Save the world! - Or the turnover?

You as a facility manager get the task from the management to outsource the cleaning service and you need to call for possible contractors. A challenging assignment with quite a responsibility, right?! You are the manager and free to make it a big success! With this you receive criteria from the management which you need to take into account. One of these is to make sure that the cleaning company works sustainable, this in line with the policy of the company.

But why does your company wants sustainable cleaning? And how do you know if the contractors are sustainable for the right reasons? Is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) right because of saving energy costs? Or is it a new strategic direction?

This article focuses on the theoretical motivations of cleaning companies in the Netherlands, based on desk research.

First some information about the cleaning industry in the Netherlands. The last years it is professionalized; little companies were taking over by big corporations and the cleaning industry is taken a much more commercial approach. On this moment the cleaning industry consists of approximately 200.000 employees, which create a turnover of € 3,4 billion a year. Just like other commercial sectors, cleaning companies are active in trends and marketing developments. CSR is one of these developments, they promote that they are sustainable. Companies do this on their website, in quotations and presentations. But what is their reason to do so?

A lot of theories are written about motivations of CSR; according to Graafland and van de Ven (2006) one can divide the motivations for corporate social responsibility into two categories, which are moral motivations and financial motivations.

Moral motivations for CSR

There are companies which confirm themselves to CSR, because of the moral duty they feel to have. They feel responsible for the effects of their core business (people and planet) and invest on CSR because they see their responsibility to set good examples for others to follow. They do this because of the intrinsic motivation. ‘To behave in a responsible way is a moral duty of businesses towards society.’(Graafland & van de Ven, 2006).

Financial motivations for CSR

Next to handle as a ‘good corporate citizen’ approach, companies can also engage with CSR because of strategic financial motivations. This motivation gains on economic advantages, it derives from an enlightened self- interest.

An investment into strategic CSR brings advantages over short and long term.

A CSR activity out of financial motivation on short term is for instance, to reduce operational costs on short term; eco- efficiencies such as energy and water savings.

Next to short term financial benefits, CSR can also be a strategy to create benefits on the long term.

CSR activities could give companies an additional competitive advantage. This will of course also be an advantage for a business due to making more profit when advertising to the consumer.

Additionally, says Graafland and van de Ven (2006), this might enhance the reputation and image of the company which can be supported by the consumer to buy or refrain from buying goods.

Moreover, CSR can help companies to be rewarded by both potential employees and the current workforce with more trust in the company, possible stronger commitment from employees, possible lower absenteeism, turnover rates, higher profitability and productivity, a more positive attitude to work and good conduct (Graafland and van de Ven, 2006). Also the reputation towards suppliers, regulatory bodies and the media, could gain a competitive advantage (Graafland and van de Ven, 2006). These positive effects take care of an extrinsic motivation.

Looking at the above mentioned theories (two CSR motives), a research is done at five cleaning companies in the Netherlands. The theories are linked to the CSR activities of all the companies, derived from annual reports and websites. The research investigates if it is possible to state that the cleaning industry is taken CSR actions out of moral motivations, financial motivations or a mix of both.

Based on the research could be said that the motivations of cleaning companies in the Netherlands are a mix of moral and financial motivations. This means that people, planet and profit are in balance.

It is not possible to state that cleaning companies are sustainable only because of moral motivations or only because of the financial reason.

The CSR activities of the cleaning companies, created a balance between planet, people, profit (moral motivation and financial motivation). Although in average, the financial motivation was applied most; The CSR activities are used to gain a positive image and reputation towards stakeholders; customers, suppliers, NGO’s, employees, government and shareholders. The image and reputation of a cleaning company are important because the cleaning industry is situated in the profit sector. Image and reputation are used to survive and to obtain their rights to exist- making profit.

These findings are also confirmed out of other researches:

Research of European Business Monitor, states that image is the main motivation for CSR in Europe.

Another research also confirms, the Nationaal Initiatief Duurzame Ontwikkelingen (NIDO). NIDO started a project where 19 different companies (of different branches) where asked to fill in a questionnaire. Remarkable is that the interviewees saw CSR as a potential market chance. The excess value was lying in the reinforcement of their reputation.

