10 Questions with … Bernard McCauley

Each month we ask a cleaning industry professional the Tomorrow’s Cleaning 10 Questions. This month, we chatted to Bernard McCauley, group managing director at Grosvenor Services

Q1. What was your first job? As a student I worked in a hotel. This taught me from an early age about the importance of customer service.

Q2. How did you get into the cleaning industry?  Grosvenor Services is a successful family owned and run business, operating for 55 years and specialising in cleaning, FM and security in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States. I entered the family business in 1989 in the USA, after leaving university and working in Australia.

Q3. Which three words describe your personality? Hard working, committed, determined.

Q4. If you could visit one place in the world, where would you go and why? I would climb Ama Dablam, Nepal, one of the most beautiful mountains in the world.

Q5. How would you improve the cleaning industry? Through concentrated training, learning and development programmes for staff in the industry. The deployment of management with the capability and work capacity to deliver service to the client is also essential. The replication of standard operating procedures to ensure consistency of service and investment in the staff delivering the service on the frontline is essential.

Q6. If an intern were to start tomorrow, what’s the one piece of advice you would give them? Listen to the client and treat all staff respectfully. Grosvenor Services stands by its reputation as the trusted partner in providing exceptional services through dedicated, professional people.

Q7. What do you do to unwind?  Running and mountaineering are great ways to take time out.

Q8. If you were stranded on a desert island and you could only have one thing, what would it be and why? Books by Tolstoy.

Q9. What, do you think, is the future of the cleaning industry? The future, I believe will be the ever increasing growth of bundled service solutions incorporating cleaning, security, catering and facility management. Cleaning will have an important place in this model, with emphasis on trained staff and quality management. There will be an increasing importance on providing added value and offering tailored solutions to the client.

Les Marshall, Sales and Marketing Director at Miele Professional, asks…

Q10. Who has been the biggest influence on your career and why? My late father, who founded Grosvenor Services. He taught me important leadership qualities essential for the further growth of the company.

www.grosvenorservices.com

Published in Tomorrow’s Cleaning – July 2014