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It’s Spring Cleaning Time

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“Improve your facility maintenance operation by getting all your key stakeholders involved.”

–Alan Bressler Chairman of the Board & Chief Operating Officer

Winter has not quite left us yet, but now is the best time to start getting your facility ready for spring and summer. Just about now, we have had it with winter. We can see the wear it has taken on just about everything from your lobbies elevators, corridors to your roof. We are actually looking forward to spring-cleaning a.k.a. preparedness.

This season has been especially wearing on most of our properties. Many commercial properties have not been in full use. Conversely, residential properties are seeing more wear and tear than ever.

Doing the prep work now can possibly save you money in the end. The artic freezes combined with extra mild days, can all wreak havoc on your facility’s structure. These simple steps now will get you ready for spring and summer.

  1. Visual Inspection: Pick a starting point, either the roof or the cellar and work your way through the entire building. Take note of any damage that may have been caused by check pipes, fittings, structure, seals, leaks, cracks, etc. and notify any vendors you may need with your repair lists.
  2. Preventative Maintenance/Equipment Inspection: This is the time to check that your summer equipment is in working condition and is ready to kick on when needed. Make sure you have an ample supply of inventory and make note of what has been depleted over the winter months so you can re-order.
  3. Testing your Equipment: Now is the time to test your air conditioning units. Schedule your maintenance and confirm that everything is in good working order. Remember preventive maintenance will save you money in the end, check filters, coils, belts, wiring, air ducts, drain pans, motors, compressors, etc. Clean hoses. You will also have the added outcome of happy tenants.
  4. Be Proactive: While you are conducting your inspections and soft starts, make spot repairs as you go along. If existing staff cannot handle it, contact your vendors now, before they get very busy and you will have to wait. Prioritize your projects and set them on a time-line. This will allow you to go back to one central location to check them off as completed.

Now on to the Aesthetics of it All

Once the weather starts turning warmer you can move on to other areas, these include:

  1. Scheduling your window washing: make the most of daylight savings time and let all that sun shine in by having clean windows. Schedule early to avoid the rush. While you are scheduling – do not forget the interior windows and glass partitions.
  2. Spruce up the exterior: Check your curbs and walkways for damage, cracks, and holes. If on a campus setting, check your landscaping, make note of any areas that need special attention. Residential properties may have courts and pool areas that require special attention prior to season opening. Check parking lots for cracks and potholes that need repairing. If your building has awnings, check to make sure they made it through the season. Check all your fittings and standpipes. Now is also a good time to start pressure washing and painting areas that need touching up.
  3. Freshen up your lobby, corridors, trash rooms and amenity spaces: Salt, slush, ice, dirt have been pounded into your floors for the last two or three months. Schedule them for a deep cleaning. Inspect your floor mats and replace any that have outlived their usefulness. Strip and wax, shampoo, do what you have to do, but get those floors cleaned.
  4. Spring Cleaning: Now is a good time to pull out your list of periodic work and go through as many as you can. Purge broken equipment, stanchions, and signage. Clean those high lighting fixtures, replace burned out bulbs, do your high dusting, have all fire safety equipment cleaned and serviced.

These are just some of the steps you can take to help you prepare for spring, tenants returning and the months ahead. Remember to call Guardian Service Industries, Inc. for help with getting your building ready.

Let’s have a happy spring!

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A Wi-Fi Electronic Mousetrap: How Effective Is It For Our Pesky Pest Problems?

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With new technology constantly being introduced into our daily lives, it can become difficult to know what technological devices actually make our lives easier, and what devices are, frankly, a big waste of time. While some of these new innovations sure seem like great ideas, they often fall short when it comes to actual capability. Let’s consider this while we unpack the effectiveness of the “Smart-Kill Wi-Fi Electronic Mouse Trap” by Victor.

For people who hate those little rodents, and cannot stand the thought of them, this device seems like a perfect solution. The Smart-Kill trap sends kill alerts to your mobile device so that you never have to check the trap unless you’ve caught one. The trap has the ability to monitor an unlimited number of traps simultaneously, so owners of these devices do not need to waste time catching one rodent at a time. The manufacturers state that their devices have a 100% kill rate, which guarantees that mice won’t come into contact with the trap and live to continue pestering. Perhaps one of the most appealing features of this smart trap is that it offers a removable kill chamber so you do not have to touch the dead rodent, and can instead, simply open and empty the creature directly into the trash.

While this new technology has many benefits, electronic devices often also carry some disadvantages. Unhappy users have complained that their traps malfunction because the sensors, the batteries, or the safety switch, just do not seem to work. Others are concerned that we are employing technology to problems that simply do not need technology. They argue that some problems are better solved using old fashioned methods. One user believes the mouse is more likely to get distracted by the motion detector in the Victor trap and will, as a result, miss the trap altogether.

