ISSA Show Continues Education Opportunities

ISSA Show North America 2022 continued on Tuesday with more opportunities for cleaning professionals to learn information crucial to their success within the industry. Here are just some of the many sessions that attendees have experienced this week.

At Hiring and Retention in Post Pandemic Times, representatives from environmental services (EVS) departments across the country gathered to discuss methods for recruiting and retaining cleaning staff in facilities.

The panelists started with what seemed like an obvious solution—offering a higher salary. However, they soon concluded that if employees are only motivated by who can pay the most money, they will job hop every time they find a company offering a higher salary. Companies that can’t afford to keep raising wages could be at a disadvantage.

Panelist Charlene Gooley, superintendent in training/development and compliance at the University of Chicago Medical Center, reasoned that if retail jobs are paying more than hospital jobs, environmental services workers might not be motivated to remain in the EVS field.

Debbie Good, director of housekeeping at The Glenridge on Palmer Ranch retirement community in Sarasota, Florida, suggested offering employees nonmonetary benefits such as more vacation days and flexible work schedules. Audience members offered solutions that have worked for them, such as offering recruitment bonuses to employees who refer new staff members and presenting gift cards to EVS workers who go above and beyond their regular duties.

Regarding qualified candidates, panelists and audience members had different views regarding whether recruiting workers with cleaning experience was necessary. Mary Vogenthaler, director of housekeeping and laundry services at Oakcrest Retirement Center in DeKalb Illinois, said although previous cleaning experience was helpful, it was not required. “Sometimes it’s easier to take an individual with no experience and mold them to your standards, instead of hiring someone with experience but who has developed bad habits that can be difficult to break,” she said.

At 7 Steps Any Cleaning Business Can Follow to Get Results, Matt Ricketts, chief marketing officer of Maid Central (a provider of management software for cleaning businesses), shared valuable search engine optimization (SEO) strategies that any cleaning company leader can implement to increase traffic, engagement, and profits.

As Ricketts explained, “User experience is more important now more than ever. When you build your site, it’s not just about appearance anymore. It’s about site speed, using modern user experience (UX) concepts for the customer journey, and mobile optimization among other things.”

Ricketts also shared how inbound, outbound, and backlinks are highly important for driving up a site’s TrustRank algorithm and domain authority on Google. To help with this, he recommends using a reputable service to become featured on directories online.

Overall, Ricketts encouraged his audience to track data and conversions to find new ways to optimize their site and appear more trustworthy and valuable to Google. This strategy will help with relevancy and future return on investment.

Check back again tomorrow to learn more about the numerous educational topics being presented at this year’s ISSA Show.