Miss Audrey Hinchcliffe, managing director and chairman of MMS, (middle)Grounds maintenance workers and (right) Janitorial services staff at work - Contributed FEW PEOPLE know the name of the company that cleaned the National Stadium for the World Junior Championships.
Even fewer know that they are one of Jamaica's biggest employers. In fact, the St. Andrew-based Manpower and Maintenance Services Limited (MMS) said that they are the biggest commercial cleaning company in the English-speaking Caribbean.
Audrey Hinchcliffe, managing director and chairman of MMS, said that the company has expanded to fill the requirements of many Jamaican firms which are now outsourcing non-core activities.
Her company employs 1,400 people, with 1,100 of these being full-time workers. They provide janitorial services, grounds maintenance and landscaping, messenger services, housekeeping and office attendant services. The company also provides post-construction cleaning, building maintenance, sanitary disposal systems and porters for health care institutions.
The National Stadium cleaning contract is just one of several public sector contracts MMS has won. But it is also active in the private sector.
"The clients are driving the expansion of this business," Miss Hinchcliffe said. The company started off in janitorial services 12 years ago, but has expanded its range of services to meet the needs of clients. Her business has doubled in just the last three years.
It is a key strategy to provide the range of services which clients need, she said. Businesses prefer to deal with a full service provider, and so MMS makes itself a more attractive prospect for its clients by offering the services it does.
Over the next year there are plans to expand the services in equipment rental, pest control as well as in grounds and landscape maintenance, she said.
The brainchild of Miss Hinchcliffe, she says her company is in a tough business. The margins on her contracts are slim so careful management is crucial for success.
The biggest challenge she has faced has been in accessing funding to keep the company growing, she said.
"In the past, we were not taken seriously," said Miss Hinchcliffe. She said the commercial cleaning industry has not been treated with the respect it deserves, particularly by lending institutions.
The type of work which her employees perform is not traditionally regarded in Jamaica as lending itself to professionalism or proper management. Her organisation has had to battle with this misconception.
Work at MMS is systematised, so "we don't manage the people," she said, "we manage the systems that we put in place."
There are written policies, procedures and guidelines so employees know precisely what is required from them, she said. Rather than micro-managing the staff, supervisors only need to ensure that the guidelines are being followed.
Using objective standards to measure work performance enhances staff morale, Miss Hinchcliffe said. The company has found no difficulties in getting new recruits.
Making this system work also requires sound management and she describes her management team as "wonderful".
The systematisation has the added benefit of facilitating the expansion of MMS as different approaches have been developed to handle different tasks. She said, "we are well poised to take on new jobs."
"Manpower & Maintenance Services is an untold story in this country," said Richard Chen, co-chairman of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica's (PSOJ) Job Creation Awards Committee last month. Mr. Chen was speaking at the Terra Nova Hotel, at the presentation ceremony for an award MMS received in recognition of its employment creation achievements in the previous six months.
This acknowledgement by the PSOJ marks one of several the company has received in the recent past. Employing the services of a public relations firm, Communications and Business Solutions Limited, it aims to further boost its public standing, and that of a newly emerging industry.
