There is little doubt that the Governments announcement of the new Living Wage a few months back is great news for those working for or in the region of the current minimum wage.

Workers definitely deserve to be rewarded for what they do and this will enforce a more realistic payment for those who need it the most. From a business point of view, it will be challenge and an opportunity as clients who use contractors like us will look for an increase in productivity and efficiencies to ensure they achieve the best value for the money they spend. Working closely with clients, looking at ways to improve what we do through training, scheduling and even the introduction of innovative systems and equipment to improve the speed and quality of the cleaning will become even more important.

When the recession struck back in 2008 some customers had to cut costs and the service industry suffered badly. Keeping costs manageable in any business is paramount and this will continue to be so. We’ve been lucky in the fact that our overhead is low and the money clients spend with us is spent on the cleaning and management of their sites rather than on rents, rates, franchise fees and a myriad of other business costs which may have to be met. Having a management team who have been with us for many years and understand the customer’s requirements will certainly place us in a position of strength and enable us to take on more business and continue our growth plan.

As businesses that use contract cleaners look at ways of ensuring they are getting best value, we’ll be in a great position to benefit and increase our customer base just because of the way we operate and the talented people we have working with us. Times are changing and we’re in good shape to embrace those changes.