House keeping staff in an apartment society
Every apartment society requires good and hardworking staff to serve its residents. An apartment society, with a good and honest set of housekeeping staff, should also hire the best security guards as it is one of the key responsibilities.
Housekeeping staff in an apartment:
Housekeeping staff manage the basic cleaning tasks in an apartment. They clean the common areas of an apartment and perform wide range of tasks such as dumping trash, wiping down sinks and dusting and vacuuming rooms. Housekeeping staff’s duty is to maintain a clean environment.
Common areas:
Common area cleaning service is one of the important services offered by housekeeping companies or facility management services. Common areas in an apartment include lobbies, corridors, stairways, parking lots, spots, ramps, washing machines or laundry room, roof of an apartment building, elevators, washrooms in lobby area, driveways and store rooms.
Common areas often exist in apartments, gated communities, condominiums, cooperatives and shopping malls. Every co-owner is entitled to walk upon and enjoy each and every space of the common area. Apartment owners association or managing committee ensures that common areas are maintained clean and free from encroachment.
The society can either hire a personnel staff or a service provider for housekeeping.
Outsourcing the housekeeping services in an apartment:
Housekeeping is basically a labour intensive industry and to outsource these functions is an effective business strategy adopted by various apartments. Professional housekeeping firm takes care of all the maintenance requirements of an apartment complex.
Services offered by professional cleaning companies:
- The common area cleaning and facility management.
- Domestic cleaning, rug cleaning, general maintenance, clean the dirt, dust, mud and other debris of construction.
- The end of tenancy cleaning, the after construction and renovation clean-up.
- They offers a team of employees or skilled experts in cleaning terraces, kitchen stewarding, housing society offices, gym maintenance, entire backyard of the house, garden maintenance, facade cleaning, pest control, exterior window cleaning, public areas, laundry services, horticulture, marble polishing, floor care, certain engineering services, carpet care, wet area management, entire compound, etc.
- Vacuuming all carpeted areas along with dusting the ceiling and lights and removing cobwebs.
- Energy conservation and environmental issues.
- Dusting and polishing all common skirting boards, windows, window frames, doors, mirrors, lift doors, door handles.
- Clean hallways and stairs, elevators and reception.
- Perform entire cleaning and undertake minor repairs to all common areas.
Why an apartment should have housekeeping services?
Adopting good housekeeping practices will reduce the capital cost. It involves changes that result in reduced emissions, wastes, operational costs and increased productivity along with increased workplace safety. It also contributes to:
Prevent accidents and fires in an apartment.
Reduces disposal costs in an apartment.
More effective use of space within the work place.
Creates better hygienic conditions which lead to improved health conditions.
Reduces operation and handling time.
How to implement housekeeping?
Housekeeping practices can be implemented through various initiatives such as;
Waste segregation.
Preventative maintenance program to ensure that maintenance problems do not go unchecked.
Provide training and awareness to the staff.
Effective supervision.
Ensure employee participation.
Proper monitoring.
Inventory control.
Ensure workplace tidiness and safety.
Qualities of housekeeping staff:
Skills and personal traits:
Housekeeping staff that comes in guest or apartment members contact should be groomed well. They should be well dressed, should have pleasant personality, cooperativeness, should be polite, honest, must have physical fitness and hygienic.
An apartment should hire housekeeping staff that are well versed in different languages. They should be taught to pay attention to minute details.
Duties of housekeeping staff:
Their duty is to maintain rooms and common areas clean.
Supervising housekeeping staff:
The apartment society can hire a manager to supervise the housekeeping staff. The housekeeping staff should be supervised on a regular basis and should be signed off on their time sheets and ensure that they meet the cleanliness standards and guidelines of the apartment. The supervising team should provide all the cleaning supplies and ensure that the housekeeping staff is regular.
Education and experience of the housekeeping staff:
Minimum education is required for housekeeping staff. It is not mandatory that they should have prior experience in order to apply for a housekeeping job. They can always be trained.
Security:
An apartment society should issue an ID card to every housekeeping staff in order to maintain security within the apartment. The working hours of the individuals should be specified along with their monthly salaries and bonuses. Also number of leaves should be mentioned.
Important pointers while choosing a security agency:
- Consider the reliability quotient which is involved with the security agency. The apartment management committee should ensure the number of shifts the security agency provides is adequate.
- It is important to take previous experience into account while hiring security personnel. Guards should have undergone proper training on all security related issues, should be decent and well behaved.
- Consider the flexibility of security personnel because they should be able to support the maintenance crew if there are any sudden requirements, and they should also know how to administer the first aid in case of an emergency.
While employing domestic servants:
- At any instance, servants should not be appointed based on mere references made by their acquaintance or relatives.
- Collect the details of the servants, including photographs, finger prints, details of previous employer and submit them at the nearest police stations along with their contact numbers as a precautionary measure.
- Avoid giving access to relatives and friends of servants.
- Avoid displaying jewellery and valuables to him/her in the house.
- Good ‘references’ are not enough. Some who come with a good reference might be tempted to steal if they are exposed to valuables.
- It is advisable not to talk of money or valuables in his/her presence.
- Treat domestic servants with dignity.
- Keep your servant under your close observation always for any undesirable or suspicious activities and take action accordingly.
- Never let your servant know the places where cash, jewellery, valuables and important keys are kept.
