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How Yorkdale Shopping Centre is saving $4016 monthly in cleaning costs within 60 days
Building
Yorkdale Shopping Centre
Founded
1960
Company Size
2000
Commercial Cleaning Partners
Hallmark Housekeeping Services Inc
$4016.25
Saved monthly oncleaning costs
363%
Return on investment
44%
Faster response time
56%
Reduction in consumable waste
The challenge
Oxford Property Group needed to improve cleanliness while controlling costs at Yorkdale Shopping Centre. They wanted to reduce shoppers’ complaints around the food courts and increase customer satisfaction.
The Outcome
Using Mero’s occupancy monitoring, the cleaning team at Yorkdale is alerted in real-time to high-priority issues, allowing them to efficiently and precisely dispatch cleaners to the right place at the right time. This approach ensures dispensers are fully stocked and customer complaints are prevented.
“ By allowing us to see in real-time what’s being consumed, building traffic and the movement flows of our employees, it allows us to make smarter decisions and understand site-by-site the unique challenges of each building and adapt our workflows to be more efficient. ”
George Boutsalis
Vice President at Impact Cleaning Services
Yorkdale Shopping Centre, one of Canada's largest and most profitable Centres, known for its high-end stores and premium shopping experience faced a challenge that many retailers can relate to: maintaining high standards of cleanliness while keeping costs under control.
Food courts, in particular, were a priority, as they're a high-traffic area and a high marker for customer satisfaction. With the daily influx of customer complaints, management knew they needed to make a change. That's where Mero came in.
Mero provided real-time visibility over occupancy and supply levels, alerts, and dispatching to the cleaning team - resulting in faster response times to priority issues and reducing unnecessary trips to washrooms and dispenser checks.
Once their cleaning team fully adopted Mero, the results were swift and all-encompassing.
60 days after implementing Mero, Yorkdale has saved the equivalent of $4016.25 monthly in cleaning costs, cleaners are responding 44% faster to empty dispensers, and consumable waste was reduced by 56%, totaling an ROI of 363%.
Food courts, in particular, were a priority, as they're a high-traffic area and a high marker for customer satisfaction. With the daily influx of customer complaints, management knew they needed to make a change. That's where Mero came in.
Mero provided real-time visibility over occupancy and supply levels, alerts, and dispatching to the cleaning team - resulting in faster response times to priority issues and reducing unnecessary trips to washrooms and dispenser checks.
Once their cleaning team fully adopted Mero, the results were swift and all-encompassing.
60 days after implementing Mero, Yorkdale has saved the equivalent of $4016.25 monthly in cleaning costs, cleaners are responding 44% faster to empty dispensers, and consumable waste was reduced by 56%, totaling an ROI of 363%.
Yorkdale Shopping Centre managed by Oxford Property Group
Before Mero
The cleaning services at Yorkdale Centre had been unionized for over 50 years. This came with entrenched habits.
Before Mero, Yorkdale's cleaning team stuck to a static schedule - they visited washrooms every seven minutes, whether or not they needed to.
This came at the expense of more pressing matters, explaining the daily occurrence of complaints.
Mero's solution was to implement a smart routing solution that cuts down on unnecessary washroom visits, freeing up time for cleaners to respond faster to high-priority issues.
The system was deployed to the existing cleaning team, and the results were promising. However, Yorkdale Centre went through an RFP process to re-negotiate cleaning services and ultimately chose one of Mero's existing partners, Hallmark Housekeeping, who was already well-acquainted with the system.
Before Mero, Yorkdale's cleaning team stuck to a static schedule - they visited washrooms every seven minutes, whether or not they needed to.
This came at the expense of more pressing matters, explaining the daily occurrence of complaints.
Mero's solution was to implement a smart routing solution that cuts down on unnecessary washroom visits, freeing up time for cleaners to respond faster to high-priority issues.
The system was deployed to the existing cleaning team, and the results were promising. However, Yorkdale Centre went through an RFP process to re-negotiate cleaning services and ultimately chose one of Mero's existing partners, Hallmark Housekeeping, who was already well-acquainted with the system.
Working with the right cleaning partner
Hallmark introduced not only a fresh management team but also a new work culture and attitude toward technology and change. This move proved to be a game-changer for Yorkdale's cleaning operations.
Working with such a partner unlocked the full potential of Mero.
The cleaning staff was retrained and re-onboarded, to respond to alerts from Mero's dynamic cleaning system.
The results were undeniable.
In just the first month of deployment, the new cleaning team had a significant impact on the cleanliness and overall customer satisfaction of the food courts.
"This shows the importance of selecting and choosing with the right cleaning partners, one that understands technology and embraces change can result in dramatic improvements within a month or two.", said Nathan, co-founder at Mero.
Working with such a partner unlocked the full potential of Mero.
The cleaning staff was retrained and re-onboarded, to respond to alerts from Mero's dynamic cleaning system.
The results were undeniable.
In just the first month of deployment, the new cleaning team had a significant impact on the cleanliness and overall customer satisfaction of the food courts.
