If you’ve been following our blog or social media channels this year you will have seen a great deal about the enormous projects we’ve been privileged to be involved with.  It’s been a fantastic year for Scotland, and for Spectrum; we’ve been the official cleaning and waste management contractor at two of the biggest sporting events in the world – and they took place within weeks of each other!

You can image the challenges of managing large levels of staff for such events, but we rose to the challenge and we’re looking forward to more of the same in 2015.

It’s not only major events that pose specific challenges; some of our other contracts require special solutions. For example, public buildings such as visitor and shopping centres can’t simply rely on ‘the cleaners’ arriving at close of play, public buildings need to be clean all the time.  Consumers are more and more difficult to attract and they are influenced by what they see; a dirty or untidy retail space is not conducive to attracting footfall.

Neither do the consumers wish to see cleaning staff more than they need to; they expect it to be ‘magically’ clean and ready for them to explore.  That’s where clever cleaning schedules come into play, helping to keep all public areas clean – all day.

Similar issues exist in office environments.  Take Call Centre operations; they work 24 hours a day, so there is no end to the working day when traditionally ‘the cleaner’ comes in.  However, every shift expects a clean and tidy working environment – and so they should.  In such cases, our cleaning schedules are clearly defined by the rotation of the staff our clients employ.  So, no matter what shift they work, they enjoy the same clean environment.

So you see, the traditional cleaner is a thing of the past, staff now have to be trained to work when they are needed, and they need to work around the people they serve.  Moreover, the waste that is generated must be properly handled and disposed of in the correct manner.

Spectrum has achieved a great deal this year, and we’ve proved that each and every job has it’s own special demands  In a strange way, that’s one of the things that makes our job so interesting – so, Ryder Cup, Shopping Mall or Call Centre…what’s the difference?  Actually, there is no difference, each requires the same scheduling and planning!

This month Spectrum Service Solutions won the ROCCO Customer Service Award for 2014 – quite a feat when you consider how many customers we actually served!