A Day Porter, also known as a Day Matron or simply a Porter, is a person that is stationed in a commercial building to assist in daily facility duties which are mostly cleaning related. These duties can include, but are not limited to policing public areas, touching up restrooms, restocking consumable paper/soap supplies, policing entrance ways, changing bulbs, picking up in smoking areas, checking cafeterias/coffee stations, cleaning up spills, completing specialty detail cleaning, and performing other duties as assigned by the Facilities Manager. The Day Porter performs a wide range of duties that is dictated by the facility they service. The Day Porter works in conjunction with the Night Cleaning Team to help provide cross shift continuity, an integral part of a fully managed facility service solution.
When customers ask us what Day Porters really do, we ask them, “What would you like them to do?” To get the most from your Day Porter, you need to identify what kind of daytime help would be most useful to you, your facility and tenants or employees. Some of our most successful Day Porters are the ones who have created real value for our clients by going beyond the normal touching up of restrooms and keeping the front door glass clean and smudge free. In today’s business environment many of our customers are operating on thin budgets and a Day Porter can be just the thing to fill in gaps and lend an extra set of hands to keep your facility on track.
Your Day Porter often becomes an extension of your own staff and so communicating directly with them is often most useful. Still, there are occasions when you will find your janitorial contractor immeasurably helpful. First, because a Day Porter’s position is largely defined by your needs, communicating those needs to your janitorial contractor will help you get the most from your Day Porter. Second, when you are having issues, contact your Janitorial Contractor before everything is off the rails. Your Day Porter is a contract employee and your Janitorial Contractor is there to help you manage them. If the individual serving your facility is not a good fit, let your cleaning company know.
Once you have an idea of what kind of help would be most useful in your facility, you should sit down with your commercial cleaning company or janitorial contractor to develop a job description and schedule of duties for your Day Porter services. Knowing what is expected will help your building maintenance contractor help find the ideal person for your facility. Working together with your janitorial company can help you really flesh out what you need from your Day Porter. You know your facility and your janitorial company knows what has worked well for other facilities. Together you can create a job description and schedule of duties that keeps everyone on track and helps evaluate the success of your Day Porter program.