Conclusion and discussion

What is driving cleaning companies to strive for enhanced CSR in the Netherlands is a combination of a better image and reputation (dominating) as well as caring about people and nature.

So facility manager, when you are going to asses the quotations look critical at the sustainability of your tenders. With this it is important that the mission and vision of the cleaning company agrees with the policy of your business and strategy.

Try to make transparent, which activities are moral accountable and which actions are based on financial advantages. Does your cleaning company want to help and contribute to the world or their own turnover?

Visualisation 5S model

The clean desk

The clean desk

Written by Luciënne van Leest

During my graduation internship I was part of the Green team, a global initiative of Amgen (Internship Company). As member of the green team, it was my task to set up a clean up day for Amgen Breda. This means that all, 600 employees working in one building, needed to clean up their desk. What do you think; “Is this a challenge or not?”

At first instance I thought this was not difficult or challenging, you just ask them politely to clean up their desks. But then I searched clean desk policy on www.google.com and it showed me over 26.700.000 hits. On that moment I realized that a clean desk policy is more then only cleaning up the desk once, but is a part of the business culture.

What is clean desk policy about?
The clean desk is first an aid to clean work environment, clean profit and clean reputation. A clean desk signifies not merely a piece of furniture but more a mental process and a moral principle. A clean desk provides the clean start and the clean finish for every day’s work. It has a financial value because it hastens production, lessens spoilage, reduce waste of time and money caused by needless mistakes. The definition of a clean desk policy is at the conclusion of a work day; employees are expected to straighten their desks and documents to be filed in an appropriate cabinet or filing drawer.[1]

What are the benefits of a clean desk policy?
When a policy first adopted to encourage clean desks, it may be viewed as an extra burden in an already busy office, especially too those who work with layers or clutter and paper on their desk. They mindset of many of these individuals is that their messy desk does not affect anyone but them, but professors discovered that people with a messy desk waste 15 percent of their time looking at things. To encourage employees to clean up it is important to mention following benefits:
- It creates the right image when customers and vendors visit you company
- It reduces the chance of confidential information being compromised or passwords being stolen
- Employees stress is lessened when an employee’s desk is clean
- The occurrence of workplace accidents and spills drops when a policy supporting clean desks is enforced
- People who keep a tidy desk are often considered for a raise because of their organizational skills
- It reduce the amount of paper use[2]


How to reach a clean desk?
There is a Japanese methodology which is called 5S. 5S is the name of a workplace organization methodology that uses a list of five Japanese words which, transliterated and translated into English, start with the letter S. It is a philosophy and a way of organizing and managing the workspace and workflow with the intent to improve efficiency.

Phase 1.
Seiri (sorting)
Going through all documents and keeping only the essential ones.


Phase 2.
Seiton (set in order)
Focuses on efficiency. This phase is to arrange documents in a manner that promotes workflow. For all documents and tools everything should have a place and everything should be in its place (binders, archive cabinets etc.)


Phase 3.
Seiso (sweeping or shining)
The key point of this phase is that maintaining cleanliness should be part of the daily work and not an occasional activity initiated when things are getting too messy.


Phase 4.
Seiketsu (standardizing)
Standardized work practices in a consistent and standardized fashion. Everyone knows exactly what his or her responsibilities are to keep above 3S’s.


Phase 5.
Shitsuke (sustaining the discipline)
Once the previous 4S’s have been established, they become a new way to operate. Only when the first 4 phases are done probably this phase will succeed.[3]

Tips for keeping your desk clean
Once your desk is clean, keeping it tidy and organized is easier if you follow these steps:
- Set aside a planned time each day to clear paperwork from your desk
- Paperwork builds up just like junk mail at home when you don't deal with it daily. Don't keep papers you don't need. Strive to handle papers as few times if possible. If you're cleaning your desk, file papers in the proper file or into the trash bin. Shred any papers of a sensitive nature.
- Don't print emails to read them. All it does is turn into clutter.
- Deal with cleaning your desk before you leave for the day so that you start the next workday with a clean desk and documents in their proper place.
- Scan documents when possible and store them on your computer using paper filing software. This eliminates paper filing and makes documents easier to find no matter that is looking for them.
- If you have not opened or read a document for over six months scan it and get rid of it, or keep it if you still want to use it.

