Green & Gold Cleaning Ramping Up for COVID Re-Opening, Growing Demand
by Larry Fisher
Business is booming for Green & Gold Cleaning.
With the province gradually re-opening and the business sector returning to work, cleanliness is going to be a top priority for everyone from companies to customers. Already, Green & Gold’s services are in high demand and that is expected to continually increase in the coming weeks and months.
“We have definitely been busier because of COVID-19,” said Ken Parker, one of three co-owners for Green & Gold Cleaning, noting they have hired 12 part-time employees in addition to their 55 regular staff members.
“We are ramping up, getting ourselves ready for more calls. We have an operations manager and a director of operations in the Okanagan area that are very prepared to go in and do site assessments — to give quotations based on square footage and the extent of the cleaning. We’ve got quite a range of capabilities and we’re more than ready with manpower to handle extra jobs.”
The boom may be just beginning for the cleaning industry as other businesses prepare to re-open with improved standards and additional precautions.
Green & Gold’s staff are fully prepared — both operational and functional, having already adapted their procedures and protocols.
“We’ve had to step up our game quite a bit to make sure that the standards are met,” Parker said. “In the Okanagan area, we do a lot of medical and dental businesses. Obviously, the healthcare companies and authorities are very particular with everything that we do.”
There are more challenges, which could become overwhelming for some companies, but Green & Gold Cleaning has managed to meet and exceed expectations thanks to several internal measures.
Besides using best practices, equipment and supplies — including PPE — Green and Gold Cleaning provides plenty of training and testing for their employees as well as supervision. Furthermore, they seek feedback from their clients through a questionnaire that rates 10 different aspects of their service on a scale from 1 to 10.
“It’s being more proactive than reactive,” said Parker. “The biggest concern we have is the training — including a number of specialty techniques that are necessary now — and ensuring that those processes are implemented all the time. But one of the things that differentiates us from a lot of our competition is the supervisory roles. We make sure that our supervisors get into all of our buildings and review the quality of work of our cleaners periodically and assess their cleaning skills.”
It’s evident that Green & Gold Cleaning is proactive in everything they do — for their clients as well as their employees.
“With that specialized training, we’ve had to put out a manual for our cleaners to make sure that they have all of those policies and procedures in written format to review from time to time. And we do tests with them, to ensure that they have read and understand that information as well,” said Parker. “At our workplaces, we also have a chart on the wall outlining what needs to be cleaned each day and the frequency of those cleanings, so that the cleaners have a guideline in there and as a reminder. That way, if for some reason they are absent or sick, the replacement or cross-trained person also has the reference point to see and double check what needs to be done or hasn’t been done.”
As for the type of cleaning that is being done in the present, much of it is preventative in nature and more thorough than ever before.
“With the COVID-19 issues, companies have come to us and asked for extra high-touch cleaning. High touch meaning all the surfaces that are touched a high number of times, so bannisters and railings, door handles, washroom latches, toilet flushers, toilet seats, sinks and taps and whatnot,” said Parker. “One of the facilities that we clean in Kelowna is currently closed because of the COVID-19, but they have contacted us to do a top-to-bottom cleaning for them. That includes steam cleaning and infection process throughout the entire 4,000 square feet of space. Ideally, that type of a deep clean we prefer to do on a weekend when there is nobody there, but now that it is closed, it’s perfect for us to get in there and complete the job without a rush.”
Indeed, this is the perfect time for a deep clean prior to re-opening.
“It’s just a way of starting fresh and starting clean,” Parker said, recommending the high-touch cleaning. “That should definitely be considered by most companies because the viruses have been shown in various studies to stay around for quite some time on different surfaces. One study showed that even in post-positive patients now negative, viruses were found to be present and active in feces for a period thereafter. And, of course, moving forward everything is going to be different as far as space and concerns of contamination. So maybe (the deep clean) should be done on a quarterly basis.”
Green & Gold Cleaning has been successful in keeping up with the growing demand. They are still accepting new clients and assuring timely service.
“We’re used to doing post-construction cleaning, which is kind of a jump-and-run type of work without much notice, so we can jump on things if somebody needs something done in a hurry,” Parker said, adding they also clean strata and condominium common areas, offices and commercial workspaces, healthcare and recreational facilities as well as government buildings.
For more information on Green & Gold Cleaning or to book their services, visit their website at greenandgoldcleaning.com or contact them by phone at 250-300-5460.
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