Cleaning up Challenges
In comparison to a hotel or a bank which experiences considerable footfalls, the people visiting a mall are more than double. This in itself is a big challenge, says Manoj Agarwal, Associate Vice-President Operations.
A major advantage in a mall vis-à-vis other places is that there is not much of soft flooring. The use of carpet or linoleum being restricted, maintenance wise it helps. However, traffic as high as 70,000 to 80,000 on certain peak days and a minimum of 15,000 to 18,000 on any given day, calls for proper planning.
“We work on a 24-hour cleaning schedule where the bulk of the cleaning happens during the night,” says Agarwal. Large areas, mass cleaning, wet scrubbing, buffing, polishing or deep cleaning are taken up at night when the mall is closed. The daily, weekly and monthly cleaning schedules focus on the common areas, public areas, parking, horticulture areas, staircases, lift landing, elevators & escalators, service areas, internet café, back parking, baby care rooms, food court, smoking areas, staff areas used for dining and changing and washrooms for customers and staff. The scope of housekeeping is restricted to these areas and not individual outlets within the mall. Cleaning at a height and façade cleaning are more done on a monthly or quarterly basis. Similarly, the staircase, as a general practice, is dusted and mopped on day to day basis but a mechanised deep cleaning is done once a week.
Given the vast area to be cleaned, automation is the only option and Inorbit mall has outsourced cleaning to Radiant Hospitality Services. Agarwal says, “While selecting the housekeeping service provider, we look at those who are particularly conscious of the volume and the standards involved. Housekeeping unfortunately is an area where even though we do the maximum, it is still a bit less. Hence, one has to be at it all the time. We took some time before finalising Radiant and in the last five years, both of us have evolved in our relationship.”
Radiant is also providing mechanised cleaning services to five other Inorbit malls across India, while the other outlets across India are being serviced by different vendors. “From the company’s perspective it would be very good to have a single vendor at all our operations, but fortunately or unfortunately the vendor may not be strong enough at all places. Luckily, in the case of Radiant, the malls are mostly in the cities. But if the mall is not in the city, there would be challenges – how do you get the vendor and what kind of workers will be available in that locality? Hence, it is better to tie up with a vendor based on the geography and on the strength of performance. However, having a single vendor narrows down dealings to one person, enables to maintain common standards, uniform rates… in short, the package is similar at all places.”
At Inorbit Malad, the first shift where the opening cleaning involves cleaning of customer areas like the washrooms, main floors, escalators, glass cleaning, etc., is handled by around 15-16 workers. In the second shift, it is the general up keep and in the night it is deep cleaning which includes the food court area, escalators, back offices, etc. Around 85 workers are deployed by Radiant, who provides trained manpower, equipment and the consumables as per the specified brand and quality at Inorbit. “We have a good service level agreement with Radiant which specifies all the deliverables. Certain things like wet wipes, tissue paper, soap solution or hand wash solution, we buy at our end.”
To monitor the adherence to SLAs and SOPs, auditing on a fortnightly basis is conducted and the report is then shared with the
vendor. “We have third party audits, internal audits and random audits, where I or my team visits any centre to notice any gap. The feedback, if there is something wrong, helps.”
The third party audits help keep track and the pointers are built into the SLA. If the performance levels get below a certain score, the vendor would be liable for deductions and if they get above a certain score they get incentives. The operations team at Inorbit consists of an assistant manager and executive who directly coordinate with the vendor on deployment of staff and the day to day routine.
Even though housekeeping staff is on the rounds, an internal check of the cleaning levels can be maintained through this process. “These audits / checks are first monitored at the central level by the operations manager, reported to the unit head and from the unit level it comes to me at the corporate level of operations. The tracked records are reported in the monthly report which goes to the board. If the scores are consistently bad, then we would have to give an explanation.”
Inorbit has the PDA (personal digital assistant) based operational audit software, wherein the executive in operations updates the designated schedules at the start of the shift each day and this gets loaded to the server whereby the report reaches the concerned. This does away with the need to write or maintain records, etc. Hence, there is a continuous check on the operations.