Whether you believe we need a Wi-Fi electronic mousetrap out there or not, it exists. When considering all of the reviews, and thinking about the problem at hand, the advantages seem to outweigh the disadvantages. If you are someone who dislikes these rodents, and wants to make the act of catching them as simple as possible, it appears that most believe the Victor Wi-Fi Electronic Mouse Trap is effective. Yes, you may run into some technical difficulties, but that is the price you may have to pay to get rid of those pesky-little fellows.

Amazon-boxes

The Amazon Effect: How Will You Cope

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Increased ecommerce has changed the way we do things from shopping for groceries to back-to-school items, it can all be completed with the push of a button, yell at Alexa or swipe of a finger on your mobile device.   Then what happens?…     

Where are all these packages going? 

Whether you have a 100 multi-family units in the suburbs or a townhouse on the upper east side, your tenants view secure package delivery as a necessity, not an amenity.  On a typical day, a 215-unit building in NYC, receives 160 packages.  This number doubles between Thanksgiving and New Year’s day.  

A concierge can quickly become overwhelmed by an ever-increasing stack of parcels and deliveries. Where do they go? How can they best perform their existing duties if they’re swimming in a sea of boxes all day?

Package or parcel volume as it is called in the report, has grown from 44 billion parcels in 2014 to 65 billion in 2016, according to an index that measures volume and spending on shipments in 13 major markets including the U.S. Pitney’s index estimates parcel shipping will continue to rise between 17% and 28% each year between 2017 and 2021.

Across America the question is real, “where are all these packages going to go?”  Whether it means bringing on additional help to assist with the growing numbers of deliveries or retrofitting your existing space to accommodate additional storage space, lockers or both, it needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.  Let’s have a look at some possible solutions.

Increase the Staff

The abundance of parcels that a concierge handles is ever-increasing and shows no sign of slowing down. To keep residents satisfaction at a consistently high level, you might need to consider hiring more staff to adapt to these changes.

Additional Concierge

Hiring an additional concierge can help reduce the stress of having to deal with the amount of packages. Whether this person has a dedicated task for handling packages at the front desk or is brought on to help with the increased work load of the existing concierges really depends on the specific needs of the building.

Dedicated Mail Staff

Another staffing option is to hire a mail person to assist the concierge in handling packages is another option of help. The mail staff would be working behind-the-scenes to ensure that the front desk is not overloaded with packages.

This solution is helpful for buildings where the storage area of packages is located far from the front desk.

Retrofitting Existing Space for Packages

Many residential buildings and high rises in New York were built long before online retail existed. How could the architects of even 20 years ago predict the e-commerce explosion?

Perhaps a building now has underutilized space. Are all 3 games rooms really being fully used? While looking to retrofit an existing space for parcels the following considerations should be taken:

  1. Location: How close is it to the front desk? The further it is from the front desk, the more time is spent ferrying packages back and forth
  2. Security: Who can access the space? Is it just the concierge? Or residents as well? What about the delivery person?
  3. Storage: How will the packages be stored? Will there be lockers? An Amazon Hub? Or just a secure room for the concierge?
  4. Staffing: Will more staff need to be hired? Is a dedicated mail person needed? Or can technology handle it?

In a perfect world the retrofitted space will be very close to the front desk, employing technology that allows for a minimal disruption in a concierge’s daily tasks. Sadly, a perfect world doesn’t exist and compromises will need to be made for each unique building and situation.

Creating Additional Space

No, we’re not talking about adding an extra storey to your building just to handle the influx of extra packages… it’s more about finding space in your building to add storage lockers.

There are 3 main considerations for creating additional space for storage lockers in your building: location and security.

Location

Where are the storage lockers going? Inside the building could be an option. With increasing trends of cycling and carshares, could a section of your parking garage be repurposed for parcel storage? Or perhaps there is an area in your loading zone/bay that could accommodate for the extra deliveries.

While internal storage space in buildings is costly and limited, some buildings are opting to build parcel storage containers outside. Having outdoor storage can help with finding the space for lockers, but it does come at an increased risk with security.

Security

Package theft has increased with the rise of online retail. How can you ensure top security for your residents’ purchases? The most secure storage for packages is when the concierge handles all of the work of signing (if needed) for the parcel and storing it in a secure location until the resident comes to pick it up. This method, however, is very time consuming and labor intensive.

A lot of package security is dependent upon the location of the storage lockers. In general, the more people have access to the storage locker, the greater the security needs to be. How then are these conflicting needs resolved?

Recent advancements in locker technology have helped alleviate the strain of extra

Locker Technology

Amazon is well aware of the strain that it has created on residential buildings with the rapid adoption of e-commerce. The good news is that they are constantly working on creating systems to make parcel delivery easier for everyone.

Recently, Amazon has begun a rollout of Amazon Hub Apartment Lockers.