Finally I learned a lot about the clean desk policy. I noticed that based steps are important, to reach our final goal. At Amgen Breda we decided to explain our internal clients what clean desk policy means, what our final goal is and how the 5S methodology can be implemented in the work cultural. It is important that the internal client has a change in their mindset about the policy. Let’s end with the introduction question “Yes, it is challenging to implement the clean desk policy in any organization. But with the use of right tools and experiences from others, it definitely is possible!”

Curious how we reached our goal? Please wait for my other articles!

[1] Edward Earl Purinton, 1919, Personal efficiency in business, Robert M. McBride & Company
[2] http://www.presentationhelper.co.uk/business/clean_desk_policy.html
[3] Ron Emmerik, 2007, Kwaliteitsmanagement, Pearson Education Benelux

Working in a mix of cultures

Working in a mix of cultures

Written by Luciënne van Leest

As an intern I had my first working experience at the facilities department of a Dutch non-profit organization I learned one thing: “most internal clients are critical consumers”. I believe it is something positive because we, as facilities department, have to be creative, sharp and think about alternatives when we can not fulfill the wish of the client. At this moment I am intern in an International organization, located in Breda. The organization has a large number of foreign employees working at the different departments. So what happens when you have to deal with 600 critical consumers with different cultures and backgrounds?

Let’s start with some facts about only European differences;
- There are more than 40 languages in Europe in about 50 countries.
- The Euro covers most countries, but there are still countries using different currencies.
- Europeans are very strict in their own greeting ways.
- Gestures are an integral part of communicating in Europe, especially in the south.
- Southern European cultures tend to be more relaxed. In these cultures, time is more fluid, and punctuality is regarded as less important, while in Switzerland, Germany and the Benelux time is rigid.

These facts show that there are a lot of differences in cultures and way of behaving. It is important to understand, or to realize why a foreigner reacts in a total different way then we “the Dutch ones” should react.

Intercultural management in a communication and management method that does justice on the norms and values, think- and attitude codes of people from different cultures. In an intercultural environment are a lot more misunderstandings then an environment with people with the same backgrounds. The word “culture” is most referred to difference in nationalities, but ever thought about:
- Combined cultures: culture of Microsoft
- Professional culture: lawyers, justices or doctors
- Gender: male or female
- Age
- Religion cultures: Islam, Catholic
- Regional cultures: Friesland, Limburg[1]

In my current situation the different nationalities is the most important difference in cultures that needs extra care. That is why I want to explain the difference in approaching to migrants and immigrants during misunderstandings. In the first step it is important for the migrants to speak directly about the misunderstanding. This is too direct for the immigrants; you first need to be aware why it went wrong. Secondly it is for both parties very important to listen well. This makes the situation extra clear. After this you need to look at the situations in two different ways, your perspective and the perspective of the other person. In this step the immigrant will have the strong feeling this misunderstanding is about his/her background and not the core situation. The last step is to make agreements how to handle the next time, when there is a misunderstanding.[2]

At the Facilities service desk of my placement company we receive a lot of questions and requests. I find it important that I am open for new insights and the perception of my internal client. When the question of request is from a foreign colleague the cooperation gets an extra dimension. Most visible is the change in language, but for me the way of addressing is changing too. Besides the difference in culture I take into account the;
- Combined culture; culture of Amgen
- Professional culture; function of the requestor
It is important when handling a request to think and believe in the Amgen values (culture of Amgen).

Finally, I can conclude that the service level should be equal! Because of cultural differences the way of addressing to someone will be different, but the message has to be the same for everyone.

[1] Robbert Gibson, 2000, Intercultural Business Communication, Oxford Handbooks
[2] Grethe van Geffen, 2001, Intercultureel samenwerken, Kluwer

Sponsoring projects

Support the NHTV to maximize the talent of our students by sponsoring: awards, challenging research projects, quest lectures, study trips etc. The academy of Real Estate and Facility Management conducts research projects. This can be done by lecturers or by graduate students supported by lecturers. Either way thorough research is a necessity for our profession to develop. Do you have a challenging research question that needs to be solved don’t hesitate and let us know.

