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    The Cleaning Industry is a sector that is often tarred with a reputation for high staff turnover and lack of career opportunity where Cleaning Operatives hop from one job to another due to companies offering little in the way of progression or longevity.

    Here at we clean we take great pride in ‘bucking’ this trend by championing staff to form longstanding careers with our business and developing as individuals, encouraging all staff from the frontline operation through to senior management to evolve, grow and progress within our organisational structure. 

    With this in mind, we are always delighted to present ’10 Year Service Awards’ to our valued employees and with over 40% of our 580+ frontline cleaning staff now having been with we clean for over a decade this is something for us to really shout about!

    Even more pleasing is that these recent milestone awards hail from key we clean contracts where we operate large cleaning teams and carry out a range of different cleaning disciplines:

    Brindleyplace

    Our relationship with Birmingham’s premier leisure and business estate, Brindleyplace, dates back to 2009 initially tendering for the Internal Common Area cleaning across all managed buildings. Following on from this positive introduction we were then awarded the External Estates Cleaning Contract in May 2013 – a significant contract win for we clean at the time.

    Following an extensive TUPE process we gladly welcomed the 12 existing Estates Cleaning staff at the time into our organisation – with 6 staff still working with we clean to this day and Rob Parkes now boasting a continuous service length at Brindleyplace of over 25 years!

    David Holmes-McClure, we clean Health & Safety Manager who initially transferred across as part of the TUPE process back in 2013 is immensely proud to have been part of the team and to have now been with the organisation for over a decade, forging a career at the Birmingham Hippodrome as Site Manager and now as Company H&S Manager, he commented:

    “I can’t believe I have been with we clean for 10 years – I don’t know where it has gone. If I look back on that 10 years so much has changed but I look back fondly on those early years at Brindleyplace, when I was just 32. I think we all really enjoyed our time there – it was a great place to work.

    For myself, Darren, Ken, Rob, Pete and Anthony to still be with the organisation is a testament to the ‘people first’ culture we have developed here and I think it speaks volumes of the ethos Paul and David as Directors have developed.

    Here’s to the next 10 years!”

    Our Brindleyplace Estates Team receiving their 10 Year Service Awards!

    Solihull School

    Founded in 1560, Solihull School has been part of the fabric of Solihull for over 450 years. In 1882 the school moved to its present 50-acre site on the Warwick Road where it continues to grow, and it now educates 1000 pupils with an additional 250 in the Sixth Form, aging from 7 all the way up to 18.

    Within the 50-acre site their currently sits over 20 buildings, including a Junior School, High School and Sixth Form as well as facilities for science, design and technology, music and modern languages. There is also a new sports pavilion and an impressive in-house theatre which holds regular performances.

    As an organisation we are proud to have formed a decade long partnership with this prestigious educational facility – where we deliver a comprehensive cleaning service and cater to the unique needs of this wide and varying site.

    Our presence on-site is overseen by Robb Paton, Contract Manager and he was delighted to award the following members of staff 10 Year Service Awards, commenting:

    “Joanne Cooper is Location Manager within the School for the evening cleaning regime managing both the Junior and Senior areas of the school having a tremendous work ethic. She is a great extension of the we clean management team on-site and has built a very good rapport with our client contact Chris McCall. Jo has great organisational skills and ensures that all areas are covered and ticked off.

    Joanne Cooper being presented her 10 Year Service Award by Contract Manager, Robb Paton!

    Christian Markham is a model Operative, he is one of those that simply ‘cracks on with the job’ and is very much a no fuss member of the team. He carries out his job to a consistently high standard and is a very well-respected member of our on-site cleaning team.

    Christian Markham and we clean Directors Paul Concannon and David Harker plus Solihull School Marshal, Chris McCall!

    Gary Cooper – full credit to Gary for his decade of commitment to Solihull School and we clean where he also works within the Junior and Senior areas. Gary is always one to step up and cover if required and is a genuine team player. His role can vary due to the nature of the school however he is always able to adapt and deliver when required.”

    Jennifer Anderson – Birmingham Hippodrome / Colmore Gate / Lombard House

    We are Birmingham born and bred and our continued growth has been built on forming longstanding partnerships with facilities across the city.

    For example, we have now operated within the Birmingham Hippodrome for over 15 years, carrying out a vast range of disciplines, 7 days a week, ensuring we support this ever-popular theatres busy schedule.

    Jennifer Anderson has worked within this high profile we clean contract now for over a decade as well as our Cushman & Wakefield managed contract, Colmore Gate and more recently Lombard House, on the Great Charles Street Queensway through managing agent Gerald Eve LLP.

