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Contract Cleaning

  • Contract is an agreement between two parties negotiating a business deal.

  • Outsourcing is a business decision to move internal work to an external provider.

  • A contract service provider must be 23-30% more productive than in house staff.

 

Reasons for Contract

  • Management do not have sufficient expertise

  • Specialised company will be more economical

  • Lack of skilled manpower

  • To carry out periodic cleaning task where it is expensive to train staff or purchase such equipments.

 

Use of Contract Services

  • Hotel cleaning

  • Linen – hotel and banquet

  • Equipment and furniture

  • Laundry – complete or part

  • Flower arrangement/ décor

  • Pest control

  • Horticulture

  • Waste management

 

 

Types of Contract

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  • Management fee consultancy services:

Hotel provides its own labour, equipment and material whereas contractor provides only management expertise.

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  • Complete cleaning programme:

All the cleaning responsibility is undertaken by the contractor.

Eg. Mall, hotels

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  • Fixed periodic cost:

  • Provides service for a fixed price.

  • Gives details on frequency of service but does not specify on manning and equipments used.

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  • Fixed periodic cost with controlled input:

Similar to above but specifies the number of manpower used.

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  • Cost plus fixed fee:

  • Hotel pays a fixed fee to the contractor for the services plus a fee which is flexible as per the need of cleaning.

  • Most satisfactory since the service may be varied to meet the changing needs of the hotel.

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  • Selected cleaning:

  • Contractor takes the responsibility to assist the housekeeping staff in a specific task.

  • Public area cleaning.

  • Chandeliers cleaning.

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  • Periodic services

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  • Contracts for furniture’s and equipments

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Contract Specifications

Detailed instruction from the EHK to contractor on how the work is to be done.

  • Duration of contract

  • Frequency of area to be cleaned.

  • Hotel quality expectations

  • Provision for storage areas, lockers

  • Remuneration for the job

 

Guidelines for hiring contract services

  • Detailed specification on number of hours, areas and process of work.

  • Put out tenders and compare at least three quotations of the contractor.

  • Consider the length of contract and notice of termination.

  • Check on the professional quality of the contractor.

  • Ensure to know the names of the people on contract. Eg: Supervisor, staff

  • Check on security arrangements like gate pass, meals, lockers.

  • Availability of references by visiting their other sites.

  • Ensure the contractor is registered and licensed under the contract labour Act 1970.

 

 

Advantages:

  1. Specialist with trained personnel and equipment.

  2. Contractor is responsible for recruiting, training and payment

  3. No capital outlay of equipment. Capital may be used for other investment

  4. Contractor is completely responsible for the work undertaken

  5. Emergency work may be undertaken in short time as they know their area of expertise.

  6. Exact cost of cleaning is known for a given period.

  7. No equipment lying idle.

  8. Contractor deals with industrial relation matters by solving problems between management and union workers

  9. Contractual workers can be terminated faster than the regular employee.

 

Disadvantages:

  1. Less flexibility to change as some control is lost.

  2. Contracting weakens the authority of the management over the quality.

  3. Contracted workers may not have a sense of belonging as they are not a part of hotel.

  4. Housekeeper loses control over the operations.

  5. There may be poor supervision as per the standard procedures.

  6. Natural tendency contract price may lead to lowered standards.

  7. Lowest tendered contract price may lead to lowered standards.

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