Talking Stick - September/October 2015 - 31

sanitizing bathrooms, disinfecting,
and vacuuming - must be done
daily for hygienic reasons. Kimbler
says that areas such as communal
bathrooms are "our priority, unlike if
the stairs don't get swept or mopped;
those things are not going to affect
the safety or health of the student."
Less common or larger cleaning
projects should be prioritized and
planned based on the needs of the
institution and should be scheduled
for times when staff and students will
not be present. "Typically any floor
work or carpet shampooing, we try to
do during winter break or during the
summer if the building is not being
used," Kimbler explains. Shutting
down a space for a larger cleaning
task will minimize inconvenience
while maximizing the work's
effectiveness.
There are a variety of ways that
higher education institutions utilize
custodial staff. Some contract for
cleaning services, others employ
their own custodial staff, and others
complement their in-house staff with
personnel from temp agencies. The
University of South Alabama, for
example, "hired a large volume of
custodial temps from a local temp
agency and paired them with our 25
custodians and trained them like our
employees," says Bridgeforth. The
permanent staff and the temporary
staff worked together in development,
training, and team building.
Ensuring that an institution has
adequate staffing is a key principle in
planning and executing an effective

PHOTO COURTESY OF TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY

Staff at Texas Tech (in both photos) use a new touchless green cleaning tool to clean shower stalls
and restrooms. This tool, called Kaivac, is Silver-level certified by the Carpet and Rug Institute.

cleaning schedule. However, as
Kimbler says, "That's sometimes not
an easy thing to do." Budgeting will
depend on the size of the building
and how many staff are needed and
available. One way to address these
issues is to schedule work within
zones. Bridgeforth says that his
institution "assigns a custodial worker
or team to a particular zone, and they
take care of that during the year."
Similarly, at the University of Florida
in Gainesville, "Each building has a
team of custodians, and each has a
task within that team. Maybe three or
five are the ones that do the bathroom
cleaning, per the schedule," says
Jennifer Todden, assistant director

of housing for West Campus. The
other custodians on the team may
be in charge of things like floors or
windows. Additionally, each team
has its own supervisor to ensure that
tasks are being delegated efficiently.
For the contracted work at Missouri
State University in Springfield, the
temp agencies will "have their own
supervisors that come in, and we
meet with them a couple times in the
spring to talk about time frames and
expectations," says Teresa Frederick,
assistant director of facilities
and operations. Needless to say,
communication between custodial
and res life staff is important in
perpetuating a systematic schedule.

SIMPLY TELLING THE CUSTODIAL STAFF WHAT TO CLEAN AND WHEN
IS NOT ENOUGH; THEY SHOULD ALSO BE PART OF THE SCHEDULING
PROCESS SO THAT THE FINAL SCHEDULE IS ENRICHED BY THEIR
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERTISE.

SEPTEMBER + OCTOBER 2015

Talking Stick - September/October 2015

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