    Jennifer works across three different city centre contracts for we clean and reports into Contract Manager Debbie Rhodes, who oversees our Birmingham City Centre portfolio. Debbie is full of praise for Jennifer, describing her as a ‘real character’ but integral part of her team:

    “She is always very approachable and friendly – she has a positive manner and is always smiling. Jennifer is certainly a real character within the different cleaning teams in which she works but our company is built on characters and she genuinely means well and will always do her utmost to ensure service levels are required.

    With her positive manner she has developed good rapport with our client base and the we clean management team and she is a pleasure to work with.

    Jennifer is always very presentable and her 10 Year Service award is a testament to her work ethic – well done Jennifer!”

    Jennifer Anderson receives her 10 Year Service Award at the Birmingham Hippodrome!

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    At we clean we are proud to be on a sustainability journey of dramatically reducing our environmental footprint through tangible operational improvement within the framework of our internal Environmental Management System (EMS) we clean GREEN.

    As part of this ongoing management process we are delighted to announce the introduction of a further three British-built Nissan Leaf electric vehicles into our company vehicle fleet, taking the total number of company owned EV’s to 10 which is over a third of our total company fleet.

    We understand that as an organisation it is our responsibility to ensure that we align ourselves with our clients own ESG goals, whether that be cleaning geared towards sustainability, adhering to strict recycling channels or owning certain accreditations such as ISO 14001 and so we are pleased to have a number of the EV’s we have introduced dedicated to contract sites such as HORIBA MIRA and Chesterford Research Park.

    According to independent research from the European Climate Foundation, smaller electric vehicles produce around 15 tonnes of CO2 from construction through to scrapping, compared to an average of 32 tonnes for the equivalent petrol or diesel car, halving greenhouse gas emissions produced during the lifetime of the vehicles.

    The latest vehicles are equipped with a 40kWh battery, 200-mile range and produce zero tailpipe emissions and the introduction of EV’s has helped slash our CO2 per mile from 135.2g in 2018 to 82.2g in March 2023, a 38.5% reduction propelling us forward on our journey to be Net Zero by 2030!

    Birmingham introduced a Clean Air Zone (CAZ) as well as upgrades to charging infrastructure in early 2020 and the continued investment in electric vehicles is part of our plan to further benefit clients in the city and exceed the requirements of achieving cleaner air across the region.

    David Holmes McClure our Company Health & Safety Manager who has driven a company provided fully electric vehicle now for over four years, commented on the latest Nissan Leaf’s:

    “As an organisation we are doing our utmost to push sustainability and environmentally friendly cleaning organisation and these three new, fully electric Nissan Leaf’s reinforce our position as the Midlands leading environmentally friendly cleaning company. Through our Environmental Management System, we clean GREEN we are always benchmarking our footprint and striving to reduce it and these new additions certainly bolster these plans!

    I am proud to be driving a vehicle with zero tailpipe emissions and contributing to our green agenda when carrying out my professional duties!”

    Our we clean GREEN EMS was introduced in 2014 and thus far has enabled us to focus on reducing our Carbon footprint in a structured and meaningful way with the implementation of other environmental improvements to our operational processes including:

    Our journey to ‘Net Zero by 2030’ will ensure that our services will continually evolve, ensuring that we remain the go-to cleaning company for organisations across the Midlands who are looking for a genuine sustainable cleaning solution!

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    In today’s fast-paced and ever-changing cleaning industry, one facet will always remain absolutely critical – good ‘customer service’!

    We now service over 250 key clients, inputting 12,000 cleaning hours per week, many of which are worked within very public facing contracts such as:

    With this in mind, a number of Contract Management / Contract Management Support, Location Managers and frontline Cleaning Staff were enrolled on to a Customer Service Course with local training body, Environmental Excellence.

    Contract Management / Contract Management Support, Location Managers and frontline Cleaning Staff taking part in the Customer Service.

    A Customer Service course is designed to teach individuals the essential skills needed to provide excellent customer service that will ensure client retention remains paramount. The course covered various topics such as understanding client’s needs, effective communication, problem-solving, and handling difficult clients. The course also emphasizes the importance of empathy, patience, and active listening in customer service.

    First impressions count and we understand that for those of our staff in client / public facing roles, presentation and effective communication is vital to ensure a consistent client centric message is delivered.

    We always strive for best practice and in order to fulfil this, constant training and evolution of our much valued employee’s skillsets is required. We have partnered with Environmental Excellence on a number of different courses in recent years ranging from the importance of cleaning science as basic discipline through to the growing awareness of environmental / sustainable cleaning and infection prevention control cleaning management systems!

