Can Small and Large Service Businesses Provide an On-demand “Feel” with Employees?

In the services industry at large – cleaning is just one type of service – every business owner is simultaneously managing two significant “inputs”: clients and technicians. And based on the association discussions and various mastermind groups, service-based small businesses are feeling the tension as reality versus legality are changing the ways these two inputs are interacting.

Last month, in the fallout of Homejoy’s closing, two dominant themes:

1. The consumer demand for the instant gratification and perfection of on-demand services is well-established and, in fact, growing.
2. The use of independent contractors to staff an on-demand service is rapidly falling out of favor as quick-start entrepreneurs recognize that quality and training are the keys to sustainability in a service business.

So the question remains: can small and large service businesses begin/continue to provide an on-demand “feel” for consumers while operating an employee-based business?

At the Workforce Innovation Summit of the ARCSI Convention, cleaning business owners and managers from across the country will wrestle with this and other questions related to recent changes in federal labor regulation – some of which is in reaction to the rapid development of the on-demand marketplace.

And while it’s classic to cite the:

• intense networking (and friendship-building) with CBOs across the nation,
• excellent business education sessions on basic start-up and advanced development topics, and
• 700+ vendors at the ISSA Trade Show for trying out cleaning products and equipment AND business software and systems

as the main reasons for attending the conventions year after year, it’s the way that the industry keeps up with and engages in relevant conversation about current events that excites me most! I like change…it’s the challenge-creator that keeps me fully engaged with my business and always looking for opportunities that lead to an even better future.

CeCe Mikell is the Editor-in-Chief for Cleaning Business Today, coming to the cleaning industry from a 15-year career as a college professor of communication and business. She also works with several cleaning business owners on business development projects.