Cleaning Their Way Through The Recession
If you think that the bad economy is mopping the floor with just about every business on the planet -- think again. The crazy real estate boom of the past 15 years, the cost advantages of outsourcing, and even the swine flu have all but insured that professional office cleaning companies are the ones doing the mopping up.
According to a 2006 Bureau of Labor Statistics report, professional office cleaning companies are expected to expand their workforce by 14% by 2016 and despite the recession, industry insiders believe that that statistic will still be met.
Office Cleaning Services Clean Up Before, During, and After the Recession
Several factors have conspired to make office cleaning a growth industry for at least the next few years:
1) the huge expansion of office real estate in the last 15 years and,
2) paradoxically, the severe recession itself.
The massive expansion of office space fueled the demand for office cleaning services but the severe recession forced companies to cut their in-house janitorial staff in favor of lower cost outsourced and contract office cleaners. This has created an obvious opportunity for outside contractors: do a great job, and then when the economy improves, companies will be unlikely to go back to employing a more costly full-time in-house janitorial staff.
Outside contractors have even benefited from the occasional health crisis, like dealing with the H1N1 (swine flu) virus, which requires special products, expertise, and service. Often an in-house janitorial staff doesn’t have access to the specialized products needed to deal with special requests such as these.
But perhaps the biggest reason professional office cleaning services have profited during the recession is that no matter what, somebody’s got to take out the trash:
“There is nothing sexy or exciting about commercial cleaning except for the fact that it is usually a wonderful, successful business that is almost totally recession resistant!” says Jeff Elgin, the CEO of FranChoice Inc., a company that provides free consulting to consumers looking for a franchise that best meets their needs. “Very few business owners are ever going to want to clean their own office space,” he says, “so the demand isn't going anywhere.”
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