Singapore Cleaning Company Upskills Cleaners from making S$6.50/hr to S$17/hr to support post COVID Employment

SINGAPORE / ACCESSWIRE / June 24, 2020 / When it comes to increasing the wages of low-income earners in Singapore, the group most frequently involved in these discussions are cleaners. Since 2016, there has been a concerted effort by the government to raise the minimum wage paid to cleaners. With the latest round of recommendations by the Tripartite Cluster of Cleaners (TCC), the minimum wage for local Singaporean cleaners is set to increase to S$1,236 per month, or around S$6.50 per hour by 2020.

Companies Set to Increase Wages, but Luce Maintenance Group goes Above and Beyond

With the latest mandatory salary increases, companies are set to increase cleaner salaries to S$1,236 in 2020 from the minimum wage of S$1,200 set out in 2019. This translates to an increase of S$0.20 per hour. However, there has been one cleaning company, Luce Maintenance Group, which has set out to upskill it’s cleaners so their wages go from S$6.50 per hour to an eye-watering S$17/hr.

Thinking outside the box to provide Cleaners with a Better Living

When interviewed on how it is possible for Luce Maintenance Group to increase hourly wages by S$10.50 when most other companies were increasing wages by just S$0.20, company Director Lily Loo indicated that it had a lot to do with thinking outside the box.

According to her, the reason why it is so difficult for cleaning companies to increase cleaner salaries is that most of the commercial cleaning is seen as an undifferentiated product – clients ask for a fixed number of cleaners, and award the contract to whoever is willing to do it for the lowest price and thinnest margins. The contract price is then locked in for two to three years, and even if the cleaners upskill during that period, it becomes difficult to increase their salary based on increased competencies because the client isn’t willing to pay more for the higher competency.

After having sent hundreds of cleaners for training, but found their hands tied in terms of pay increments, the Luce Maintenance Group team decided to think outside the box. They observed that client willingness to pay was a lot higher for home cleaning (S$18/hr – S$20/hr) compared to commercial cleaning (S$8.50/hr – S$10/hr). In that, the company saw an opportunity to upskill cleaners to service homes instead of commercial properties and use the higher rates to better compensative cleaners.

Higher Skill, Higher Pay

Naturally, the standards for home cleaning were a lot higher – instead of just clearing tables and vacuuming the carpet, cleaners would be required to wash and iron clothes, clean washrooms, and windows, etc. Clients were also in general more demanding since all the work is performed under the close supervision of the clients compared to traditional commercial cleaning.

Nonetheless, it did provide cleaners who were willing to upskill and work harder an avenue to earn significantly more. More than double, in fact.

Within 3 months of rolling out the scheme earlier this year, Luce Maintenance Group had managed to build a team of 10 skilled home cleaners under its Homefresh sub-brand on this higher pay scale.

Training, Digitisation Key to Higher Wages

Given the higher skill level required, a significant amount of training in both cleaning knowledge and technology use is required. In fact, before cleaners in Luce Maintenance Group qualify to be on this higher pay scheme, they are typically sent for 2 to 4 weeks of full-time training to improve their skill levels given the closer scrutiny by home cleaning clients.

Furthermore, cleaners also have to be trained in digital skills which many lack due to their age. Cleaners are taught how to use Google Maps and check in on digital apps so customers can be updated on the status of their cleaning session.

While the process is by no means easy, it has provided cleaners with a realistic path to higher wages.

Hope that Higher Wages will attract more to Home Cleaning Sector

Despite the significantly higher wages, Luce Maintenance Group has indicated that it is still difficult for them to find local cleaners willing to take up the challenge. Lily attributes it to both the challenges of the job, and also the perception associated that it is a job for “foreign maids”.

Nonetheless, with the recent employment challenges caused by COVID19, the company has seen an uptick in interest from individuals previously in hard-hit sectors like F&B where hourly wages average S$10/hr – $12/hr who are drawn to the higher hourly wages.

At the end of the day, the company believes that it is not about pushing every cleaner to move into home cleaning, but rather providing the opportunity for cleaners who are willing to upskill the opportunity for significant wage progression. The company is also investing in building a digital platform so that it can hire and manage 50 – 100 of such cleaners in the next one to two years.

Lily recalls once interviewing a cleaner who had showed up for a position with 10 cleaning related skill certificates, and who was sorely disappointed when like other firms, she had to tell the cleaner that the pay rate would be the same despite her certifications.

Today, she would have hired her in a heartbeat as a home cleaner and paid her double.

Contact:

Company: Luce Maintenance Group
Contact Person: Jason Chong
Email: jason@lucemg.com
Website: https://www.lucemg.com

SOURCE: Luce Maintenance Group

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