Reorganisation of Cleaning Agents' Working Hours

Good Practice

Efficiency, Equality

Reorganisation of Cleaning Agents’ Working Hours

The City of Rennes promotes working time flexibility during the day to adapt work schedules of cleaning agents, whose staff is mostly composed by women.

Rennes City and Metropolis

France

Local policy

POLICY OBJECTIVE

The planned organisation is designed to improve working conditions and enable staff to balance their professional, personal and family lives, and to promote recognition of this undervalued profession. At the same time, the aim is to guarantee the efficiency and quality of the service. Therefore, the idea of setting up a day shift and not a nocturnal one, when infrastructures are occupied, is rapidly gaining ground.

The first objective is to give employees access to a permanent, full-time job.
The second objective is to enhance the value of the job, which translates into access to ongoing training and the possibility of a career development plan.

All these elements contribute to professional equality. They also have an impact on motivation and the quality of the service provided.

CONTEXT

In 2004, the City of Rennes considered the future of the maintenance business, which was experiencing recurring difficulties. The question then arose as to whether it would create an in-house service or call in an external service provider. The challenge was an ambitious one: to improve the working conditions of the staff, to offer a service that combined efficiency and ethics, to turn this undervalued profession into a real one, and to carry out an exemplary operation.

The staff, most of whom are women, often work less than full-time, alternating between office maintenance (47 sites) and lunchtime shifts in the school catering services, working split shifts and finishing their day at 8:15 p.m. This harms personal and family life. There are recurring problems: a high absenteeism rate of 25-30%, high staff turnover and poor staff integration.

The first solution was chosen, and over a period of eighteen months, a team of three people went out to meet staff and department heads, consult expert groups, and test out a different organisation.

POLICY DESCRIPTION

A project manager visited the 47 concerned sites, drew up a descriptive sheet for each, and met the cleaning staff individually. The approach was very much
appreciated by the staff, who felt that they had been “recognised”. Such interviews also helped to identify the difficulties and expectations of the staff. Heads of department were also consulted when the work schedules were being drawn up, which made it possible to address the inevitable questions relating to the presence of cleaning staff during working hours.

The new organisation was first tested at one site, then at six, before being extended to all sites in 2004.

When drawing up the schedules, all the constraints had to be taken into account: distances between sites, accessibility of infrastructures —some, such as libraries, can only be cleaned when the public is not present—, office occupancy rates…
Depending on the site, there are two possible shifts: 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. or 10:45 a.m. to 6:45 pm, including a one-hour lunch break. Most of the 45 staff work full-time or part-time (39 staff).
Working in pairs helps break down isolation and provides security in the
workplace. What’s more, it ensures that there is a minimum service if one of the operatives is absent.
The direct contact between the maintenance staff and the administrative staff means that the work schedule can be adjusted from time to time.
The chosen organisation leaves a great deal to the autonomy and initiative of the staff.

KEY ASPECTS

Limited financial resources to achieve the planned objectives.
An innovation in terms of time for agents that will lead to greater equality and smoother mobility.

RESULTS

The new organisation is satisfactory in terms of objectives and expectations.

Absenteeism has fallen by 45%.
Productivity has increased by 15%, from 154 m2/h in 2003 to 180 m2/h in 2007.
User satisfaction rate is almost 80%, reaching up to 90% for sensitive areas (sanitary facilities). The cleaning staff appreciates this new organisation, which puts an end to an invisible and anonymous function. They have their place within the departments in which they work, and feel recognised by the municipal administration.
The City of Rennes has thus achieved its objective of setting an example and demonstrated that another approach to cleaning jobs is possible.
Private cleaning companies, faced with difficulties in recruiting and retaining their employees, as well as a number of large contractors, are interested in Rennes’ approach to combining social ethics and efficiency in the fast-growing cleaning sector.

Policy's Website

Hélène

Réveillard

Time Chief Officer

temps@rennesmetropole.fr