Between viability and social acceptance: technologies in cleaning

Back in 2019 I visited a cleaning company’s headquarters where I was welcomed by a robot who was supposed to recognise my name and print out a badge for me. Several failed attempts later, two employees switched the robot off, and a receptionist inserted my name manually into their system. Last summer, I encountered an automated cleaning robot at an airport. Children and passers-by continuously got in its way preventing it from cleaning. Again, two employees came to take it away. 

Against the backdrop of these experiences, recent industry discussions on ‘predictive maintenance’ ‘data-driven cleaning’, robotics, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things raise questions regarding the viability and social acceptance of the latest technologies.

The viability of technology

There are three dimensions to consider in this discussion on viability: the technical, the financial and the human one.

Contract cleaning remains a labour-intensive sector with labour costs amounting to 80 per cent of turnover. While it is technically viable to clean large surface areas such as airports, train stations, supermarket aisles, and large hallways with automated cleaning robots,  workers are still needed to programme them, pre-drive the routes and even empty the water.

Most of the employment in the industrial cleaning sector is concentrated in offices. Tasks like cleaning of lavatories, beneath seats and emptying rubbish are among the most time-consuming for cleaners. Thus, it is doubtful whether the use of technologies can unleash new economies of scale and solve the productivity puzzle.

No silver bullet

Consultants hail that generative AI and the Internet of Things, with sensors installed in door frames, wastepaper baskets and beneath tables, as facilitating “precision in cleaning schedules”. Yet, precision in cleaning schedules, predictive maintenance and data-driven cleaning are no silver bullet to tackle the labour shortages plaguing the cleaning sector.

In sectors such as cleaning, characterised by strong power imbalances between management and workers, the use of technology will ultimately intensify their work schedule, or what is commonly referred to as the employee utilisation rate. This only feeds into the “vicious cycle of labour turnover and labour shortages”, which our EU-funded RETAIN Project revealed.

Thus, the viability of the widespread adoption of technologies in the cleaning sector depends on its ability to support the existing workforce in engaging in higher value-added tasks and addressing power imbalances equitably.

Social acceptance

Therefore, it would be foolish to dismiss the use of technologies outright. Artificial intelligence, robots and co-bots could be used to do high-risk work, repetitive tasks and ultimately decrease cleaners’ workloads. As one industry article points out: “The robotic cleaners handle routine work, freeing up cleaning staff for more high-priority, complex tasks.”

If cleaning companies can help workers to move up in the value chain to create a higher capital-labour ratio, new opportunities for cleaners would emerge. After all, occupations with a higher ratio are often more highly remunerated and enjoy higher social recognition. This would also address cleaners’ fears of robots and AI taking their jobs.

In a recent ECJ article ‘AI – should cleaners be worried?‘ John Griep of VSR in the Netherlands argues that the idea that AI will replace cleaners is illusory. That is because only five per cent of industrial machines and/or robots incorporate AI. 

Social acceptance low

Moreover, these technologies will only become widely adopted in the cleaning sector once other industrial sectors that cleaning companies service have paved the way. This broader diffusion is a necessary precondition to social acceptance.

However, social acceptance of Artificial Intelligence remains low. According to EU-OSHA, only 27 per cent of workers think AI influences the pace and processes of their work and nearly half of the respondents (47 per cent) feel that it increases surveillance.

Thus, the golden path to the social acceptance of new technologies involves making cleaners’ jobs easier and more enjoyable, reducing MSDs and increasing workers’ autonomy. This would also reduce absentee rates and labour turnover and increase productivity.

Conclusion

New technologies in the world of work are always a double-edged sword: they can either be used to upskill or de-skill, increase autonomy or increase surveillance, improve social recognition or erode professional standards.

For cleaning companies, the main competitive advantage is their staff. Hence, the critical question is whether they will use technology to empower their workers. This empowerment is not achieved through on-boarding videos, pep talks, and employee surveys.

Instead, it requires union involvement more than ever. In the past and present, unions have ensured that technological change is fair and that productivity gains are shared, while upholding professional standards. In sectors plagued by high labour turnover, unions have acted as stewards
of stability.

That is why the EU social partners EFCI and UNI Europa already signed a joint statement back in 2019. Its call to use the advent of new technologies to improve working conditions through collective bargaining and social dialogue remains as important as ever.

With labour shortages and turnover threatening the sustainability of the sector, unions are more essential than ever. They can help cleaning companies harness new technologies effectively and build social acceptance.  The workers in the sector need it now more than ever.

This article was originally published in the European Cleaning Journal.