Significant Cleaning Services LLC
Significant Cleaning Services LLC

Across the United States, employers face a workforce crisis. Hiring is slower, retention is fragile, and voluntary separations have settled into a structural challenge. Recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data show total separations levels and rates remaining significant even as the market normalizes, reminding leaders that churn is no longer a temporary headline but an operational reality. A reality that not only harms the businesses themselves but the clients they serve.

"This crisis is affecting all industries, and ours is no different. But the worse things get, the worse the impact on our clients will be. Having a new janitor turning up every week makes for a lower-quality service. Whether through a lack of knowledge, poor communication, or even simply lived experience, clients are facing the brunt of the problem."

Significant Cleaning Services LLC (SCS), a Bay Area commercial cleaning and facilities specialist established in 1987, states that the commercial cleaning and facilities sector isn't exempt. Demand for professional cleaning rose steeply during the pandemic and has remained high due to ongoing health and sanitation priorities. The positive or neutral outlook of commercial cleaning companies for 2025, as shown by a commercial cleaning insights report, reflects this. However, 63% of commercial cleaning businesses are trying to expand but face recruitment difficulties.

The sector is particularly vulnerable to high turnover. Frontline roles like janitors and building cleaners are projected to grow only 3% from 2023 to 2033, indicating a tight labor market. These realities create pressure on companies that depend on trained frontline teams.

Rather than treating turnover as an intractable labor-market inevitability, SCS asserts that many employees leave not because they dislike the work. It's because leadership, communication, and career pathways are absent or insufficient. That diagnosis reshapes how SCS hires, trains, and promotes. It also explains why the company has grown to a workforce of hundreds of people while maintaining long tenures among core staff.

On the macro level, patterns in the labor market support SCS's point of view. Research from Gallup finds that 70% of the variance in team engagement is directly attributable to the manager. "Poor manager engagement has cascading effects," says SCS President and CEO Anthony Lovaglia. "When managers are disengaged, their teams follow suit. It naturally leads to lower productivity, higher burnout, and increased turnover."

SCS's leadership is embodied by a philosophy to build a business on trust, integrity, and team strength. The company argues that a consistent internal culture, where leaders are accountable and accessible, can translate into client confidence and operational continuity.

That perspective isn't symbolic at SCS. It informs how the firm designs HR touchpoints, trains supervisors, and communicates with crews. The result is a culture where employees know who will listen and who will act, and where honesty is preferred over superficial niceties.

Several concrete practices support that culture. SCS moves new full-time employees into benefits eligibility quickly, reducing early turnover risk. It encourages open communication and multi-level escalation. An employee can raise an issue to HR or to senior management if needed. Moreover, it deliberately grows managers from the workforce itself, so supervisors speak the language of the work they oversee. Those choices reduce friction between levels of the organization and create leaders who truly understand operational realities.

Investment in training and qualifications is another pillar. SCS developed specialized teams. Employees who want to deepen their skills can do so without leaving the company. That technical pathway raises job complexity and pay potential. Moreover, it signals that the employer sees long-term careers, not temporary shifts. Those internal ladders are a key reason many long-tenured staff remain committed.

At the same time, SCS recognizes certain limitations. In some higher-cost regions, average hourly pay for janitors and building cleaners may fall short of what's often considered a living wage. This can create challenges for employers who are trying to navigate the balance between equitable compensation and financial viability.

SCS addresses that gap through a combination of early benefits, flexible scheduling, and transparent dialogue. When pay increases cannot be made immediately, managers brief employees on the company's financial constraints, outline what the firm can do, and offer concrete development steps that will materially improve earning potential over time. "That honesty, as well as an actual pathway to promotion, defuses many potential resignations and replaces speculation with a plan," Lovaglia states.

Operationally, SCS also rejects one-size-fits-all management. Instead of imposing cookie-cutter corporate rules, supervisors are matched to accounts based on history, client expectations, and crew compatibility. HR functions as an active advocate, which helps troubled relationships get resolved before they escalate to departures. This client-aware, account-specific model also supports revenue growth. "Satisfied facility managers become referrers, and new services are added only when they align with client needs," shares Lovaglia.

Businesses like Significant Cleaning Services prove that turnover is a solvable management-design issue rather than an unsolvable market force. By investing in people early, making leadership a learnable and promotable craft, and treating compensation conversations with transparency and context, companies can convert what seems to be chronic churn into stable, productive careers. In doing so, they protect both client promises and the dignity of frontline work.