What Exactly Is a Janitorial Day Porter And What Do They Do?
Do you find it a challenge to keep your facility looking clean and professional between regularly scheduled cleaning services?
You’re not the only one, as the majority of facility managers face multiple issues when it comes to their cleaning staff.
This is where a day porter can offer invaluable service, and assist you with the responsibilities of being a facility manager or a business owner.
Continue reading to find out how.
What Is A Day Porter?
Little tasks may arise daily, which can affect the first impression your guests and customers have. It is vital that your building maintains a high level of appearance.
A day porter is stationed in a commercial facility for assisting the daily duties, generally related to cleaning.
These duties can include everything from restocking consumables, polishing walkways, managing smoking areas, dusting fixtures, and cleaning cafeteria stations.
The janitorial day porter performs a wide range of duties depending on the kind of establishment they service. They generally work in combination with the night cleaning team for providing cross-shift continuity.
Day porters are like the unseen facility heroes. They clean and also improve the image of your facility. They ensure that employees, customers, and tenants are always satisfied.
How A Day Porter Differs From A Janitor?
At a first glance, day porters and janitors perform the same duties and tasks. However, janitors are typically responsible for maintaining and cleaning the entire building, from the exterior and interior spaces, private areas, conference rooms, and offices.
In general, day porters are not responsible for the thorough cleaning of the building interiors. It is important to understand that the exact duties of a day porter will be determined by your unique needs. It is best to provide a list of maintenance tasks to perform.
One more significant difference between a porter and janitors is that porters are generally visible during business hours.
Most organizations prefer the janitorial staff to come in during the night when everyone has left for the day.
Electrostatic disinfection is an important job performed by day porters in the common areas. Electrostatic disinfection refers to removing dirt, debris, and germs by way of spraying electrostatically charged mist on objects and surfaces.
Why Is The Role Of Day Porter Important?
Day porters are responsible for ensuring the building looks clean, professional, presentable, and inviting to everyone at all times.
However, they are especially responsible for keeping a clean appearance between routine maintenance and cleaning activities. They operate discreetly to ensure that everything is as it should be, maintaining high appearance standards in the facility.
The majority of companies with professional cleaning services have somebody come in when business hours are over. However, a day porter remains available during the day to keep the workforce more comfortable. You can say goodbye to dirty utensils in the break room or finger marks on the entrance door glasses.
Day porters are highly trained cleaning professionals that get their job done without disrupting the operation flow.
Tasks And Duties Of A Janitorial Day Porter
There are several duties and tasks performed by janitorial day porters. Here are the main ones:
1. Clean Up Spills
Most business owners and facility managers hire janitorial day porters to guarantee their workforce is not troubled. Spills are common in every office environment.
Unfortunately, they can quickly become an agenda for classic employee wars. They may also damage the counter, upholstery, carpet, or floor surface if not taken care of. Commercial porters can be called to fix any issue immediately.
2. Clean Up Toilets
Dirty toilets will drive away your employees and visitors and give off the impression that you don’t care what happens on your premises. On top of that, they are an infection hotspot.
Many people consider toilet seats to be the number one public enemy, as they are the breeding environment for viruses such as hepatitis A virus, cold virus, streptococcus, staphylococcus, and E. coli, among others.
Having a day porter perform a rudimentary clean during the day can help keep your staff and guests germ-free. Employees are known to perform better in cleaner environments.
The day porter can also take care of restocking supplies during the day, such as toilet paper and soap.
3. Clean The Floors
High-traffic buildings have floors subjected to large quantities of outdoor contaminants such as mud. Dirty floors can quickly lower the appearance of office buildings.
Janitorial day porters can be tasked with keeping all floors clean using a dry mop. Depending on your unique establishment needs, you can have a day janitorial porter use a wet mop as well.
4. Vacuum the Carpets
Most businesses prefer vacuuming to be done when everyone has gone for the day or after business hours.
