Greatness on the ground: Introducing our cleaning team

At TWO, we’re under no illusions that our cleaners are the lifeblood of our business. It’s their hard work and dedication, day in, day out, that keeps our customers happy and enables our business to grow.

We thought we’d sing the praises of these much-valued members of staff by providing you with some insights into their daily routines and showing you just how our employees work together to guarantee exceptional results, every time.

What does a typical day look like for our commercial kitchen cleaning teams?

It’s an overused phrase, but it’s true: no two days are the same for our cleaning staff.

In both our North and South divisions – which are overseen by different directors – we usually book in around four jobs every day. These can range from straightforward deep cleans or part-cleans all the way through to specialist ductwork and extraction cleans.

Because we operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, our cleaners’ routines can vary quite significantly depending on what’s on the books. Quite often, you’ll find our staff working through the night to make sure they’re not disrupting our customers’ businesses during their usual operational hours. Their role is very much a behind-the-scenes one.

When they arrive onsite, our employees will liaise with reception staff, security staff, or operation managers to get booked in, then set about completing the clean as quickly and diligently as possible. Our cleaners are always receiving brilliant feedback not only for their impeccable attention to detail, but for the friendly, personable way they work, which our customers certainly appreciate.

Our North and South divisions employ 20 and 25 cleaners respectively, and usually take on more during the busy summer season. All workers will receive their schedules around a week beforehand, so they know where they need to be, and when. We do our best to match cleaners to jobs in their local areas, but as we do cover most of the UK, there is an element of travel involved.

What’s different about TWO’s cleaners?

From a technical point of view, our cleaners’ knowledge is second to none. We make sure every new cleaner undertakes rigorous training from the moment they join us. Not only does this ensure thorough, compliant cleans – it also enables us to maintain our hard-won accreditations and retain membership to specific industry schemes, such as the BESCA Hygiene Vent Elite Scheme.

As long as our staff are committed, motivated, willing to learn and physically strong enough to carry out such demanding work, we don’t care for their gender or their age. We have always been eager to provide opportunities for people from a range of backgrounds, and this has resulted in a team that’s wonderfully diverse. Many of our cleaners are now in their 60s and still enjoying the variety and flexibility of their roles. What’s more, in the North, over 50% of our workforce is female!

What else do you need to know about our cleaning staff?

Firstly, a lot of these talented individuals have been with us for a very long time. Many of our on-the-ground workforce have been working for TWO Services for seven, eight, ten, maybe even twelve years. The same goes for our divisional directors and area supervisors. They could have found similar work elsewhere – but they have not been tempted to sign up with one of our competitors, because they just how much we value them, and that we will do our utmost to look after them.

The added benefit is that these special individuals have built incredible relationships with our long-standing clients, who love the consistency and familiarity of working with the same cleaners from week to week, and year to year.

Secondly, the TWO team is a family. For some, quite literally. Our cleaning staff often bring other family members into the fold to fill new vacancies, making us a truly multi-generational business at every level. For example, we have a father and daughter working for us – and we were delighted to find out recently that two of our TWO heroes will soon be having a baby together!

Lastly, the TWO community has a different dynamic to most other cleaning teams. We trust each other. We respect each other. We learn from each other. And sometimes we even enjoy a little downtime together! Despite our hectic schedules, we try to give our employees the chance to let off a little steam wherever possible.