CHICAGO — Respondents to the most recent Your Views survey for American Laundry News are a thankful, hopeful bunch.
Almost 90% of respondents agreed with the statement, “I’m thankful because our operation is performing well.” Only 7.7% disagreed.
In fact, it seems that laundry operators have a lot to be thankful for. They were asked to name one aspect of their service for which they give thanks every day and why. Here are some of the responses:
- “My team. They take pride in what they do and is the best group I have had the privilege to work with in my 27 years in the industry.”
- “That our laundry department runs as well as it does and having staff that all work as a team. It makes my job easier!”
- “Over 40 years in the industry, and that it has provided, through hard work, a wonderful life for myself and my family.”
- “I am always thankful for our circumstances of plenty of work. Been that way for decades.”
- “That we are growing, instead of shrinking, the customer base.”
- “Maintenance, because we have made great strides in the past two years in getting and keeping our equipment running in a proper and consistent manner, dramatically reducing our downtime while increasing our productivity, and more importantly, our quality.”
- “I work with great people, and our customers care about what they do. I have the chance to serve patients when they need us most.”
- “The opportunity to interact with and educate our end-users—and feeling good when we have good outcomes.”
- “I am thankful for those end-users/clients that do appreciate our service. Why? Because our job is laborious, yet rewarding (personally) in the end product, and when even a few people expect what you do and consider your role as vital, it can make all the difference in your professional relationships and employee morale.”
In terms of appreciation by customers, some 60% of managers who took the survey completely agreed with the statement, “Our (end-users or clients) appreciate our service.” More than 32% answered, “I somewhat agree.”
On the equipment side, almost 40% of those surveyed completely agreed with the statement, “Our equipment works well and isn’t a concern,” while 34.9% somewhat agreed.
However, there seems to be some equipment issues that need to be addressed, since equal shares of 10.9% remarked “I neither agree nor disagree” or “I somewhat disagree.” Almost 5% of respondents completely disagreed with the statement.
The statement, “I’m confident that next year will be better for everyone,” generated overwhelmingly positive responses from respondents, with 53.1% completely agreeing and almost 30% agreeing somewhat. Only 3.1% completely disagreed with the statement, while 14.1% answered, “I neither agree nor disagree.”
While managers who took the survey were mostly positive, no operation runs smoothly all of the time. In answer to a question asking them to identify the “biggest ‘turkey’—headache-causer” for their laundry, 45.2% answered “Employee(s).” More than 19% said equipment, while it is the end-user or client for 11.3%. More than 8% pointed to their chemicals supplier, and 1.6% pointed to their textiles supplier.
Of the 14.5% of respondents who chose “Other,” responses included the government, linen loss, employees that aren’t committed, local unions, and competition.
While the Your Views survey presents a snapshot of readers’ viewpoints at a particular moment, it should not be considered scientific. Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.
Subscribers to American Laundry News e-mails are invited to take the industry survey anonymously online each month. All managers and administrators of institutional/OPL, cooperative, commercial and industrial laundries are encouraged to participate, as a greater number of responses will help to better define operator opinions and identify industry trends.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].