However, you might not be comfortable with a cleaning crew coming in after everyone has left for the day. Or you simply want to avoid having a dirty carpet all day in your working spaces.
In this case, a day porter can be tasked with vacuuming floor coverings and carpets.
5. Clean The Windows
The optimum time to clean your windows is during the day.
Day porters are the right people in the right place, and they can manage much more than the building windows- they can be made responsible for cleaning the mirrors in the lobby and washrooms as well.
The best part is that porters can take care of any smudge or marks on the glass in real-time, as they are just a call away.
6. Clean The Kitchen
If you have a kitchenette or a pantry in your establishment for your workers to eat, relax or make coffee, then you need to be prepared for dirty counters and spills.
The cafeteria also means dirty utensils left in the sink. Having your employees clean the kitchen is keeping them away from the work you hired them to do and will raise frustration levels. Your porters can manage all of these spaces with professionalism and efficiency.
7. Electrostatic Disinfection
You can make day porters responsible for electrostatic cleaning of all common areas in your facility, multiple times a day.
This will ensure that there is a reduced risk of transmission of germs, viruses, and diseases. Electrostatic disinfection doesn’t leave a residue on objects and surfaces and can be performed by a trained day porter.
What Are The Responsibilities Of Day Porters?
Day porters are different from janitors, even though many of their duties overlap.
Here’s how you, your business, brand image, and stakeholders can benefit from day porters:
1. Day Porters Help To Maintain Companies Premises
One of the most crucial elements of a day porter’s job responsibility is to keep the company premises in top shape, at all times. They can be made responsible for various tasks, from keeping fresh flowers in the vases to paying close attention to the lobby’s cleanliness level.
Day porters are equally responsible for the exteriors of the building and the common areas inside. They can manage trash removal, sundry repair work, removing debris, taking care of litter, and other maintenance tasks or janitorial services.
2. Responsible For Ensuring The Building Is Clean And Tidy
Managers can have the day porter undertake specific janitorial tasks related to cleaning. For instance, they can be asked to vacuum and clean floor coverings as well as surfaces.
They also maintain the toilets and restrooms clean in addition to the kitchen. In short, day porters are responsible for comprehensive cleaning.
3. Day Porters Give A Building A Good Physical Appearance To Visitors
Visitors prefer walking into an establishment that looks clean and fresh. This is especially true in the post-Covid era when everyone is more concerned about environmental cleanliness.
The majority of business owners invest in a day porter service because they provide a building with a good appearance and hygienic spaces.
Porters sweep the floors free of dust and take care of minor repairs during the daytime. They also take care of any clean-ups required in entrances and high-traffic areas.
4. Day Porters Keep A Building Safe and Secure
There are several things at risk when you don’t keep a clean and well-maintained establishment. Day porters can avoid risks such as falling accidents because of spills, mishaps due to a broken bulb, or the spread of viruses because of contaminated surfaces.
Facility managers can also have the day porters disinfect and sanitize surfaces regularly. Frequent sanitization of surfaces in common and public areas can efficiently reduce the risk of transmissions.
It is recommended that you work with a commercial cleaning contractor that is Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) certified. This certification learning industry’s only outbreak response and recovery accreditation for facilities. It helps place the minds of your tenants and other building occupants at ease.
Hire a Day Porter to Take Care of Your Business Needs Today
You need a responsible day porter service to help you maintain the physical appearance of your company.
This is particularly important in today’s increasingly demanding business environment when facility managers are constantly dealing from one chaos to the next one. A reliable day porter can assist you and save you time, money, and effort.
At Servi-Tek, we are a team providing janitorial services, with over 15 years of experience in the field. We’ve helped hundreds of companies keep their premises in top shape. Servi-Tek includes Electrostatic Disinfection as a regularly scheduled program with its day porter staff.
Get in touch with us today by calling or using our online form today, and you can see for yourself!