NHTV FM Alumni-get-together

The 5th of November 2009 NHTV Facility Management and Hotel Management are organizing an alumni-get-together at the Sibeliuslaan. We start at 4 pm till approximately 8 pm. The programme consists of:
- Welcome by Rene Hermans
- Hospitality meets facility by Mr E. Wentink (EW Services)
- Service management by Mr W. Reimers (from Herrie in het hotel en mijn tent is top)
- Network buffet
Alumni that want to participate, please register via www.nhtv.nl/alumnigettogether

Logistics in health care

Logistics in health care

In the second half of my fourth year of my Facility Management studies I conducted research regarding the internal logistics for the Facilities Department of a big health care organization. Goal was to analyze of improvements could be made regarding the future growth of the organization. Reason for this research was the growth of the organization and also the increasing number of logistic flows within the organization which the Facilities Department had a hard time to control.

The different logistic flows which were involved in the research were;
· Mail
· Laundry
· Food
· Medicines
· Incontinence materials
· Cleaning materials
And in a later stadium of the research these two logistic flows were added
· Paper and office supplies
· Transport of clients of one of the locations

From an analysis of the current logistical situation became clear how the logistics in the current situation were organized and which cost aspects were important. Moreover appeared that especially the mail care did not function well within the organization because the continuity and quality of the mail care could not be guaranteed.

From the internal and external analysis became clear that there were several factors which were of influence on the position of the organization and the logistical policy. Most important factors were the fusion past what ensured a small island culture, the fragmented position of the organization and the restricted uniformity in the organization processes. Other factors which came out strong were future developments and the increasing size of the organization.

The result of a SWOT-analyze was that the organization had strong points regarding logistics which it had to exploit and weak points which could be improved. Strong points were the direct delivering of goods by some of the suppliers and the strong negotiation position the organization had as an market party. Weak points were the mail care and the costs which were not always transparent when they were related to the logistical situation.

From conversations with several people concerned and from further research became also clear that there was a need for setting up a customer transport service on one of the locations. Next to that the fusion past had some negative influence on overall organization processes. By means of these sticking points a number of improvement points were formulated which related to improving the current logistical set-up.

From research at a competitive care institution came clear that it was not interesting for the organization to build a central warehouse where all the goods were centrally collected before being distributed over the organization. This had mainly to do with high constructions costs and staff expenses which were linked to the construction of a central warehouse.

The most important conclusion is that the majority of the examined logistical processes in the current situation functions well and that only the mail care in the current logistical set-up does not function properly.

The overall recommendation is replacing the persons responsible for the mail care for a professional mail care company. Annual approximately €4,000 is saved and the frequency of the mail care increases of 3x per week to 5x per week.

With the suppliers of the incontinence materials has to be agreed that the delivering of the materials on pallets must stop. This saves the Facilities Department an annual €13,000.

The Facilities Department has to try to set up an uniform policy regarding logistics and purchases. This will prevent the rise of a proliferation of suppliers who provide goods of the same type.

Reduction of the number of suppliers can be favorable and results in larger scale advantages and discount percentages which can be stipulated at other suppliers. The integrated costs and costs which are related to the logistical situation will also decrease and become more transparent when the situation is improved.

A more intensive cooperation with one or more suppliers can possibly result in cost advantages and efficiency enlarging. Examples of this are combining several flows of goods in the central warehouse of the suppliers or digitizing the invoices. By keeping the effective logistical organization streamlined and the number of involved processes to a minimum the organization is able to react on changes (on the market) more rapidly in the future. Moreover the organization is no longer stuck to high fixed costs regarding logistics and attached processes.

By improving the current logistical situation on a number of points and by critically analyzing their own work processes the Facilities Department creates a work surrounding in which the core process of the organization will experience optimum support of the logistical process, now and in the future.


I think, the earlier mentioned situation about logistics is a situation which more health care organizations are facing nowadays. Costs, the care for the client and the shifting of the traditional health care organization to the more business like led health care of today will test if health care organizations have what it takes to compete in nowadays healt care industry...