We are extremely happy to announce that our cleaning services have gradually begun to resume. Regular customers are being re-started in batches, depending on personal circumstances and business planning to ensure reopening is done as safely and smoothly as possible for both customers and staff alike.
We are forever grateful to our incredible customers who have supported us during lockdown and stayed with us to ensure we’ve been able to reopen. A huge THANK YOU to you all. Below we’re going to look a little bit at what happened during lockdown, safety measures we have in place moving forwards and what the future may hold.
Clear Interiors During Lockdown
We were able to successfully furlough our staff and pause operations. We have many customers, as well as some staff who required shielding and it was not viable to continue to safely deliver cleaning services in Norwich, ensure everybody’s safety during the peak of the virus and guarantee the survival of the business as a whole.
As has been the case for many people, lockdown was also an opportunity to take stock. We made a difficult decision to give up the lease on our office, on Portersfield Road (in case you’ve seen it closed down… we’re still here!), in part because we found that a lot of the office work can be done effectively from home, and also to minimise our costs as a way to protect the business and jobs for our staff, through post-lockdown uncertainties.
We also invested many, many hours into making more use of software as a way to digitise how we schedule and invoice cleans. We really hope, over time, that this software will bring some benefits to our customers as well. Finally we came up with a clear plan for how to reopen safely and when best to do this, asking staff and customers to complete surveys to find out what their expectations were.
I won’t lie… the whole process of pausing the business, preparations for reopening, keeping up with guidance and juggling everyone’s expectations and personal circumstances has been incredibly stressful and the single biggest challenge I’ve faced in all my years in business. Whilst lockdown for the most part was fine, even with some upsides, I can see that it has taken a toll on very many people and am trying to keep in mind what a lot we have all been through. The rest of 2020 is definitely a time for kindness, patience and care for each other.
Reopening Clear Interiors
In order to make sure we were able to restart our cleaning services safely, we first came up with a clear plan, taking into account all the needs of customers, staff, COVID guidelines, areas of risk, and with the long-term survival of the business in mind. It is an incredibly complex juggling act, but felt that a staggered reopening was the best option. We hope to have all of our regular customers back with us by September.
Some of the things we are doing to ensure everyone is kept safe are:
- Asking customers to be out, or remain in a single room when we clean
- Providing hand sanitiser for staff to use
- Allowing more time for cleans and between cleans
- Providing PPE for staff
- Teams are being paired and remaining in that team with the same customers for the time being
- Virucidal spray has been incorporated into our cleans
- Encouraging bank transfer where possible instead of cash or cheque
- Hand sanitisation before entering and upon leaving a property
What the future holds
This is an incredibly unpredictable time for many businesses in Norwich and we have been very fortunate to still be in operation. For now, we are able to operate our adapted services with the new guidelines, but we are keeping a very close eye on every development and remain poised to act when needed, to preserve the business and services for our customers and staff.
Norwich has a fantastic ecosystem of small businesses and locals who are employed by them or are customers who support them. The Eat Out to Help Out scheme is one way people in Norwich are helping to support local restaurants and cafes. If you’re wondering what you can do to help Clear Interiors, here are a few ideas:
- Become a Clear Interiors customer! – Book a quote here.
- Leave a Facebook or Google review – Information and links can be found here.
- Follow us on Facebook or Twitter – Even better, tweet or post a recommendation to your followers.
- Refer a friend! – You will both receive a £25 M&S gift card when your friend takes up a regular cleaning service with us. See our terms and conditions here.
- Book some extra services – If you need a Spring Clean, fridge clean, internal windows, ironing, whatever it may be, let us know. Information about our additional services can be found here.
- As well as domestic cleaning and ironing, we are also able to do small office and commercial cleans. If you know of anyone who may need this service, please do let us know!
We know a lot of customers missed us during lockdown and are finding it a huge relief to have us back in. Thank you all again. We are keeping everything crossed that there will be some normality on the other side of this.