A fixer needed to complete the housekeepers job
Unrealistic room quotas force hotel housekeepers to do sloppy work.
It's difficult to stay motivated when someone finds your cleaning result inadequate and sends another cleaner to finish off what you started.
At a Sokotel-owned Radisson hotel in Helsinki, a housekeeper currently on SOL Palvelut Oy's payroll reveals that, on occasions, the hotel's own quality manager finds the cleaning result to be below the hotel's quality standard, and the cleaning firm has to send another person to "re-clean" the rooms. This is a real motivation-killer for the housekeeper: first you are not given enough time to do your work properly, and then they send someone else to complete your job.
Mikko Vesala, Housekeeping City Manager at the Espoo Radisson Blu hotel and other Radisson hotels in the Helsinki region, is also the hotels' quality manager. In an e-mail interview he said he had not noticed that "anyone specific" was being brought in to fix quality problems.
– If we observe any quality shortcomings, we take note of them. According to the service company, all observed shortcomings are addressed and the necessary action is taken to prevent their recurrence.
SOL refuses to comment on PAM magazine's question about the "re-cleaner".
– We conduct quality assurance checks on a regular basis, as agreed with the hotel, explains service manager Aila Forsström in her e-mail message.
Vesala remembers the period before Sokotel's housekeeping was outsourced. Has quality suffered?
– I can't comment on behalf of Sokotel Oy, only for Radisson Blu, he says.
– Naturally, because the new system was introduced only recently, there are challenges involved. In some hotels, quality standards are met while others face challenges.
Vesala's speech is peppered with the word "challenge".
– In many ways, housekeeping is highly challenging, since it is purely manual work. In some of the hotels that outsourced housekeeping to SOL, there have been problems with the quality of work, but others are satisfied with the service.
According to Vesala, Sokotel is by and large satisfied with its co-operation with SOL.
He says that he is familiar with the work quota system in housekeeping, but admits that service companies apply their own methods and targets. He acknowledges the importance of reasonable quotas.
– Naturally, the time allowed for housekeepers to do their job and quality of work go hand in hand, not to mention the effect on motivation.
Sini Saaritsa
Text:: Tiina Ritala