So just in closing, what are other insights, tips, tricks? Kaden calls it the golden nugget. What could you share with our listeners to help them take care of their frontline team? What are your final thoughts on that? My.

Management and leadership. And one thing I want to caution managers is to really avoid what I call deficit based coaching or deficit based leadership. And what I mean by that, everyone dress the annual performance, right? And they're doing this checkbox where you didn't do this, you didn't meet this, that essentially causes an employee to feel like they're not good enough. No matter how hard they work, they're not meeting those boxes. Right. And so that particular strategy that is actually implemented can actually break down an employee's ability to feel like they're actually, that their work matters. And so when you begin to do that, the employee never sees how they appreciate it because you've told them consistently that you're not good enough, you're only good enough around this time of the year, or you're only good enough around this. And so you tend to start basing your actions or focusing on unproductive behaviors rather than focusing on their strengths. So that is one way that you can continually shift the culture in your organization, for a better word, to a culture of continual appreciation, continued recognition. I understand that you have weaknesses, but I feel like if I build upon your strengths, like showing up to work on time, saving the company money, demonstrating your ability to communicate effectively with our customers, those are things that create a sense of belonging. You know, saying things like, hey, Bob, I saw you went in work today, everything okay? That statement alone lets them know, hey, they actually noticed that I wasn't here. So that is one thing. If I was to just leave a little nugget there is to really avoid deficit based coaching and leading because that along itself breaks down the fabric of an organization's culture. Because employees tend to feel like no matter what they do, it doesn't matter because they're not checking those boxes, because you're consistently spending time coaching, leading to that particular aspect of an employee's performance rather than grooming them and focusing on their strengths or how they can move up in the organization, how they can add value to their team, how they can add value to a project. So that is what I would ultimately leave with you guys today.

That is amazing. Great insight. Love it. We often share the bad when really there's a lot of good to be highlighted, right?

Yeah.

Especially in this industry. Oftentimes they're only brought up or problems are only brought up when it's the bad side, Right?

Exactly.

But when you have things in place to help those employees see the good, too. And we as managers or executives of companies, if we can help them see the good and also the bad, to help them, you know, become better.

Right.

There's always room for improvement. But I love how you put that like, it's not just about the bad. There's good and bad and those things have a balance. So express the good as much as you can and as often as you can for those employees. All right, Gloria, thank you so much for joining us today. We really appreciate your time. You have a good one.

Thank you.

Gloria Strothers, everybody. Great to have her on the show. We really appreciate the time she's taken to give us some insights on employee appreciation and why it matters and how you can build a culture to give the employees that are working alongside you that recognition that they deserve and that they. They need.

Right.

Kaden, thoughts on what Gloria shared? Any big ones that stood out?

Yeah. So today's Porcelain thought would Be like the sandwich or the burger.

I had the same thought. It's the big bag of sandwich.

Yeah. It's one of those principles that I have got to improve on myself as a leader. I gotta get better at it. But there is so much good that an employee does that often just doesn't get focused on or called out upon that when issues happen. Because they will. When issues happen, it tends like, let me back up an employee. Forget employees. Let me back up even further. Human beings are. Our self are our biggest critics. Right? We are our biggest critics. And outside of just becoming aware when we do something wrong, when we know we did something wrong or we messed up, we are the biggest critic to ourselves. So I tried to address my leadership style in understanding that they probably 99% of the time already beaten themselves up about the fact that they might have done something wrong. So how am I going to come in as a leader and say, here's everything you're doing Amazing. By the way, I did notice, and you probably already noticed this yourself, here's where we need to make some adjustments, and here's where we need to make some improvements in order for us to get better. But by the way, here's also another five layers of what you're doing. Great. So keep up the great work. Right. Then, that area of improvement, not only one is probably heard, right? Heard in a light that it was a positive interaction for them, even though there's something that needs to be improved. But two, the respect level and appreciation for you as a leader just went up. Right. As an employee, they see you in a light that allows them to be like, hey, you know what? They really, truly care about my success. And I'm glad I could have that conversation with them because it helps me grow as an individual. Hey, and by the way, I just felt like it was in a safe spot. Now I want to do the same to my manager. I want to share with them, here's what you're doing. Well, by the way, here's one area of improvement that could really help me. And then here's a bunch of other things that you're doing really well. And I appreciate you as a leader.

Right.

It goes both ways. When a leader starts it, it's just something that will only benefit the employee and then in return can benefit them in learning about an area of improvement themselves. So that's my Porcelain thought for today is think of a hamburger when you're thinking of employee recognition.

All I was thinking of is every time I think of Porcelain thought, I think of the fist under the chin. Sitting on the porcelain. Really in thought. But now I just pictured my other hand with a. With a sandwich. So I'm sitting on the porcelain having thoughts about the importance of a good basset. No, that doesn't work. Okay, well, that's a little gross. Hey, porcelain thoughts. You know, that's just what I thought when you said, hey, take your sandwich and run with it. Well, I'm sitting on the porcelain and eating my sandwich.

There you go.

All right, well, that is our episode. Thanks so much for listening. Make sure you subscribe and follow if you haven't yet, and we will catch you next time on the Scrub. Thanks for listening.

We'll see you, everyone.

3, 2, 1.

Sam.