Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 25th April 2024 Issue no. 1111
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The Australian cleaning industry has been working towards forming an umbrella body - the Cleaning & Hygiene Council of Australia - which I believe will have the same sort of influence as our British Cleaning Council has over here (see story below).
My contact John Laws, who represents the contract cleaners, tells me that one of the main aims of this new body is to upgrade the skills and qualifications of the industry's workers and to bring in some sort of licensing scheme so that any worker taking part in the scheme, will be able to settle anywhere in the country and find employment in the industry (if it's available!) that suits his or her skillset.
We launched a similar scheme in the UK some years back. It was called Pathway and cleaners taking part would carry a Pathway card, which, when checked against a central database, would not only highlight the carrier's qualifications but also his or her work history and experience - which can prove just as valuable in such a large, fragmented industry with a myriad of training schemes and certification bodies and many employers not offering any 'official' form of training at all.
Industry sources tell me that the scheme no longer seems to be operating in the UK, which is a shame.
I thought Pathway was a brilliant idea in an industry that has such an enormous workforce and a huge turnover of staff. It was supposed to make recruitment decisions easier for employers and mean that valuable previous experience and training was not ignored and possibly repeated. It also gave those who carried it a sense of pride in their achievements.
I don't know why the scheme appears to have died a death but I sincerely hope the Australian version becomes a real success.
27th October 2011