THE MAIDS CLEANING SERVICE NEWS

It is on the minds of everyone - flu season. With the threat of H1N1, on top of the typical seasonal flu, everyone is focused on staying healthy this fall and winter. Matt Donnelly, owner of The Maids with offices in Newton, North Reading and New Bedford, Mass., is no different. He wants his employees and his customers to stay healthy.

As the owner of a residential cleaning franchise, Donnelly understands the first step to a healthy home is regular detailed cleaning, which is what his business specializes in.

As a first step in educating staff about flu prevention, Donnelly recently hosted a company meeting to initiate a flu season plan. His staff developed a prevention checklist and a plan of action in the event of a flu outbreak.

"We decided to put together a formal plan for a number of reasons," said Donnelly. "We feel we owe it to our employees to protect them as much as possible. And we want to reinforce to our customers that they made the correct choice in choosing The Maids."

Initiating the flu-plan meeting as a group effort helped assure staff their safety was top of mind, and allowed everyone to feel part of the process.

In addition, Donnelly also drafted a letter to leave behind in the customers' homes to let them know of the preventative steps the business was taking to ensure their team's safety and their customers' health.

Some flu-prevention initiatives his staff is initiating include:

• Encourage employees to have flu shots
• Stock hand sanitizer in cars and require teams to use it between homes
• Spray neutral disinfectant on interior car surfaces daily
• Clean car interior weekly
• Keep car windows slightly open while driving to improve fresh air flow
• Switch cleaning tools between homes
• Disinfect vacuum attachments, buckets between homes
• Disinfect office phones, desk tops, doorknobs, light switches weekly
• Provide hand sanitizer in offices
• Teach safe coughing and sneezing techniques
• Re-train disinfecting surfaces in customer homes

In the event of a flu outbreak, Donnelly's plan includes training field managers to identify and send people home should they exhibit flu symptoms.

He also plans to overstaff, with qualified candidates on a waiting list in order to stay ahead of the hiring curve. And his plan includes cross training on job functions to keep his cleaning teams running smoothly.

As a business leader, Donnelly's efforts are to protect employees and customers from health threats.

"It is difficult to predict how seasonal viruses may impact my business," he said. "The best defense is a good offense. I want to be prepared to respond in a flexible way to ensure that my teams and customers enjoy the healthiest environment we can provide."

The Maids is the only residential cleaning franchise to clean for health using an exclusive 22-Step Healthy Touch® Deep Cleaning System. Their unique cleaning method provides customers with cleaner, healthier homes through their distinctive cleaning products and equipment, as well as their strategic, methodic cleaning approach.