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n many cases housekeeping service providers have raised objections to the deduction pattern of the client. Even if one absence is reported and replacement not provided, deductions are made. “Deployment has to be in terms of the SLAs. Between the operations team of the mall and the vendor concerned, the number of workers is based on our need.” Being an annual contract, if there is anything which needs to be reviewed in terms of either the numbers or the working pattern, it is still possible to make a change. “For example, at one stage we did try to see if we can do without the night shift, but then we found that it is not possible.” Deployment of workers also depends on the type of flooring, the footfall projections, the kind of traffic expected, business projections for the year and food court usage. These changes can be reviewed on an annual basis.
Cleaning is an ongoing and joint process in a mall. It is very important to have multiple discussions and interactions with the vendor. The vendor must always be an integral part of the team rather than being considered as just a vendor who is outsourced. As the executives maintain a constant visual check on anything which is soiled or lying around or any stain or spill, they are able to get it cleaned right away. This is essential because in a mall when there is a crowd of eight to 10,000, it is not possible to cordon off an area for cleaning. Hence a ride on a mopping machine running along with the crowd is common sight at a mall.
“At one time, it was noticed that the washbasin counters were always wet. Generally, people while washing, tend to splash water on the face leading to spillage. We put a specific team in the washrooms to constantly clean the wet counter and now we follow the same as a standard.” Even during the epidemic scare it was a joint effort with the vendor in spreading awareness, putting up posters and using the right chemicals. “This model of client-vendor relationship is working well for us. Instead of employing or having in house housekeeping team, a strong supervisory team to control, monitor and direct the outsourced housekeeping staff works very well.
“Another interesting development that we are seeing off late is that women at the ground level are much more than men. This is because we find that ladies have an eye for detail, an eight to nine hour shift is much preferred by them and the job is not much different from what they do at home.”
Initially, when these workers join they are not sure of what they are getting into. But when they realise that there are equipment which make cleaning comfortable and they are treated as fellow humans and not as an outcast, they work with a sense of pride. Similarly, when they realise that gloves or boots or uniforms have been designed for their benefit and protection, they easily accept and wear them.
Training is important when it comes to getting workers to deliver the SLA. “Some of the training on the etiquette, customer service, responses or fire fighting, response to emergency and dealing with customer issues are conducted regularly from our end, over and above what the vendor does. Because of our close interaction and observation, anyone who needs specific training can be identified. We also ensure that our executives on the shift attend the daily morning deployment and briefing session. Above all, they have to set benchmarks and make sure that whether it is hygiene or housekeeping or any standard, we have a high bar and have to always try to reach that.”
An area-wise checklist right from the washroom to the common areas is a general standard referred to by the supervisor. The schedules of weekly, monthly and deep.
Cleaning are based on the usage. Around 26 equipment are deployed at Inorbit, including Alano ride on sweepers mainly for the parking area and is used only when there is traffic; Fiorentini ride on auto scrubber; Fiorentini ride on scooty machine for dry vacuum; Taski Swingo battery operated auto scrubber machines for food courts; Fiorentini escalator steam cleaners; dry vacuum machine and Taski chemicals for washrooms.
Façade access systems
One of the major aspects in specialized cleaning services in any building is the façade maintenance. The architectural design of malls today are much complex and require proper access systems to enable maintenance. Cradle Runways has provided the world’s tallest free standing Aluminium Rolling Tower with a working height of 26mt for internal access and maintenance at the South City Mall in Kolkata. For external access, Eye Bolts have been installed.
At the upcoming Lulu Mall in Kochi with large uniquely shaped atriums, Cradle Runways has provided a combination of Eye Bolts & a Reach & Wash System for external access. Internally, the glazing will be accessed with a 26mt Aerial Work Platform.
Aerial Platforms are already in use at the Prestige Forum in Bangalore. The 23mt Aerial Platform is being used for both internal & external access.
