This month sees the replacement of the old ‘Minimum Wage’ with the new ‘National Living Wage’. It includes a rise from £6.70 to £7.20 per hour for all workers in the UK over the age of 25.

So how might this affect your cleaning services costs?

Before we look at answering this question, let’s take a look at the benefits of paying a higher wage.

Whilst the changes to the minimum wage will result in increased labour costs, it will also have the benefit of driving improved quality and efficiency into the cleaning sector via increased productivity. This, together with new innovations and technologies recently introduced and new improved processes, means that not only do the cleaners themselves benefit, but handled correctly, their clients can too.

Recent research by the Living Wage Foundation, found that 80% of employers believe that the living wage had enhanced the quality of the work of their staff.

The same survey revealed that in addition, absenteeism had fallen by approximately 25%. Retention of staff, a perennial problem in this sector, has also been dramatically reduced resulting in vastly improved delivery of service.

There were also benefits for the employees and their families – 75% of employees reported increases in work quality as a result of receiving the Living Wage.

50% of employees felt that the Living Wage had made them more willing to implement changes in their working practices; enabled them to require fewer concessions to effect change; and made them more likely to adopt changes more quickly.

In summary, employees perform better, are more positive, and are more loyal.

So, what will these increases in labour costs mean for cleaning services providers and more importantly you, their clients?

Despite the benefits listed above, some cleaning services providers have warned that they may now have to pass these costs to their customers or reduce services, and indeed may have already done this. However, this doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. By engaging with ERA’s team of specialists, you can review your service delivery to make sure that it is in line with current industry advances and that you are receiving the best service for the best value.

If you would like more information on our Contract Cleaning review services, please contact us.