Providing “Complete Facility Solution” by being not just a better service provider, but by being a “CareTaker”

In the light of the current global pandemic, people have become extra conscious about hygiene from washing hands multiple times a day to sanitizing homes. And keeping up with this trend, to have an extra clean house, more people are now opting for professional cleaning service. And that’s why, while many stories of the coronavirus wreaking desolation across the world and plunging businesses into crisis are breaking out, the cleaning industry is uniquely suited to thrive amid the COVID-19 predicament. Handiman Services, a prominent player in the industry, is striving hard to fulfill the continued demand of customers, communities, and commercial establishments to keep their surroundings clean and safe, under the dynamic leadership of Porus Behram Irani Ahura.

A GLANCE INSIDE THE ORGANIZATION

Incorporated in 1998, Handiman is an ISO-9001:2015 certified company that provides cost-effective and customer-centric facility management solutions. It has a strong presence in Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai with a network reach to all major cities across India.

It is not just about maintaining or guarding your premises but taking away your anxieties about uncertainty in service delivery. So, you can entrust your property’s custodianship to Handiman. Handiman’s core offering is your peace of mind – high-quality service is just a by-product…

MAINTAINING AN UNBREAKABLE FAITH

It comes with firstly understanding of the customer’s pain points and the empathy that you need to feel towards the client. This is something that is ingrained as an organizational culture in Handiman. They understand the client, and they have a problem-solving approach. So, for every pain point, they have a solution. Besides, the team recognizes that housekeeping or any other facility management services that are being provided have to be done in a systemized process-driven manner and the technology is also incorporated in that to ensure that the system and processes are followed and the client’s faith in Handiman remains unbreakable.

Here, people are further conscious that “working discipline” is a very important factor. That is why; it is not just about designing a process but also ensuring that it is implemented at ground level.

DISTINCT SERVICE PORTFOLIO

It is an integrated facility management services company that provides a comprehensive range of services under one roof. The gamut of services that it covers under Housekeeping alone includes:

Corporate/Residential Cleaning & Sanitation
Pantry Operations & Maintenance
Total Floor Care
Carpet, Chairs, Upholstery Cleaning
Glass Façade & Exterior Clean-ups
Restroom & Kitchen Clean-ups
Deep Cleaning Services
Pre/Post Construction Clean-ups
Events, Exhibitions, and Conference Clean-ups
Festive Clean-ups Services
Sanitization & Pest Control
Overhead Tank & Sump Cleaning

IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE MARKET DEMAND

Covid-19 has impacted the business across the verticals. Certain services and sectors depending on the industry were affected but since Handiman is comprehensive in the kind of service offerings they were able to manage pretty well. Also, with the great mental willpower and strength of their dedicated internal team, they could tide over this problem and now they are geared for round 2.

TEAM & CORPORATE ETHOS

The team is the greatest strength of Handiman; a like-minded team of people working towards the organizational vision. It starts with the recruitment process where the hiring team looks at the people with Right Person Profile that includes independent thinking, ownership, self-management, learning orientation, and problem-solving skills.

Handiman’s organizational values include:

Customer at core
Transparency
Empowerment
Diversity
Human Values
Capability Building

Handiman’s Service Ethos:

At Handiman, the understanding of ‘Service’ is based on the below foundational concepts/understanding:

Service is not a job, it is a cause. They don’t sell service but peace of mind- they do this by emulating the attitude of ‘mothers’ and not ‘maids’.
Caretaker & not just better service provider: Offering peace of mind as a product and not just delivery. One who understands the underlying concerns and anxieties of uncertainty weighing on the customers’ mind and address them by the root. One who reduces the psychological load weighing on a customer is a caretaker.
Service is about solving: Service is not just about solving but creating effective solution-need to understand & define the problem correctly for understanding, listening is a very critical ability problem definition has to be in the form of service lapse.
Customer at the core of existence: Handiman exists for and because of the customer. Understanding the customer, his needs/service gaps & pain points. There, the team works for & is accountable only to the customers. They are the customer’s representative at Handiman.
High Speed of response: Responsiveness is very important and holds a lot of significance. Speed of response or being prompt is required in the service industry because half of the problems are solved by being responsive.
Custodian of customer interest: Each of us should protect customer interest. If necessary, fight & challenge internal teams and don’t even hesitate in challenging the customer if that is in his interest. In other words; protect the customer’s interest & not request.

ENSURING GENDER EQUALITY

“Handiman is an equal opportunity provider. Depending on the service utility that we are providing, we try to do the balance. Irrespective of being women or men, everyone has to undergo pre-deployment training here. We try to balance the gender ratio”, shared Porus Behram while talking about gender equality in the organization.

STRATEGIES & INNOVATIONS TO COPE UP WITH THE MARKET DEMAND

The future will bring in-store the usage of technology, not only at the front end but also at the back office. The design and implementation of systems and processes across every level of the organization, execution of tasks based on SOP’s approach, mechanization, and effective use of tools will ensure higher quality, dependable, and consistent outputs/results.

At the back end, Handiman holds customized ERP.
At delivery and services operations, they have a tech-enabled tracking mechanism, biometric devices, and geo-fencing.
They are also coming up with a super app to streamline the premise management and other services.

CHALLENGES IN THE INDUSTRY AND ADVICE TO OVERCOME THEM

Here are the major challenges:

Shortage/availability of manpower.
Lack of quality training.
Responsiveness.
The Solution

People: One of the key issues is the lack of manpower across every level. In the recent past, the availability of blue-collared workers has drastically affected the industry. At the local level, the resources are next to nothing, except for a few selected services. The industry has been depending a lot on the migrant worker community who seek jobs in metro & urban developed environments and come to a city like Bangalore for employment.

Trained Human Resources: A determining factor in high-quality service delivery is the effectiveness of training programs- Currently, most service providers maintain in-house trainers to control the quality of the training. But a shift to dedicated training labs and institutes shall be required to raise the skill level of the masses. Another bane to this industry is the lack of adequate training institutes on vocational skills. There is no standardized certification process for worker‘s skills. Human Resource is a differentiating factor that we need to address to engage un/semi-educated youth.

Responsiveness: Currently, most service providers tend to be reactive – meaning, they move to action only after the client has explicitly expressed a certain need/issue. The industry lacks the maturity and customer connection that would allow its service teams to deliver the customers’ expectations even before the need is expressed.

AWARDS & MILESTONES

Handiman’s biggest award/reward is customer satisfaction and their peace of mind!

Besides, the company has bagged many awards for the landscaping services being conducted by the Horticulture department. Recently, they have been given ISO 45001 & ISO14001 certificates. They had already got ISO 9001 earlier.

FUTURE OUTLOOK

Handiman is on a growth trajectory and looking to expand into areas that will provide synergy with our current core services. It is looking for partial or full Acquisition of Companies in Facility Management Services (FMS) space. The thought process is to align with like-minded promoters in FMS companies and grow the business to scale in the next 3 to 5 years, before going public and establishing the optimum business valuation. Also, they have plans to enter new geographical regions, new sectors and add new services.

HOUSEKEEPING TIPS BY THE INDUSTRY LEADER

Ensure all spills are immediately cleaned up.
Maintain clean light fixtures to improve lighting efficiency.
Keep aisles and stairways clear.
Regularly inspect, clean, and repair all tools.

Housekeeping plays a very important place at residential or workspace premises. Housekeeping can help prevent injuries and improve productivity. Every worker should play a role in housekeeping, even if that means keeping his or her workspace clean. Housekeeping should be an ongoing process, not a one-time practice.

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