"This shows the importance of selecting and choosing with the right cleaning partners, one that understands technology and embraces change can result in dramatic improvements within a month or two.", said Nathan, co-founder at Mero.
The results?
With Mero in place, cleaners at Yorkdale are no longer wasting time on redundant washroom visits and compulsive dispenser checks.
They are alerted in real-time to high-priority issues, allowing them to efficiently and precisely dispatch cleaners to the right place at the right time. This approach maximizes Yorkdale's cleaning operations' efficiency, precision, and consistency while ensuring dispensers are fully stocked and customer complaints are prevented.
Below is a breakdown of the results after 60 days.
They are alerted in real-time to high-priority issues, allowing them to efficiently and precisely dispatch cleaners to the right place at the right time. This approach maximizes Yorkdale's cleaning operations' efficiency, precision, and consistency while ensuring dispensers are fully stocked and customer complaints are prevented.
Below is a breakdown of the results after 60 days.
$4,016.25 in labor savings each month
Mero's occupancy monitoring and cleaning alerts have led to more effective cleaner visits, with only 25 visits a day instead of 56 before Mero. This saves 840 visits per month.
With each visit being an average of 7 minutes long, this saves a total of $4,016.25 each month in labor hours.
With each visit being an average of 7 minutes long, this saves a total of $4,016.25 each month in labor hours.
18000 fewer people looking at an empty dispenser
Total Paper Refills By Week
On average, refill paper alerts resolved within -1 hour and 7 minutes. Down 53 minutes from September Report.
Mero's alerting system has helped Hallmark's team respond 53 minutes faster to empty dispensers than in previous months, a 44% faster response time. Given daily traffic, that's 18000 fewer shoppers encountering empty dispensers!
56% reduction in critical supply waste
Refill Average Response Time By Week
On average, refill paper alerts resolved within -1 hour and 7 minutes. Down 53 minutes from September Report.
Total paper roll consumption has been reduced from 343 rolls to 143 rolls, a 56% reduction.
These results are from a pilot project. With Mero's help, Hallmark could scale these results 8 fold given the additional 8 sets of bathrooms at Yorkdale Shopping Centre.
These results are from a pilot project. With Mero's help, Hallmark could scale these results 8 fold given the additional 8 sets of bathrooms at Yorkdale Shopping Centre.
Lessons for property managers
Don't underestimate the power of choosing a cleaning partner who embraces change
When it comes to embracing change and understanding the value of technologies, cleaning providers fall on a spectrum. On one end, you have those who've been doing the same thing for decades. They know everything (and there is no moreto learn).
On the other end, you have providers who prioritize innovation and have a corporate culture that supports it. They are well-versed in new technologies like occupancy monitoring, dynamic cleaning, and automation, and have the processes in place to effectively implement on-site.
Choosing the latter can have a night and day impact on your operations.After the switch in provider at Yorkdale, most cleaners from the previous teams changed payroll and worked for Hallmark - showing that the very same cleaners working under new management and a different set of values can make allthe difference.
On the other end, you have providers who prioritize innovation and have a corporate culture that supports it. They are well-versed in new technologies like occupancy monitoring, dynamic cleaning, and automation, and have the processes in place to effectively implement on-site.
Choosing the latter can have a night and day impact on your operations.After the switch in provider at Yorkdale, most cleaners from the previous teams changed payroll and worked for Hallmark - showing that the very same cleaners working under new management and a different set of values can make allthe difference.
You don't have to wait long for tangible results to show
Introducing new technologies often comes with resistance to change. Once again, partnering with the right cleaning provider makes all the difference.
While some will cling to old habits, circumventing any potential gains, others will educate, get buy and hold site managers, operations managers, and cleaners accountable to act on the data.
This case study shows that with the proper onboarding and training - things aren't so daunting. In just a few weeks, your team can become fully operational and experience faster response times, increase labor efficiency, and reduced supply waste.
While some will cling to old habits, circumventing any potential gains, others will educate, get buy and hold site managers, operations managers, and cleaners accountable to act on the data.
This case study shows that with the proper onboarding and training - things aren't so daunting. In just a few weeks, your team can become fully operational and experience faster response times, increase labor efficiency, and reduced supply waste.
Efficiency improvements yield disproportionate savings for retailers
Cleaning standards and the sheer number of tasks for cleaners are even higher for retailers than for offices. Spills need to be taken care of, tables wiped down, trays and garbage disposed of, etc.
It becomes even more crucial for your team to be focusing its time and energy on high-priority tasks. Visiting restrooms and checking dispensers needlessly can become a real time suck.
Given the higher workload intensity, improvements in efficiency by allocating labor to high-priority issues yield an even greater positive impact in terms of labor hours saved as proven by this case study.
It becomes even more crucial for your team to be focusing its time and energy on high-priority tasks. Visiting restrooms and checking dispensers needlessly can become a real time suck.
Given the higher workload intensity, improvements in efficiency by allocating labor to high-priority issues yield an even greater positive impact in terms of labor hours saved as proven by this case study.
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