    Jo Dunn who carried out the course at our Birmingham Head office commented:

    “The group were very interactive and really bought into all aspects of the course, asking lots of questions and diving deeper into the theory behind some of the customer service fundamentals.

    The course is very much geared towards how we clean as a business manages their client base and deals with both the public and client contacts.

    It is important for those in the cleaning industry to take a step back and think about how their decisions can affect ‘the bigger picture’ but also how to deal with both clients and colleagues with different emotional intelligence to that of themselves.”

    The day also focused on heavily on the aspect of client retention and how all staff from frontline cleaning staff to management staff can positively affect this critical factor that has been the bedrock for the long-term success of the we clean brand!

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    As we celebrate International Women’s Day, it is essential to reflect on the significance of this day and how far women have come in the pursuit of gender equality.

    International Women’s Day is a global event celebrated on March 8th every year to recognize women’s social, economic, cultural, and political achievements. The purpose of this day is to raise awareness about gender inequality and to promote women’s rights and empowerment.

    This year’s theme, “Choose To Challenge” calls on individuals to challenge gender biases, stereotypes, and discrimination. It reminds us that each of us plays an important role in creating a more equal world by calling out unacceptable behaviour and taking action when we witness injustice.

    At we clean we have long championed women within our organisation, from frontline cleaning staff through to longstanding Board Member and HR & Office Manager, Gaynor Powell, women are a driving force in our continued growth.

    With this in mind we are delighted to welcome two new we clean employees, Bethany Bagley as Contract Manager and Alysha Bird as Junior Payroll Administrator.

    Bethany Bagley – Contract Manager

    The role of a Contract Manager is fast paced and varied, with no two days being the same. Contract Managers are responsible for managing staff, ensuring client satisfaction across their portfolio, addressing and resolving any issues and they therefore play a critical role in the success of any cleaning organisation.

    Bethany has joined we clean with a wealth of industry experience, particularly in the educational sector and will be reporting directly into Richard Wharton in his new role as Operational Business Manager.

    Beth shone throughout the recruitment process as an individual with a strong work ethic and clear desire to deliver service excellence. Her experience and strong industry knowledge will hold her in good stead as she develops with our organisation.

    Beth is delighted to be joining we clean during an exciting period of growth, commenting:

    “I started as a Cleaning Operative at the Birmingham City FC Training Ground which is close to where I live before moving on into other Supervisory cleaning roles In the surrounding.

    This experience at the coalface and at the frontline of cleaning operations gave me a good grounding of the cleaning industry.

    Working within an educational setting was particularly challenging and offered me great insight into the importance of effective contract management.

    I am absolutely delighted to be joining we clean, who’s Head Office is local to where I live meant that I was very aware of their excellent reputation for being a ‘people business’.

    This is a really exciting opportunity for me and I am really looking forward to the role and being part of the we clean team where I will be working closely with Richard Wharton and helping to develop his portfolio across the South Warwickshire region.”

    Alysha Bird – Junior Payroll Administrator

    Back in 2003 when we first began trading, our fortnightly payroll was a much simpler affair, we had fewer staff on our books and only a handful of contracts.

    Nearly 20 years later, we are pleased to say that things have somewhat progressed. We are proud to service over 250 accounts, and count an ever-growing team of 570 frontline cleaning staff who input a staggering 11,000 hours of cleaning a week as part of our cleaning operations.

    This growth has meant that the fortnightly payroll has grown rather more complex, and with it, the Payroll and Accounts Team has grown too with its latest addition, Alysha!

    Living locally in Cofton Hackett, Alysha’s background is predominantly in retail however it was her desire to forge a career in the commercial arena as well as her bubbly personality that meant she was the right candidate for this critical role.

    Alysha believes her background working in busy retail stores will hold her in good stead:

    “I saw this opportunity and thought it would be a great fit for me. I live locally and was keen for a career change where I can develop new skills and pursue new opportunities.

    My retail background has meant that I have good organisational skills and can deal with very busy periods. I have also developed strong customer service skills and enjoy being part of a team where everybody is working towards the same goal.

    Although it is only my first week I feel very settled and everybody has been kind and welcoming. It can sometimes be difficult joining a company where there are lots of longstanding employees but everybody has made me feel part of the team from day one.

    I am really looking forward to working closely with Christine Checkley as Payroll Administrator and learning from her vast experience as well as HR & Office Manager, Gaynor Powell.

    Thank you to Paul and David for the opportunity!”