A deep dive into all things cleaning and FM with Mark Hazelwood, Clenetix's co-founder. Can you tell us a bit about your background in FM? I’ve been in the FM industry for almost 30 years. I was intending to join the police force and whilst I was at university studying, I got a job at property management company part-time to cover my going out money. I had the attitude of ‘yes, I can do that’, so it turned into a hugely varied role doing things from transformation projects to supplier reviews. Even at this stage I turned to technology to try and work smarter and not harder. I also started to like the idea of being in a warm office so I didn’t pursue a career in the police force in the end. I went on to join, what was then a division of OCS, in an operations role where I managed a team of engineers, followed by 16 years at Mitie in eight different roles. I started there running a very large cleaning contract for Pfizer in Sandwich. I’ve always used technology in my operational roles and it’s really key to have somebody that knows the business function introducing the technology. I developed technology for multiple projects including Miworld, 24seven, initiatives that won Global FM, BIFM and Contact Centre Awards. I then had a short spell at Atalian Servest before moving on to set up Active Workspace Management and then Clenetix to really use what I have to offer when it comes to technology. What have been the main changes in the cleaning industry during your career? Cleaning has definitely become more of a commodity. People only want to pay for the hours worked and there was traditionally a lot of distrust of the industry that drove technology like time and attendance tracking. I still think there is a perception that operatives and middle managers don’t have the skills to use technology, but this is such an outdated view. I’ve seen a lot of talk over the years about innovation, robotics, microfibre, dosing systems etc, but I am not at all sure this isn’t just to avoid talking about the importance of the fundamentals. These technologies are introduced with the aim of elevating the profile of cleaning because people don’t want to talk about mops and buckets. Actually, we should be more confident in the baseline services we all know and need. Technology and innovation should never be an add on, it should be embedded in the culture of an operation for it to be truly successful. Just needs to be ‘how we do things around here’. In M&E there’s been a lot of talk about relating welfare and safety in the workplace to activity, this rarely happens in cleaning which frustrates me. Cleaning is just as important if not more so, particularly during the Covid pandemic. What’s your favourite thing about working in the FM/cleaning industry? In FM people are grounded and just want to get the job done. If you are facing a crisis, you’d want to be with someone in FM because you know they’d just roll their sleeves up, muck in and get on with it. Collaboration, team spirit and the drive to move forwards is so prevalent in the FM industry. I love the cleaning sector in particular. In fact, I have a real bee in my bonnet about it. I think there’s still quite a patronising view of cleaning and at times it’s seen as the lesser discipline within FM but that’s so unfounded. In one of my roles I was employed as an account manager purely because the client didn’t want to speak directly to a ‘cleaning person’ which is ludicrous. It was in this role that I realised the complexity and significance of the cleaning industry, how good the people were and how little credit they got. There is so much diversity and professionalism in personnel in the cleaning industry and they know their game, inside and out. Do you think people’s perception of the role a cleaner plays will change as a result of the pandemic? Cleaning has certainly been put under the spotlight this year. I think perception has changed but there’s a concern that this could be short-lived. Now a vaccine is starting to be rolled out there’s a risk that people will become less aware and think they are bullet proof. There’s a real risk that the cleaning commodity cycle begins again and we forget COVID ever happened. What positive things do you think we can take into the post-pandemic world? The increased attention to hygiene levels can only be a good thing. This will continue into 2021 and beyond. People have so much more awareness about when things were last cleaned now, things that we’d never have thought of before. Cleaning has become a board level focus and this is where it should stay. The connection between welfare and FM services is much stronger. Collaboration among cleaning and other service lines as well as HR and IT departments is undoubtedly strengthened. Whether this is a revolution or a reaction is yet to be evidenced but I would like to think it’s the former. We’re moving into an age of building better and this is always stronger together. There’s more growth mindset in play now and this year has demanded that to ensure survival. It’s been a case of companies either panicking or innovating themselves out of the crisis. What do you think companies should be doing to ensure the safe return of their workforce? All employers, large or small, must ensure they implement cleaning methodology that is suitable for their specific building(s) to be occupied at an appropriate level. Cleaning regimes need to be demand-based, documented and evidenced for people to not only feel safe, but be safe. Cleaning is a very visual aid to supporting wellbeing. The office will be a very frightening place for some people to return to and employers need to demonstrate that they are taking wellbeing seriously. This is not about talking the talk and displaying a few Covid-safe posters and a leaky bottle of hand sanitiser. Employers need to walk the walk and do so minute-by-minute. What do you think are the biggest challenges faced by the cleaning industry? Commoditisation. Cleaning is not perceived to add any value. It’s at the forefront of cost cutting exercises and left at the mercy of procurement teams. As an industry we need to demonstrate value and confidence in our services to be recognised and positioned higher up the rankings. Re-education of procurement teams also needs to come into the mix. The cleaning industry needs to become much less subservient. Associations like the British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICs) are not nearly vocal enough. Who is shouting from the roof tops on behalf of the cleaning industry? Why have we not been seeing cleaning or FM professionals on the 6 ‘o clock news at any time during the pandemic when FM is the very discipline that’s underpinned the safe opening and closing of every business during this time? BICs and IWFM need to raise the FM profile publicly, not just support people within the industry. The cleaning industry will be hugely impacted by Brexit. We have a large pool of European labour currently and the industry will need to work harder at making the profession more enticing. This comes with elevating the profile and making it an attractive choice. Cleaners have a larger responsibility for wellbeing now and this needs to be remunerated accordingly. Companies should be paying at least the Living Wage for their cleaners. This goes some way in demonstrating that they value the service. How can cleaning be transformed through technology? In order for the industry to transform, tech and innovation must be embedded in the culture of cleaning. It should not be the cherry on the cake, it needs to be a key ingredient in the cake mixture itself. Just as Deliveroo cannot do its job without technology, that is how integrated technology needs to be in cleaning. An IT person should not be brought to sales meetings to bolt on the latest gadgets. Innovation should not just be something that is a carrot dangled at retender either. Every FM needs to have their finger on the technology pulse. Any technology integration should add benefit to the customer and be easily be deployed. So many times, I’ve seen IT systems being deployed that actually make life more difficult. They’re totally wrong for the environment and people don’t know how to use them. Style over substance never wins. It’s all about the user experience. I’m really motivated by developing new technology that adds real value and that is what Clenetix is about. Good use of technology that makes life easier, provides data to improve service delivery and helps demonstrate cleaning professionalism. What’s your advice to someone starting out in the cleaning industry? Networking is a must! Sometimes you can be so obsessed with what you’re doing in your day job that you don’t see the wider picture that we’re all part of. Every generation in the cleaning industry has valuable knowledge and experience to offer. Talk to everyone, young, old and in-between – they know their stuff. Think outside the box and be open minded. Look at what other industries are doing and get creative with how that could benefit the cleaning industry. I’m thinking about the Deliveroo and Just Eat models. A cleaning version that showcased a pool of available, security cleared, BICs registered and trained cleaning talent that companies could dip into would be revolutionary. It would professionalise the cleaning function, give cleaners more flexibility to pick up more hours and contract cleaning companies would have a readily available recruitment resource. The right skills are hard to find and recruitment is tough. Turnover can be huge in cleaning. What’s your vision for the future of the cleaning industry? Cleaning needs to be much higher up the value chain. I’m really passionate about the industry elevating itself. It’s a fantastic, essential industry and it needs a louder voice. We need to make our own voice. We have to turn what we do into communicating the importance of what we do. We are too insular and it’s time to come out of the shadows – the pandemic has accelerated this visibility so we need to keep those cogs turning.