How to schedule cleaning staff for your cleaning company

Start with your recurring jobs

Recurring jobs are the backbone of your schedule. List them all first, before you even think about people. One-off jobs come afterwards, in the space that is left.

For each recurring job, write down at least the following:

• Frequency: daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly
• Duration of a visit, based on the time actually worked rather than an estimate from years ago
• Time window: when cleaning is allowed, for example before 8 am or after closing time
• Access: key, badge or an on-site contact person
• Special points: specific products, rooms that must not be entered

Group jobs by area

Travel time between clients is paid time that you usually cannot charge for. So divide your clients by area or town and try to keep each cleaner within one area per day. Pay attention to the order too: plan a route that flows logically instead of driving back and forth.

Keep the time windows in mind. Two clients on the same street do not help much if one is only available early in the morning and the other only in the evening. Start with the jobs that have the strictest time windows and fit the rest around them.

Match the right cleaner to the right location

Clients appreciate a familiar face. A cleaner who knows a location works more smoothly, knows where everything is and notices sooner when something is wrong. So aim for continuity: the same cleaner at the same location for as long as possible.

Also consider:

• Skills: for example using a scrubber dryer, windows or medical rooms
• Language: can the cleaner communicate easily with the client or the on-site contact
• Transport: does the cleaner have a car, or can the location be reached by public transport
• Keys and access: who holds the badge or key for which location

Respect contract hours and rest periods

Do not schedule anyone beyond their contract hours unless agreed, and respect the statutory rest periods within a working day and between two working days. Check the rules of joint committee 121 and your work regulations to see what applies to your staff, and if in doubt, ask your social secretariat.

An overfull schedule looks efficient, but it leads to fatigue, mistakes and staff turnover. A cleaner who consistently works too many hours will drop out sooner or later. Equally, someone who gets too few hours is more likely to leave.

Build in buffer and replacements

Sickness and leave always come at the worst possible moment. Do not wait until it happens to look for a solution; build the cover into your schedule. Here is how to prepare:

• Leave room in the week of a few cleaners so they can step in
• Make sure at least two cleaners know each location
• Schedule leave as early as possible and spread it across the year
• Agree with clients which jobs can be moved and which cannot
• Appoint a team lead who quickly arranges a replacement when someone is absent

Create a checklist per location

A checklist per location sets out what needs to happen at every visit and what only comes up weekly or monthly. It helps replacements get started without explanation, makes the agreements with the client clear and gives your team lead a basis for checking quality.

Keep it short and concrete: per room, the tasks, the frequency and any points of attention, such as a room that must stay locked or where the waste goes.

Go through the checklist with the client and the cleaner at the start of every new job. Update it as soon as the agreements change, so it always matches what you invoice.

Communicate the schedule at a fixed moment

Send the schedule for the following week at the same time every week, for example on Friday afternoon. Your cleaners then know when to expect it and can organise themselves.

After that, only send changes. Someone who receives a completely new schedule every day will eventually stop reading it. A short message about what has changed, with the job, the location and the time, does get noticed.

Choose one channel and stick to it. If the schedule arrives by text one week, on paper the next and then by e-mail, someone will always miss a change. Also make sure every cleaner can easily find their own schedule on their phone, with the address, time and access details for each job.

Review your schedule every week

Look back every week: which jobs overran, where were there conflicts, who consistently ended up with too many or too few hours? Adjust job durations based on the time actually worked, so your schedule becomes more realistic week after week.

A scheduling tool makes this a lot easier. In Cleaniro you set up a recurring job once and place it in the schedule for a whole period. Conflicts and hours outside a cleaner's working hours are flagged. You publish the schedule to your cleaners' app and by e-mail, can set an automatic sending rule, such as every Friday at 17:00, send only the changes and get a replacement suggestion when someone is absent.