Safety first messaging mats
We can supply businesses with these messaging mats. There are clear messages about distancing and hand washing, and also disinfecting mats. See further details here.
These are likely to be very popular as lockdown eases, so get in touch if you’d like to place an order.
Our Fabulous Five
Although most of our team are staying safely at home, we still have five fabulous Green Moppers working hard every day to keep vital premises clean and sanitised.
Although we ceased all non-essential services, to a few of our customers continuation of cleaning service is vital. They include NHS support offices and Macmillan Horizon centre.
So a huge thank you to our wonderful team. Hidden heroes keeping working and keeping others working through their vital efforts.
Here’s to Silviya, Julie, Donna, Marketa and Laurie. All magnificent Moppers. Thank you for your work.
Government Job Retention Scheme
During March, we put most of our team on Furlough. None of us knew what that word meant until last month! But we hope it means that our Green Moppers can feel reassured that they will at least have some income for the next few months.
With services postponed indefinitely, we were very glad of the support available for our employees. Once we had collated all the required information, with helpful advice from our accountants Plus Accounting, it was actually very straightforward to apply for.
We also hope it will help our customers’ businesses to keep their heads above water during this unprecented disruption to our usual way of life.
Business not as usual
As for everyone else, our business routine has changed pretty quickly. By the middle of March, it was apparent that things were about to change. You can’t really plan or prepare for such unprecedented events, you just have to take it a day at a time whilst in the eye of the storm. Some customers were choosing to shut, a trickle of closures became a flood. The horror of this virus meant by the 22nd March we had chosen to shut down as much as possible, and encourage staff to stay home and stay safe.
We have furloughed 39 members the Green Mop team. There is work we could have carried on doing, but we don’t want to put any of our workers at unnecessary risk.
We have several Green Moppers still working at customer sites that really can’t close, for example NHS support offices, and the Macmillan centre. And the staff working have chosen to carry on. We gave them the choice. I am proud of all of our staff, but am in awe of the work the fab five are doing.
The office is shut. A supervisor goes in and checks post, sorts out laundry, and does stores orders when needed. I am working from home and managing any ongoing business and admin from here.
We hope as many businesses as possible can make it through to the other side of this, but it’s going to be a while before we’re sure who’s made it and who hasn’t. We’ll continue to do our best to protect our workers and get back to work when safe to do so.
Update for Green Mop staff – 23 March 2020
Your safety is our primary concern – this is why have taken the decision to pause any non-essential cleaning. Shortly your rotas will be updated.
Please can we ask you to drop all the keys to the Green Mop office. You can drop them via the letterbox, as they need to be kept safe for when we resume our services.
There are full time shifts available to take at the Hospital in non-clinical areas, if any of you wish to help there. We will be sending more info when it becomes available.
We are waiting for further clarification from the government with regard to furlough pay scheme and will update you soon.
Thank you all and keep safe.
COVID-19 update for customers – 23 March 2020
Message sent to all customers on Monday 23 March:
I regret to inform that after the updated Government information over the weekend, we are pausing all office cleaning services for the time being.
We’re very sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
We will of course pause invoicing. If you have a direct debit set up with us, you don’t need to do anything as no monies will be deducted if no invoice is issued.
Once things start to return to normal, we will be offering comprehensive deep sanitising cleans for when people return to work.
Touch point cleaning list
We’re all practicing good hand hygiene, but we also should be sure to keep touch points clean.
During the pandemic crisis, we have been prioritising touch point cleaning, and offering sanitising cleans for customers.
We usually do the obvious touch points as part of a standard clean, but have broadened this as well as increasing frequency. It’s also valid for home cleaning too, so I’ve included home and office touch points in my list.
If you don’t have specialist cleaning products, soapy water is good. Or hand gel, if you have any (60% alcohol or more).
Touch point cleaning list:
- Light switches
- Door handles (including cupboard doors)
- Door push areas
- Appliance handles, such as fridge, oven etc
- Kettle handle / toaster knobs
- Appliance buttons and dials
- TV remotes
- Kitchen work surfaces
- Basin / bath / sink taps
- Toilet flush
- Bathroom surfaces
- Tables and desks
- Keyboards
- Other office equipment, eg printers
- Landline phones, and mobiles
- Bannisters / handrails
- Lift buttons
Update for Green Mop staff – 19 March 2020
With customers shutting their premises due to the ongoing Coronavirus situation, many of you are losing vital work at this worrying time. Unfortunately, our customers are unable to give us any notice, and they do not know when they will return.
Obviously thorough cleaning of all premises is vital and our work as cleaners has never been more important. Many customers will require deep cleans before they return, so when things become clearer, we hope to be able to get some much needed work for those of you who are affected. As long as we’re still cleaning, please make sure you do your very best to make sure things are clean and sanitised. Customers will notice how good and thorough we are, and appreciate the important work that we do.
Where customers have promised to maintain payments whilst the cleaning service is suspended, we will continue to pay you as normal for those cancelled shifts. Unfortunately, not many of them have agreed to do this. If customers have paid up to the end of the month, we will pay you as usual for this month for those shifts. If you have unused accrued holiday, we will pay you that next month should you be forced into time off.
It is a quickly evolving and changing situation. I am sorry for the undoubted hardship lost hours of work will cause.
Coronavirus – update for Green Mop customers
An update to all our customers regarding the current Coronavirus situation.
Please be assured that we will inform you if our staff become infected or need to self-isolate. If there is an outbreak in your building, please kindly inform us as soon as possible.
Please note that we will endeavour to fulfil all cleaning services, and will keep you informed should staffing levels suffer due to any outbreak.
Also, please bear with us as we endeavour to respond to all requests for additional and extended cleaning.
We have supplied antiviral cleaning product for surface cleaning, with reminders sent to all cleaning teams to prioritise touch point cleaning. All staff have been instructed to ensure hand hygiene is maintained; changing gloves more often, and washing hands between glove changes.
Our suppliers are keeping us updated and supplied with products that will be effective should there be an outbreak at any of our customers’ premises.
We are doing our best to get hand sanitiser, and will inform our customers when it’s back in stock. If you’ve requested it, you are on our waiting list.
We are also seeking to stock increased levels of handsoap and toilet tissue.
Coronavirus – update for Green Mop staff
We’ll keep you informed of the latest advice for staying safe during the Coronavirus crisis. Make sure you check your messages from the rota app, office email and texts or Whatsapp messages.
- If you feel any of the symptoms you must not come to work.
- We will inform you if there are any cases at the places you work.
- When you are working, wear gloves and change them after each separate task.
- Wash your hands thoroughly when you change your gloves, and when you finish work.
- Make sure you clean touch points at your sites – this is a high priority task.
- Let the office know what orders you need in plenty of time.
Our customers are seeking reassurance that we can keep their offices as clean and hygienic as possible at this time. We will all do our best to do what we can. They’re will be some extra deep cleaning work available over the next couple of weeks. We’ll get in touch in the usual ways to see if you want to do extra shifts.
Thank you all for your continued hard work.