These lockers are specifically designed for condos and apartments to be used exclusively by the residents. The Amazon Hub Apartment Lockers can also accept parcels from other major carriers and not just Amazon packages.

To learn more about the Amazon Hub Apartment Lockers you can visit their website here:

https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=17337376011

Conclusion

Budgeting for the coming year? You may want to consider your options as you prepare for 2020.  If your building recently went through a remodel and did not account for the influx of packages coming your way, consider a new designer/architect for the next project.  If you are preparing for a remodel or expansion, take into account your buildings’ demographics and that e-commerce is steadily growing by 12% each year.  Options include everything from expanded accommodations for increased doormen/concierge personnel to retrofitting an area for a secured mailroom or electronic lockers. 

Why Customers Benefit From Our Security Team Training?

Why Customers Benefit From Our Security Team Training?

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The last decade has revolutionized the way a customer evaluates any business’ products or services. It’s not just about treating the customer right anymore; it’s about making them feel good.

A study conducted recently revealed that, “U.S. brands lose approximately $62 billion each year due to poor customer service.” The results aren’t surprising considering the many competitive options available.

Another U.S. based survey revealed that 65% of customers stop using a brand’s service based on one poor customer service experience. It concludes by adding, “By 2020, Customer Experience Will Overtake Price and Product as the Key Brand Differentiator.”

Above: Major Sellers, Our Quality Assurance Manager providing Customer Experience Training to employees

At Guardian we take this seriously and have developed strong customer centrist training programs. Our marketing team recently had a one on one sit down with Major Sellers, Quality Assurance Manager, and discussed the importance in providing customer experience training to our employees.

How do you think Customer Experience Training helps any company?

I believe training is the key to good service, especially with our residential clientele. Our residential concierge, porters and handymen, interact regularly with residents whose expectations are high. Customer experience training teaches our employees the importance of creating a positive experience for our customers and their guests.

What makes Guardian’s training program stand out?

I have worked with some pretty large security organizations in the past. None of them offered the specificity GSS Customer Experience training has to offer. Oftentimes our competitors focus on standard operating procedures, emergency situations, and access control, without ever really considering the environment in which our customers reside.

How does it benefit the customers?

Our customers benefit by being able to contribute to the training. They tell us what is important to them and we incorporate those needs in the training. In the end, our clients benefit by retaining, and renewing their tenants and residents.

Are there any changes in employee behavior after they receive training?

Yes, we are able to qualify employees during the training. We can identify better the right prospects for the job.

Customer Experience Training

Guardian Security Services aims to constantly empower its team so they could deliver the best customer experience. We regularly conduct customer experience training programs that help our employees brainstorm innovative learning solutions to boost engagement and development.

The Benefits of Customer Experience Training are many, but we at Guardian, have observed these first hand:

  • Enhances customer experience by helping employees understand customer-centric approach.
  • Employees get to enhance their skill set and familiarize themselves with the newest industry trends.
  • Improves employee engagement, which later translates to greater motivation and job satisfaction.
  • National Center on the Education Quality concluded that a 10 percent increase in workforce education level led to an 8.6 percent gain in total productivity.
  • Better training increases employee retention rate. 

Why It’s Important to Have a Clean Workspace

Why It’s Important to Have a Clean Workspace

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Maintaining a clean working space can be especially difficult when people bring in a mixture of mud, snow and rain along with their boots and Monday blues. When making more sales is priority, we overlook simple things like maintaining a cleaning routine. We believe you should focus on your work and leave to rest to us.

Use It or Lose It 

First impressions almost always decide whether or not there are going to be any more impressions. You must have heard the phrase, “Your environment is the reflection of your state of mind.” But did you ever wondered if the environment could make or break a deal? An unclean space indicates negligence and less attention to detail. Your customers could take the inattention for carelessness. Hiring a professional service team for tasks like general maintenance, window cleaning, carpet and floor cleaning, may not necessarily stand out to you but definitely stands out the customer.

Guardian Employee engrossed at work. While you focus at work, leave the rest to us.

Pictured above is our employee using the latest Imop floor scrubber. At Guardian, we believe in implementing the latest technology to maximize the effectiveness and reduce costs. The Imop is a quicker, faster, and more efficient tool that helps cut cost, which we eventually pass on to you!

Health Before Wealth

Maintaining a clean work space will prevent the spread of disease and illnesses. In 2014, a research revealed that germs on a single doorknob can spread to 40-60 percent of workers and visitors within just 2-4 hours. Floors, doorknobs, desks, bathrooms and walls should be thoroughly and frequently cleaned to prevent an epidemic of multiple sick leaves.
In 2012 alone, nearly 3 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses were reported by private industry employers. A clean and organized office space would prevent falls, slips and injuries that could easily be avoided.

Do It For The Smiles

Employees are more productive when their work space feels more organized and clean. Having your office frequently cleaned would boost employee morale and increase productivity.

