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GARY BREACH: A REFLECTION ON 2021

Gary Breach, our Managing Director, reflects on 2021 and provides an insight into what he anticipates 2022 holds for NECS and the cleaning industry.

How would you summarise 2021? 

Overall, it is safe to say that whilst 2021 brought many highlights and successes, it also brought new challenges. For example, due to industry and market changes during the pandemic, sourcing and recruiting new employees was more difficult than in previous years. As a business our focus was on providing clear communication and the best level of service to our customers, to support them through these challenging times.

What’s been your biggest business highlight over the past 12 months? 

A big business highlight in 2021, was our fifteenth anniversary. The anniversary prompted us to reflect on our business journey and it’s great to see how far we have come.  

At our inception in 2006, we traded as North East Cleaning Services, and our work was focused predominantly on retail and leisure businesses in the North East of England. Thanks to the hard work of our employees as well as our philosophy of providing high-quality cleaning services at competitive prices and in a prompt timeframe, we have grown to a nationwide provider of professional commercial cleaning services, specialist cleaning services, and facilities management services.

GARY BREACH: A REFLECTION ON 2021

We now have more than 250 employees and six branches throughout the UK. In addition, we have expanded our scope and we work across a breadth of industries including office, healthcare, manufacturing, construction, education, and retail sectors.

To mark the occasion, in 2021, we created a new website and rejuvenated our brand to better reflect the company we are today.

What industry changes or demands did you witness in 2021?

The biggest change we have seen across the last two years has been a change in requirements and expectations for cleaning, as customers have prioritised hygiene, health, and safety, throughout the pandemic. We saw an increase in demand for deep cleans, as well as more frequent cleaning of touchpoints and hand points. For us, this meant modifying cleaning schedules, ensuring staff were familiar with the guidelines, and conducting training where required.

What industry changes or advancements do you anticipate for 2022?

Cleaning is a detailed and intricate job, so we anticipate seeing growth in the industry as more people look to outsource.

Cleaning roles often offer flexible hours and working patterns, as well as many other benefits, so whilst recruitment was challenging in 2021, we do hope to see an increase in those seeking a cleaning career. We are proud to be a Recognised Service Provider with the Living Wage Foundation and we anticipate that the 6.6% increase in the National Minimum Wage in April 2022 will also affect recruitment efforts.

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Looking ahead, what will 2022 bring for NECS? 

In 2022 our focus is on investing in the business to drive further growth and success. This year has had a strong start for us, and I believe it will be our most successful year yet. We continue to see a surge in demand for professional cleaning services and plan on growing our turnover by 50% through our current customers as well as new contracts. In addition, we aim to grow our team by 100 people, across a range of roles, to ensure we continue to provide the highest quality cleaning solutions for our customers. If you would like to join the NECS team, take a look at some of the roles we have available.

For more information on our professional cleaning services and how we can ease your operational burden, contact our team.

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You can be confident you will receive a safe, dependable, and high-calibre cleaning service from NECS as we are ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, Constructionline Level 2 and BICSc certified.

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