contract cleaners

Reconciling the risk and reward of cleaners’ flexible hours

male cleaner working in an office corridor

If you offer your cleaners the option of choosing when they work at client sites you will know that this involves both risk and reward. Employees who have greater freedom to fit their work commitments around their personal lives are likely to reward you by being more reliable, loyal and motivated. On the other hand, you run a bigger risk of work not being delivered within the hours specified in your client contract – which means spending more of your time monitoring when and where work has been delivered. There is a way to reconcile these two apparently conflicting aspects of flexible working, however: easyLog’s +Sb staff scheduling software.

At easyLog we have a growing group of cleaning company customers using our staff scheduling systems. Listening to them, we have added functionality that delivers ease of use with the detailed monitoring and reporting efficiencies they require – and at a sensible price that they have been unable to find elsewhere. Starting from £60 plus VAT per month for up to 25 cleaners, our +Sb scheduling solution provides a phone-based attendance recording app for each cleaner, scheduling functionality, pay analysis and reporting software on a managed cloud platform with daily backup, on-line training and telephone support – a complete solution, all developed and provided within the UK.

So, how does this all work?

Cleaners download an app from the Play or Apple stores and enter a code that automatically sets up their phones to link with the scheduling and reporting software that you use. They then go to a site, open the app and scan a QR code that you have printed and placed at each location to uniquely identify it. QR codes are generated for free on the internet. The employee does the same again when they leave the client’s site. These attendance records are automatically transferred into the software and compared in real time against the schedule of work on the staff rota. You can define if you require on-screen alerts or emails generated if a cleaner has not arrived. Similarly, the cleaner has a panic button on the app to create an alert if they have a problem.

Greater efficiency and control

If the cleaner has worked for the agreed period within the defined time bands then there is no further action to take – those hours will be passed into the Pay Report and analysed to the correct pay rate. An Authorisation routine highlights per cleaner any hours where the required cleaning period has not been met. Settings in the software allow the user to define any permitted leeway if attendance is shorter than the period defined, for example no tolerance or up to five minutes. The parameters can also draw attention to where extra time has been spent at the site thereby flagging the possibility of additional client charges and payment for the employee.

Analysed pay reports can then be produced across any period with hours broken down by the different pay bands that may apply for working during weekdays, weekends, bank holidays and so on. There is then the option to export the finished report into a third party payroll product, such as Sage, creating yet more efficiency in the process of producing employee payslips.

Explore further

If you would like to know more about what the easyLog+Sb solution could do for your cleaning business, please call us on 01892 834406, send us an email or visit the cleaning management software section of our website. You can also watch a video about managing flexishifts with our software.

Posted by administrator in Business support, Cleaning contractor software, Flexible working, Latest news, Mobile worker tracking, Payroll analysis, QR code and biometric clocking, Rota software, Scheduling software, Smartphone app, Time and attendance, Timesheets

New web pages showcase re-launched cleaning management services

As a long-standing supplier of products and services to the contract cleaning industry, we understand that cleaning service providers are looking for convenience, efficiency and flexibility as well as excellent value for money – so we have freshened up our cleaning management web pages to make choosing the right solution quicker and easier.

Our improved web pages now show all available services in a clear and concise format with relevant links and screen shots. Two areas that are likely to be of particular interest are our various clocking devices, which can be used to track cleaner activity, and mobile apps that enable managers to estimate job costing and perform assessments and quality management on the move.

easyLog’s software suite for contract cleaners enables you to mix and match from the following management functions:

  • Ensure staff are arriving and leaving on time at unmanaged locations
  • Calculate time spent at each location and produce reports on total working hours over any period
  • Enable workers to log the cleanliness status of a site
  • Assess job times and costs using specialist options

All functionality is available on mobile devices or PC-based systems so you can choose whether to work on the move or from a desk.

Find out more on our re-launched contract cleaning software web pages.

Posted by administrator in Cleaning contractor software, Clocking and employee attendance, Scheduling software