According to a survey conducted in 2017, 89 percent of Americans believe the condition of a workplace restroom is one indicator of how a company values its workforce. In short, a cleaner environment increases employee morale leading to more productive workforce and resulting in increased sales. Wasn’t that the point anyways?

While you focus on your goals and missions for the upcoming year, let us do what we do best and help you grow your business. Guardian Janitorial Services combines today’s technology with 100 years of innovative experience.

We customize our cleaning service to meet the needs of commercial properties, residential communities/buildings, financial institutions, retail locations, academia and municipal buildings. We can offer you a full range of solutions based on your individual needs and help you save money!

New Jersey’s Minimum Wage Increase Plan Approved

New Jersey’s Minimum Wage Increase Plan Approved

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On Monday, Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey, signed a law that paves path for New Jersey workers to earn a minimum wage of $15/hour. New Jersey, preceded by California, Massachusetts, New York, and District of Columbia, has now joined the growing list of states adopting the left-leaning policy.

Preparing and budgeting for the next five years will benefit home owners, renters, and commercial property owners who are going to be directly affected by the increase in wages. Photo Credit: MITechNews

The measure attempts to introduce higher wages in subsequent amounts over the course of next five years.

Furthermore, According to Crain’s New York, “The bill raises the current $8.85 minimum wage to $10 an hour in July, and then increases the rate by $1 in subsequent years until it reaches $15 in 2024.”

Thousands of workers in New Jersey are now going to earn higher wages under the new bill. For most workers, this is how the schedule looks:
  • $10 on July 1
  • $11 on January 1, 2020
  • $12 on January 1, 2021
  • $13 on January 1, 2022
  • $14 on January 1, 2023
  • $15 on January 1, 2024
But How Does It Affect Businesses?

Preparing and budgeting for the next five years will benefit home owners, renters, and commercial property owners directly affected by the increase in wages. At Guardian, we are studying and examining the effects of the minimum wage increase on all businesses.  Consequently, we aim to aid businesses by preparing them for the next five years and helping them minimize costs.

The new minimum wage law applies to most workers with the exception of seasonal workers, small businesses and tipped employees.
Workers employed by small businesses (with five workers or fewer) and seasonal employees (whose job falls only in the window of May 1 to Sep. 30) will have to wait until 2026 for their minimum wage to reach $15. Tipped workers currently earning an hourly wage of $2.13 will witness an increase to $5.13 an hour by 2024.

Proponents believe that increasing minimum wage would have long-standing benefits for the economy. However, there is no denial that businesses are likely to incur higher costs in the short run.

And How Can Guardian Help?

But behold the anxiety, Guardian is here to help you eliminate unnecessary costs. While you focus on profits, we help prevent loss.
Our leaders, like Jonathan Kessler, Guardian’s Senior Vice President, and Jeff Logan, Guardian’s Regional Director of Business Development, are dept at budgeting and cost cutting. Our approach includes developing a tailored plan that addresses the specific needs of your facilities.  Above all, it helps assure the achievement of your objectives and generates immediate and cumulative cost savings.

The Importance of Commercial Window Cleaning

The Importance of Commercial Window Cleaning

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Commercial window cleaning is an overlooked task for many businesses. But the importance of clean windows goes beyond aesthetics. It gives an excellent return on investment by reducing damage to windows and increasing their lifespan.  Here are a few reasons why clean windows matter to your company:

Clean Windows Increase Staff Productivity

Summer months are here as is the time to clean away the winter and spring blues. And let the sun shine through! Over the past few years many studies have shown that work environment affects employee productivity. According to researchers, work spaces with natural light greatly boost efficiency. Maintaining clean windows will not only improve the look of your building from the outside but also help your employees’ mood on the inside. With this understanding, commercial property  have the chance to create and sustain environments that reduce employee stress levels and increase their ability to focus.

According to a customer satisfaction survey result “companies that have an office cleaning service provider achieve higher production numbers because of increased staff morale.”

Moreover, “Not only does the clean office help lift employees’ spirits, but it also encourage them to be more organized within their personal work space.”

Clean Windows Reduce Damage

Did you know that glass windows are porous? Exposure to natural elements, such as rain, snow, and dust, can adversely affect the strength of your windows over time. Weakened glass windows in most commercial buildings can lead to costly cosmetic damages. Professional companies like Guardian Service Industries, Inc offers cost effective, green and efficient ways to clean your office glass windows, especially from the outside. These types of services enable your company to reduce cost in the quickest and most effective way.

As “one of the largest, fully insured and licensed window washing company,” Guardian provides information on the best methods of commercial window cleaning. We also work on a frequent basis to extend the longevity of your windows.

You can learn more about our commercial window cleaning services on our website here.

Or you can contact us directly to create a solution that is best for your business needs.