FAQ

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Herein are examples of questions that we typically receive from prospective customers during the account analysis phase of the RFP process. If you have a question that is not listed, use the form below to send it to us and we will respond back with an answer as soon as possible.

1.) The quality of my previous janitorial services was always poor and inconsistent. Will Cascadian give me better results?

Yes we will (and, please, check with our customers to see if we live up to what we say). We insist on thorough training for all of our staff, from the CEO to the part-time janitor. Through our many training programs, we teach managers and supervisors how to monitor cleaning trends and results, as well as teaching janitors how to clean effectively and efficiently.

We also give our managers (see second question below) and supervisors a manageable amount of customer locations to manage on a daily basis. This allows them to spend "QUALITY TIME" with our customers and our employees to ensure that we are providing the quality service levels that we said we would.

We also try to keep turnover low, by giving janitors an amount of work that is actually attainable and sustainable. To keep their costs down, many janitorial companies expect their employees to perform an amount of work each night that would be impossible for even the most experienced janitor. This leads to poor or inconsistent service, and it is also demoralizing for the affected employee, leading to high turnover. High turnover also leads to inconsistent and poor service quality, and if the company providing your service expects their supervisors to be responsible for too many accounts (another cost saving measure), the new employees coming in are not trained properly....leading to more turnover and more quality problems.

Ask your current janitorial contractor, or if you are in the process of bidding out your janitorial services ask each potential service provider, the following questions to get an idea of what you can expect in terms of consistent and quality service.....

What type of production rates do you have for the janitors working in my location
(how many square feet per hour, how many minutes are set aside per work station,
etc.)?

Describe the training each janitor gets that works in my location?

Is there a "roving" supervisor responsible for my location, and if so, how many other
locations is he/she responsible for (and how many employees)?

How many customer locations is my account manager (the person you interact with
during business hours if you have a problem or request) responsible for, and how
often will I see them in person in my account per month?

Are inspections done during the day (to see what you see) and during the evenings
(to see what the janitors see)? At Cascadian we are doing both on a regular basis!

2.) I never saw a representative from my previous janitorial company after the initial sale. Is Cascadian any different?

Absolutely! Managers with account sales and management responsibility at Cascadian (Tim, Kelly, Greg and Ira) do not have an unmanageable amount of accounts that they are responsible for (unlike many other cleaning companies in the industry in the Pacific Northwest). It is not uncommon in our industry for manager's to have 50 to 75 different accounts that they are responsible for. When you consider that there are only 20 to 23 work days in a typical month, you can begin to see why you don't see an account rep very often.

3.) I always end up having to manage the janitors in my facility instead my previous janitorial companies managing them. Will Cascadian make me do that too?

We believe in and actually monitor ourselves. Many companies say that but fall short in reality. Whether you have time to talk with us or not, you will constantly see us in your facility during the day and at night checking on the quality of our cleaning and working with our cleaning staff. We feel that we were hired to take care of your cleaning needs so that you can spend more time doing the things that you need to do to make your business successful.

4.) It seems like I always have cleaning-type issues that my previous janitorial company can't help me with.

We strive to be your "ONE STOP SHOP". Along with regular janitorial services, we also provide an extensive list of additional services (such as pressure washing, ceiling tile cleaning and restoration, window washing, etc.). Please check out our "Available Services" page for a more complete list of additional services.

Also, with a management staff that combined has almost 100 years of experience in the janitorial industry in the Pacific Northwest, we don't run across many cleaning issues that we haven't seen before, but if we don't have experience with a particular issue you have chances are we know someone who can take care of it.

5.) My previous janitorial companies always had huge turnover in staff (sometimes as often as every other day) and this led to very inconsistent results. How do you handle turnover?

(Please see question #1) We try to keep turnover at a much lower rate than average in our industry in this area by giving the janitors that work for us an amount of work that is actually attainable and sustainable. We also train each of our employees when they begin working for us and continuously work with them on a regular basis to show that we care about them and the work they do...and to show them that we want them to be successful! We also try, whenever possible, to promote quality employees from within (for example we've had night janitors become dayporters, supervisors, operations managers and district representatives). This gives the opportunity and motivation to those employees that want to work hard and advance the opportunity to do so.

To keep operational costs down, many janitorial companies expect their employees to perform an amount of work each night that would be impossible for even the most experienced janitor. This is demoralizing for the affected employee, leading to higher turnover and poor or inconsistent service because the employee can't get everything done each night and they look at their job as an impossible task. When they ask for help or training, more often than not their supervisor is "too busy" to get to them and they finally quit...leading to the same cycle all over again with a new or inexperienced employee. By asking our employees to perform in a range that is actually possible, we are able to keep turnover down, thus giving us even more of an opportunity to work with our employees....turning "GOOD" employees into "GREAT" employees!

"ASK CASCADIAN"
QUESTION FORM

Thank you for the opportunity to be of service to you!

HOME l MANAGEMENT STAFF PROFILES l COMPANY HISTORY l AVAILABLE SERVICES l REFERENCES l SAFETY & SECURITY l QUALITY ASSURANCE l CONTACT US l OFFICE LOCATION l REQUEST AN ESTIMATE l FAQ l SEEKING EMPLOYMENT WITH US l TEAM BUILDING l JANITORIAL HUMOR l COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT