An Interview with Mark Golding, Head of Operations at Act-Clean
We’re proud to deliver five-star cleaning services to London’s hospitality sector, but at the heart of this success is our people.
We recently spoke with Mark Golding, Head of Operations, to discuss how we ensure we’re
recruiting the best people to meet the industry’s ever-demanding standards.
Hiring the right people
Our recruitment process starts with the basics: values, communication and suitability to the role, Mark explained:
“Of course it is essential we check all right to work documents, that is a given.
But before that, the first step is making sure new starters can communicate effectively. English doesn’t have to be perfect, but in our line of work, working with chemicals and equipment, and protecting valuable finishes, it is essential that every person working for us has the ability to communicate, understand instruction and to be able to receive training.
Because keeping our team safe is our highest priority. Equally keeping our clients and our client’s guests safe.
Computer skills are also essential, as a lot of our training is now done online.”
He went on to explain Act-Clean’s referral scheme:
“We have a scheme where staff can recommend friends and family for roles. This scheme has proven to be highly effective for finding new team members.
The best thing about recruiting in this way is that new employees understand first-hand what the job entails, so expectations are clear from the outset. Referred candidates integrate into the team smoothly, as they’ve already got a connection within the company, and they tend to stay longer.”
Underpinning all this are Act-Clean’s values:
“We expect everyone to sign up to our values from day one.
Having the right mindset is everything. The skills required for the job can be trained. We weave our values through the onboarding process at every stage. Values such as – We show up, We always do the best job we can do, We have a can-do attitude, We say it how it really is, even if that’s hard – these are important from the very first day!”
Our recruitment team
“We have a dedicated recruitment team at our Vauxhall office; Matilda and Monika are brilliant at what they do and an important part of the onboarding process.
They check right to work documents and ensure everything is recorded properly including personal details for payroll and taxation and of course bank details for payments. Then once fully registered, they set up each person for their e-learning online training.
We recently had a routine visit from the Home Office to check our systems and they were really impressed, we have put in place robust systems, more than the basic requirements.
Our team know how important it is to check everything – so that our clients don’t have to worry about this – this is part of our service and it’s a very important part, which takes away a lot of time and hassle and expense from our clients – this is what we are here for! This is what we do. So we take it very seriously.”
The next steps are then more to ensure that we set up new starters properly.
“Getting paid accurately and on time is needed to have confidence working for any company, and we want to get this right from the start.
Some of our new starters will have just moved to the UK, and therefore getting payments right is vital for them to create their new life, to create stability.
We often help on how to get national insurance numbers, set up bank accounts, and how to get around in London, some of the basics we take for granted, are so helpful to our new starters.”
From left: Matilda, Monika
Diversity and team dynamics
“Organically our business has attracted a mix of backgrounds and cultures, and we see this as a positive. Diversity brings a wide range of perspectives and experiences: we learn from each other, and respect different cultures and backgrounds, and we create great friendships.
We’re all at different stages of our own different life journey. A diverse team strengthens the way we work, and we’re proud of that.”
We are proud of our diverse workforce, we value our team’s ideas which help to shape the future of our company.
As Act-Clean business continues to grow, recruitment remains a top priority:
“It’s all about trust and reliability. We trust in our recruitment team, our supervisors and our employees to uphold our values. That’s how we keep delivering the high standards our clients expect.
We invest in our people, and in turn, they deliver for our clients.”
If you’d like to find out how Act-Clean’s dedicated team can benefit your hotel, restaurant or private members club give us a call on 020 7793 0500 or email info@act-clean.com