By Tidy Green Clean Founder, Andrew Alleway
When Tidy Green Clean began in 2016, we set out to be a different kind of business. We’re a franchised business model, now with seven franchisees around Scotland, with three based in Aberdeen, alongside our HQ. It was really important to founders, Andrew Alleway and David Moncur, that the values that drove them to set up this commercial cleaning business were paramount and would drive everything forward.
ISO accreditations quickly followed, for processes, environmental standards, and Health & Safety. Alongside this was a commitment to ensure that their cleaners would be valued. They would use environmentally friendly cleaning solutions and high tech, light weight cleaning products, but they would also be guaranteed a 30-hour week, wherever possible and if desired. There would be no zero-hour contracts and there would be clear communication, in the cleaner’s own language where relevant, to ensure that the workforce, wherever it operated, would be treated well, be productive, and happy.
We became an accredited Living Wage Recognised Service Provider in 2020 and we had already been tendering for work based on real Living Wage hourly rates for our people before that. Customers on the whole react positively, recognising that when cleaning staff are paid fairly, it helps them with things like childcare and their mental health, which results in better productivity and a better outcome for the customer’s business too.
As Andrew Alleway says, “We create good jobs for people who want to work more than just a few hours a week. That’s why our commitment is to offer Living Wage contracts at every opportunity and provide a 30-hour working week for staff who want it. Customers need friendly, productive cleaners who show up and do a great job. That’s exactly what we deliver and why we go to such lengths to work to ISO 9001 and ISO 18001 standards, with Achilles UVDB Silver supply chain assurance for those businesses who require it, as well as Carbon-Negative status.”
And it goes further than that. When we first launched the business, we developed CLIVE, our own payroll and employee management system that means we can make sure our people are safe on site and are working well for our customers. This means we’re able to provide our cleaners with their work schedule four weeks in advance. While this may sound completely normal to many people, in an industry where zero hours contracts are rife and cleaning jobs are regarded as ‘pin money’, this is a radical departure for our workforce. It’s also why our employee retention rate is above 95%.
We’re absolutely delighted to support Living Wage Scotland with its Making Aberdeen a Living Wage City action during Living Wage Week 2022. Andrew Alleway adds, “There is a perception that wages are high in Aberdeen, and that’s certainly the case in Aberdeen’s globally renowned Energy industry. Yet the city is supported by a vast array of public sector, hospitality, delivery drivers, housekeeping, cleaning and other key workers who are often not as fortunate in the wages and working conditions available to them. I would urge every employer in Aberdeen to carefully consider the overall commercial and social benefits of committing to a real Living Wage. It would transform the quality of life for thousands in our city and also vastly improve the level of service I believe we all would benefit from. Aberdeen is moving forwards in its efforts to become a green energy city and we believe that goes hand in hand with being a Living Wage City so that life for all is truly sustainable, whichever way you look at it.”
Find out more about the real Living Wage and the Recognised Service Provider Scheme here