The cleanliness of the office space affects the well-being and efficiency of the employees

Cleaning is an important service for Technopolis and its customers, and many customers purchase it from Technopolis. The overall cleanliness affects not only the coziness of the workspace and the well-being of employees but also the attractiveness of the office space.

“Cleaning is a very important service for us, and the most important thing is that it serves the customers’ needs and answers their wishes about the cleanliness of the office space. Cleaning should act as an attraction and a reason to stay in Technopolis’ workspaces. If customers are satisfied with the cleaning service, we can verify to our new potential customers that our service concept really works. At the same time, we can help to make our current customers stay with Technopolis even though their workspace-related needs would change,” says Salla Brunou, Concept Manager for campus services and cleaning services at Technopolis.

Lauri Härö is one of the cleaners responsible for the Technopolis premises in Oulu and has worked as a cleaner at Technopolis Oulu for nine years.

“We always strive to do as good a job as possible with the highest quality, so that the customers are satisfied. We clean the spaces as agreed and if there is a need to change something, we will react to the new needs,” Härö says.

Härö tells that the cleaners also try to instruct Technopolis’ customers when possible, for example, regarding recycling. The aim is that with more knowledge for example recycling in the offices becomes even more efficient and accurate.

“If we notice that the same things often end up in the wrong recycling containers, we try to help the customer with instructions. I think that sorting biowaste is clearly the thing that has been adopted particularly well,” says Härö.

Trends in office spaces are also visible in the cleaner's work, and the changes in materials and layouts affect the cleaner’s job. Over the course of nine years, Härö has noticed clear changes in the offices, and especially what kind of changes renovations bring with them to the office spaces.

“Carpeted floor and electric height-adjustable desks have become much more common in offices. The change to carpeting naturally affects the way we clean as we switch mopping to vacuuming. Fortunately, the equipment used for cleaning is also developing, which makes our work easier and increases motivation,” Härö says.

If a customer changes, it also affects the cleaning of the space and means that the cleaners need to adapt to the new agreed practices. On the other hand, when cleaning a familiar customer’s space, the cleaners already have clear routines.

“Naturally, new surfaces are easier to clean than surfaces that have been in use for a long time. Workstations with a screen and a dock that are not designated to a particular employee are particularly pleasant to clean because there are usually no piles of stuff on the desks,” Härö tells.

Härö tells that sometimes they joke with familiar customers about the huge piles of stuff and papers that have gathered for years on their personal workstations.

“Sometimes these piles of stuff can even spread all the way to the floor, and we joke about them together with the customer. I enjoy chatting with customers and it’s nice that you get to meet many different people in this job. It’s also interesting to get to know different companies,” Härö tells.

For several years Technopolis has used customer satisfaction as a bonus method in purchase agreements with several vendors, and this is also the case for cleaning services. Härö sees this as a positive motivator above all.

“In my opinion, Technopolis’ reward system is very exemplary and motivating,” Härö says.