6. Teach them well. Yoga teachers, nutritionists, financial palnners -- experts of all kinds will often provide free lectures and workshops as a way to promote their services. With a little planning and some shrewd negotiating, you can probably set up a schedule of enriching (and free!) classes for your staff.

7. Pizza Fridays, Bagel Mondays. It isn't the actual food item that matters, but rather that everyone shares in a meal together -- on your dime.  If you can't afford the $50 weekly tab, you might consider baking brownies or chocolate chip cookies at home every now and again. Or, consider asking a local coffee shop or delicatessen if they would be interested in swapping services once in a while.

8. The team that plays together... Consider purchasing a ping pong table or even just a card table with a bunch of board games for your staff/break room. Scour your local garage sales and Craigslist for good bargains on gently used items.

9. Incentive-ize me. If you're looking for new cleaners, ask your employees for their recommendations. If you hire someone they suggested (and that person stays for at least six months), give the recommenders a bonus day off.

10. Holiday parties aren't just for December. You don't need to wait for Christmas to bring your team together to celebrate. From the 4th of July to Halloween to St. Patty's Day, the year is full of "excuses" to throw a bash. Invite your staff and their family, and share a toast to company unity.

While any of these ideas can help boost morale and loyalty among your staff, it's important to match the perks to your particular team. You should know the needs, interests and culture of your staff better than anyone else. Just remember, it's not how much money you spend that ultimately matters. Rather, your employees will feel appreciated when you find the right way to express just how much you value them.

 

Cleaning often involves spraying with a liquid cleaning agent and then wiping away the residue, along with the dirt, grime or grease loosened by the liquid cleaner.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Not really, as there are many opinions about what to use to wipe up that residue.  

The list of possible "wiper uppers" is long:  Sponges (of course, then you have to have something to wipe up the moisture left by the sponges), paper towels, cloth diapers (increasingly difficult to find, however), terry cloth towels, mechanics cloths, rags made from old cut-up shirts and so forth.  

Before making a decision on which wiper to use, you need to establish some performance goals for them.  Here are some goals we established for wipers at The Clean Team Cleaning Service:

1.    They have to be very absorbent so you can wipe a large area before you have to reach for another wiper.  Also, you can't properly clean a mirror to streak-free perfection without a very absorbent wiper.  
2.    They have to be lint free.
3.    They have to have some scrubbing capability.
4.    They have to last a long time.
5.    They have to be reasonably priced.
6.    They have to be easy to carry when cleaning.
7.    They have to save time compared to the other options.
8.    They have to be environmentally friendly.

We experimented with a lot of different wipers.  For quite a while we used cloth diapers, but after a number of washings, they produced too much lint.  We tried used table napkins, but since they were used, they couldn't be washed enough times to justify the cost.  We originally used paper towels, but they were bulky to carry around and we couldn't help but feel guilty about the number of trees it takes to make them.  We did learn that no matter what wiper option we used, it had to be 100% cotton to be absorbent enough for speedy wiping.  

We finally settled on brand new 100% cotton table napkins. They can be washed hundreds of times, are durable, absorbent, and environmentally friendly since they can be reused so many times.  They are also just rough enough to scrub as you wipe a surface clean and dry.  

Microfiber cloths are becoming more popular and some prefer them to cotton wipers.  They are more expensive and our teams didn't like the feel of them as they used them, but they are a viable option.  Time will tell if they ultimately will replace cotton, but from our perspective that likely will be some time into the future-if it ever happens at all.  

How to Fold & Use Cleaning Cloths
Fold the napkins lengthwise once, and then once again, and then fold that rectangle in half.  Stack the cloths as you fold them.  When you have enough for a day's worth of work, put the stack neatly in your cleaning tray or cleaning bucket.  

At each job, remove as many as you'll need to clean the kitchen, for example, and put the still folded napkins into your cleaning apron.  I put the one that I'm using over my shoulder as I clean my way around the room.  

When the cloth becomes too wet to use any longer, I roll it in a ball and toss it either into the doorway where I'll exit, or back into the cleaning tray. Alternately, you can put the dirty cloths into an apron pocket.  At the end of each cleaning job we put the dirty cloths into a plastic bag that we take back to the office at the end of the day for laundering.  

What are your favorite cleaning cloths? Please share your thoughts with me at jeff@thecleanteam.com.