I think, like most businesses, since March 2020 when the pandemic caught up with us here in the UK it’s been a difficult time for everyone. At that time, in the space of a month, we lost 60% of our business as offices, schools and some factories literally closed their doors.

Of course, our first thought were for the staff who were affected by sites closing down and thank goodness the furlough scheme came along to help everyone from what would have been a terrible situation. Between April and August 2020 we had up to 220 of our staff on furlough and it was so good when clients began to reopen towards the end of 2020. The second close down after Christmas hit hard again but this time not as many customers totally shut down. Rather than the 60% the first time around, it was more like 35% which did mean some going back on to the furlough scheme but not nearly as many.

Thankfully, as we started to recover and we started to quote for business once again it became clear very quickly that we’d get back what we’d lost in a very short space of time. Thanks to our sales, administration and operations teams working tirelessly to get customers up and running, employing additional staff and starting new accounts we’re now trading above where we were back in March 2020! This September we have ‘on boarded’ 40 new members of staff (so far) with more ready to join over the coming weeks. It’s all very positive news and gives everyone the confidence of job security and ongoing opportunities to grow with us. Getting our people to be the best that they can be is, after all, the most important thing.

We’ve got big plans. ‘Your CleanHub’ our new bespoke portal is being rolled out across the business and the feedback so far has been excellent. Giving the customers what they need from a practical and compliance point of view is so important these days. We’re in no doubt that the portal will be instrumental in future growth and in turn, rewarding staff across the business.

We’ve just got to keep it going now.