The Standard Issue 4 2023
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snacks and with a full bar. Sometimes<br />
it felt like walking into a nightclub the<br />
day after a Hogmanay party! But it<br />
was also a fabulous experience and<br />
provided me with some of the best<br />
examples of team work, good humour<br />
and work place camaraderie that I<br />
have ever experienced. It was a very<br />
humbling experience for me and I<br />
felt guilty for all of those times as an<br />
aircraft dispatcher when I would have<br />
asked the cleaning crews for a “quick<br />
clean” to ensure that we minimised the<br />
risk of the delaying the flight.<br />
COMMERCIAL CLEANING<br />
It was also while I was with DMS that<br />
I got my first experience of cleaning<br />
outside of aviation. DMS had a small<br />
cleaning business in Ireland that had<br />
merged with the aviation business and<br />
became part of my portfolio and so<br />
I was thrown head first into the vast<br />
world of commercial cleaning. Our<br />
client list was very diverse and covered<br />
numerous segments:- Banking (Irish<br />
Nationwide), Production (Dulux,<br />
Kerry Gold) Healthcare (National<br />
Orthopaedic Hospital) Government<br />
and local authorities (National<br />
Libraries) and there were over 200<br />
small “Daily Office Cleaning” clients<br />
as well, so I built up quite a bit of<br />
experience of managing cleaning<br />
operations over the next 2-3 years.<br />
<strong>The</strong>n in 2012 I joined my current<br />
company, ISS Facilities Services<br />
one of the leading Global Facilities<br />
Management Companies<br />
headquartered in Copenhagen, as<br />
Operations Director for the Transport<br />
Division in the UK, becoming<br />
Managing Director in 2017 for the<br />
Cleaning and Transport Business<br />
and then moving into my new role as<br />
Head of Product and Performance<br />
UK&I for Cleaning and Waste Services<br />
in 2021. I have to say that ISS really<br />
are a fabulous people company –<br />
it is genuinely a place where you will<br />
be supported to learn and develop into<br />
the best that you can possibly be. It is<br />
absolutely a "place to be you".<br />
THE IMPORTANCE OF GREAT<br />
QUALITY TRAINING<br />
I took on my current role just as ISS<br />
launched its new Global OneISS<br />
strategy which is all about providing<br />
standardised products and services<br />
using the same equipment, chemicals<br />
and methods across all customer<br />
locations and all countries, so that<br />
our customers can experience the<br />
same service excellence no matter<br />
which global site they are visiting.<br />
This was a big move for me, away<br />
from the comfort of operations and<br />
P&L accounts and into the world of<br />
Support Services with a focus on<br />
product development, deployment<br />
and performance improvement.<br />
Over the last two years my team<br />
have worked closely with ISS Group<br />
colleagues, key suppliers, operations,<br />
our learning and development<br />
colleagues and with BICSc to adapt<br />
and deploy across the UK&I our<br />
new global standard office cleaning<br />
product – Pure Space Office (PSO).<br />
<strong>The</strong> adaptation programme also<br />
included the development of a<br />
comprehensive training programme<br />
and train the trainer familiarisation<br />
process – a three-day immersive<br />
programme that ensures that the<br />
new product is fully understood<br />
by operations trainers before the<br />
product training is delivered to our<br />
front-line staff. <strong>The</strong> team also created<br />
an e-learning option and we are now<br />
looking forward to adapting and<br />
rolling out the next additions to the<br />
Pure Space range for the Production<br />
and Healthcare segments.<br />
One of the most important<br />
achievements that we were able<br />
to accomplish though for PSO was<br />
for our new training programme to<br />
be developed in consultation with<br />
BICSc which ensured the product was<br />
compliant to BICSc own very high<br />
standards which now allows anyone<br />
who has gone through the training to<br />
sit the BICSc Licence to Practice (LTP)<br />
assessment which can represent the<br />
start of a formal learning journey and<br />
industry recognised qualifications for<br />
many people undertaking a career<br />
in cleaning. I am very proud to say<br />
that I have my LTP having sat the<br />
assessment in 2022. <strong>The</strong> provision of<br />
high-quality training for the cleaning<br />
industry is at the heart of everything<br />
that BICSc stands for and in ISS I am<br />
delighted to work for a company that<br />
shares those same values.<br />
A CAREER IN CLEANING<br />
– WHY NOT?<br />
<strong>The</strong> cleaning industry is a fabulous<br />
place to build a career but not many<br />
people leave school hoping to do that.<br />
Most people get into the industry by<br />
chance (that’s what happened to me)<br />
but I suspect very few people leave<br />
the industry once they are there.<br />
Hopefully the progress and recognition<br />
of the importance of the sector that<br />
we have seen over the last few years<br />
will continue in the future, and much<br />
needed developments like the new<br />
Cleaning Apprenticeship scheme will<br />
provide the momentum that we need<br />
to continue on this journey and give so<br />
many people a platform into a life-long<br />
career the chance they need.<br />
As my fellow BICSc Council Member<br />
Darrin McCartney said in his recent<br />
article “you have a wonderful<br />
opportunity to have a lifetime career<br />
in one of the world’s oldest and<br />
most satisfying vocations, and one<br />
that is now getting the long overdue<br />
recognition that it deserves”. Why not<br />
take a chance and give it a try…you<br />
might just like it!<br />
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