In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, George Schmidt, Senior Director, Service Innovation & Optimization, helps identify the best ways to fight the virus.
We strive to ensure that our front-line teams are using the latest innovative technologies and best practices so that through cleaning, maintenance, and our other service lines we’re creating safety-first environments.
“The pandemic has really opened eyes and shifted how our clients think about cleaning,” says George Schmidt, Senior Director, Service Innovation & Optimization. “There’s now an immense value in being proactive, being able to evolve as guidelines shift and change, and being able to make a facility as safe as possible.”
George and his team support our operations department in developing pandemic and other crisis management strategies so that we can safely serve our customers and facilities. Since the beginning of the pandemic, they have been developing and implementing new COVID-focused best practices, with special focus being paid to disinfection and HVAC. They even recently partnered with a Certified Industrial Hygienist to study various anti-microbial surface protectants and determine the products’ efficacy, applicability, and potential drawbacks. This kind of clear-eyed research doesn’t just help our teams and clients, it also assists in combating misinformation.
“There’s a clear science behind keeping a facility safe,” says George. “It’s not as simple as selecting a product. Our teams need to know how to use the product as effectively as possible.”
Looking ahead, George and his team are focused on making sure all of our front-line teams can access the necessary training in a very short span of time. “The training is crucial. Everything starts with our front-line teams knowing how to handle different environments.” It may sound like a large undertaking, but George is ready. He has experience managing facilities for Aramark, University of Chicago Medicine, Shell Oil, Qualcomm, and Compass Group, and is putting his experience into action.
“This may be an unprecedented time, but everything is still rooted in a team environment. Yes, practices will change, procedures will change. But we still need to recognize the efforts of our people, build relationships, and lay a great foundation at all of our client sites.”
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