The Sweep: Cleaning Week!

by George Boutsalis | March 27, 2024

Word Count: 795 | Read Time: 2mins53secs

The Big Sweep: NFMT Baltimore

A couple weeks ago I attended the National Facilities Management and Technology Conference. My expectations were not high, but it turned out to be a great event.
 
The context: NFMT holds two conference's yearly, Baltimore being their flagship. It was partnered with the CleanBuildings Conference. Essentially you get the intersection of Facilities Management/Services, with Commercial Cleaning, and Technology.
 
Highlights:

• The Facility Management Sector is facing a labour shortage. There are more professionals retiring than entering. The keynote, and a few breakouts, were focused on this topic and presenting solutions. Note: Better wages for the industry was a common theme.
• Most impressive technology at the show was around building mapping and digitization building plans. A handful of companies focused on each.
• Amazon Business had a booth, and was the only "office supplies" retailer that I noticed in attendance. While the platform was founded in 2015, we haven't typically seen them at any conferences. Their reps said they are making a bigger push into the FM/PM/BSC world.
• Lots of learning sessions at the CleanBuilding Conference. Most surprising talk involved IAQ. Discussion was around who's responsibility it is, PM/FM or Contractors. Panelists were divided, with European Panelist stating that in Europe it is on the PM/FM to implement and improve indoor air quality initiatives for the building occupants. Where as in North America PM/FMs rely on BSCs to also provide ideas/initiatives.

📈 By the numbers: Attendee numbers are to be confirmed. According to NFMT there were 2000+ products on display and over 300 exhibitors, sponsors, and partners. Based on the crowds, I was very impressed with the amount of people attending on both days. The networking events had strong turnouts as well.
 
💭Our thoughts: NFMT and CleanBuilding Conferences were much better than expected. Seminars, Speakers and Sessions were all strong. Expo floor has good products and services on display. Lots of socializing and met a lot of forward thinking professionals. I would certainly attend again.

Second Sweep: Impactful Initiatives

I know, we said less self promotion. But this is for the benefit of our Cleaning Teams, and we need your help.
 
The initiative: We're giving away monthly awards, prizes, and bonuses to our cleaning staff. We need your help to ensure we're recognizing the right people. Stuff like "Employees of the Month", "Customer Service Superstars", "Team Players", etc.
 
❤️ Why it matters: Cleaning can be a very thankless career. So we try to give thanks often. Impact has gotten to where it is today because of the amazing people who show up everyday and keep our customers properties clean and safe.
 
How it works: If we clean your property and you are happy with the services as a whole, or with a particular person, please don't hesitate to send us a note. Text, call, email, letter by owl. Doesn't matter the mode, just take a second and let us know. Any time we get positive feedback from a customer we immediately recognize that team/member, and we enter them into the Employee of the Month draw which has an award plus monetary bonus.
 
Details: We award 3 Employees of the Month every month, and we give away a bunch of badges and bonuses within The Impact App every month. We also do gift card raffles and monetary bonuses for achieving milestones. 
 
🤩 Why it's impactful: All awards and recognitions are presented in The Impact App. That means our entire 1200+ person workforce can see these great stories and awards being presented to their colleagues. We hope that through these types of initiatives we can cultivate a culture of mutual support, recognition, retention, and continuous improvement.

Sweep-ups

📺 CIMS and the Building Service Contractor a roundtable with our very own Yiannis Boutsalis. Tune in March 27 at noon EST. (Register: ISSA Canada) 

🧹 It's International Cleaning Week!! Learn more about the week long event. (Link: ISSA)

🎸 We're Attending ConnexFM National Conference April 8-10 in Nashville. Drop us a line if you're attending! (source: ConnexFM)

The Clean-up (one fun thing)

🫀 Facility Managers and Building Engineers will save more lives than medicine, according to a respiratory illness expert from the UK. (source: BSMMag)