Pro CleanCan you say the same about your office’s cleaning staff if your organization uses a third-party cleaning service? Probably not, which can be a concern if someone who has not been appropriately vetted is involved. After all, these are individuals who work around the same valuable equipment as your own employees on a daily basis — shouldn’t you know whether you can trust that they are reputable before handing them a set of keys?
Cleaning Company Employees Versus Subcontractors
Many commercial cleaning companies don’t use their own employees to perform all of the work they do for their clients. There are times when they may use subcontractors to fill certain jobs in place of their own crew, or to fill in when their own employees are busy or otherwise unavailable.
This means that if you hire a commercial cleaning company to perform regular office cleaning, their employees may not be the cleaning staff who show up at your door. When this happens, you are at risk from a liability standpoint and also may not receive the same level of service that you normally would expect because the company subcontracted out your work to non-employees.
In addition to concerns about the quality of work being performed, working with unknown elements also creates potential safety, liability and security risks. This is even the case for companies that perform background checks on their own employees. Just because they perform background checks on their own employees doesn’t guarantee that they hold their subcontractors to the same rigorous standards. As such, you don’t know whether the subcontractors or their staff have undergone a background check; or, if so, which kind of background check (as there are multiple types available).
If you find your office being serviced by cleaning subcontractors, an additional concern for you is that they may not be insured or covered by Workers’ Compensation. If one of those cleaning subcontractors slips and falls while cleaning your office, it means that your business may be held liable for their injuries and any costs that may result from them.
Not All Cleaning Companies Check Subcontractors’ Backgrounds
Background checks and screenings are required by state or federal law for some but not all jobs. While 96% of employers surveyed by HR.com said they conduct at least one type of background screening, it doesn’t mean they conduct any type of criminal background check, or that it’s against a national database. Additionally, the same report states that 83% of the survey’s respondents said they screen all full-time employees, and only 67% said they screen all part-time employees.
Why Companies Run Criminal Background Checks
There are many reasons why businesses run criminal background checks on their existing employees and prospective candidates. The top reasons include being able to verify someone’s identity, to understand their criminal history and know whether they are trustworthy, to uphold workplace safety and security, as well as to abide by company guidelines.
According to the Report of The National Task Force on the Criminal Backgrounding of America, additional reasons include:
- Public Safety,
- Limitation of Liability,
- Customer Assurance,
- Fear or Avoidance of Loss of Business, and
- Conditions of Doing Business.
Hiring a business that performs quality criminal background checks on their employees provides both a greater confidence in the services that you receive as well as comfort in the knowledge that you’re not opening your office up to potential threats or issues.
Hire a Business That Verifies and Insures Its Employees
When you hire a reputable company that uses in-house cleaning staff and performs background checks on all employees, you’re hiring them not only for the quality of their services but also the security that they provide.
At Pro Clean, we take pride in ensuring that all of our employees are documented and have passed a national criminal background search, sexual predator search and terrorist watch search. Each employee is equipped with an official uniform and photo identification to ensure that you know who our employees are at all times and never have to guess. In addition to the national background check, we also conduct a Social Security number verification for every employee.
All of our employees are thoroughly trained in environmentally responsible industry cleaning practices and procedures, as well as safety training to minimize safety claims. Additionally, all of them are covered by both Workers’ Compensation and general liability insurance.
All of these processes offer your business a high level of protection and peace of mind. It also demonstrates our commitment to quality.
To learn more about our processes and standards, contact Pro Clean today to speak with one of our cleaning and facility maintenance experts.
