A first-week checklist for new joiners in facility management and housekeeping

A new housekeeper at a mall atrium is judged by shoppers within minutes, and a new ward attendant is judged by infection control within hours. Neither has time to learn by watching. This post gives a sheet to copy, then explains how a site supervisor, a client facility manager and a floor lead share the ticking.

Name:                       Site / floor / shift:
Joined on:     Floor lead:     Site supervisor:

DAY ONE: ENTRY AND KIT
[ ] Client entry pass or access card issued; gate and lift rules explained
[ ] Uniform, name badge, shoes and gloves issued; register signed
[ ] Biometric or app punch-in demonstrated; who corrects a missed punch
[ ] Rest room, locker, pantry and the store room key holder shown

DAYS ONE TO TWO: CHEMICALS AND COLOUR CODES
[ ] Red, blue, green and yellow cloths and mops matched to areas
[ ] Dilution cap or dosing bottle shown; never mix bleach and acid
[ ] Wet-floor signage placed before mopping, removed after drying
[ ] Spill kit and eyewash location pointed out
[ ] Biomedical bin colours and sharps rule, if in a ward

DAYS TWO TO FOUR: MACHINES AND ROUNDS
[ ] Autoscrubber, single-disc polisher and wet-dry vacuum: one supervised run each
[ ] Squeegee, caddy and janitorial trolley loading order
[ ] Washroom round sheet explained and initialled on the door
[ ] Garbage collection route to the compactor or bin yard
[ ] Who to call for a blocked drain, a broken tap or a fallen light

DAY FIVE TO SIX: PEOPLE
[ ] Met the client's facility manager, security desk and floor lead
[ ] Knows the escalation order for a complaint at the helpdesk
[ ] Knows relief cover for the weekly off

Supervisor:                   Joiner:                   Date:

• The floor lead ticks kit, rounds and machine lines as they are shown.
• The site supervisor ticks chemical lines personally. Nobody delegates the bleach and acid rule.
• The client's facility manager countersigns the entry pass line, which proves the contractor did brief the joiner on site rules.
• The branch coordinator collects the finished sheets weekly and files them with the muster.

Cleaning vacancies get filled at short notice. A housekeeper may report mid-afternoon because the evening attendant did not turn up. The sheet still applies. Do chemicals and washroom lines first, and mark the others as pending with tomorrow's date. A half-ticked sheet is better than a perfect one that was never started.

In an office tower the first week is pantry service, desk wiping, carpet vacuum and the visitor lobby. In a mall it is atrium glass, escalator handrails, the food court tray return and the overnight deep clean after closing. In a hospital it is ward floor disinfection, linen handling, isolation rooms and sharps. In an apartment society it is staircase sweeping, lift cabin wiping, the garbage pickup before six and the swimming pool deck. Add a line for the step that matters most to the client.

• Autoscrubber: the ride-on or walk-behind machine that scrubs and dries in one pass.
• Burnisher: the high-speed pad machine used on hard floors after closing.
• Squeegee: the rubber blade for glass, tiles and wet drains.
• Microfibre cloth: lifts dust without chemicals; washed, not shaken.
• Dilution cap: the measured cap that stops a joiner pouring concentrate by eye.
• Janitorial trolley: the cart holding mops, buckets, caddy, bags and signage.
• Spill kit: absorbent, gloves and bags kept near the lift lobby.
• Atrium and escalator handrail: the first things a visitor touches in a mall.
• Compactor: the machine at the bin yard that crushes garbage, kept clear of hands.
• Sump and manhole: places a housekeeper reports but never opens.

1. 1

   Day one

   Pass, kit, punch-in and the supervisor's walk of the floor. No machine work yet.

2. 2

   Day two

   Colour codes and dilution with a real bucket in hand, plus the washroom sheet on the door.

3. 3

   Days three and four

   Machines under supervision, one run each, with the polisher cord and wet-floor rule repeated.

4. 4

   Day five

   The joiner runs the round alone while the floor lead checks the end result.

5. 5

   Day six

   Sit down for ten minutes, read the blanks, and write dates against them.

• It is kept in the contractor's head office, so the supervisor on site never sees it.
• It is ticked in one go, on the day the client audits.
• The chemical block is read, not shown. A joiner who has never smelt the wrong dilution cannot recall the rule.
• No one owns relief cover, so the new person works three weeks without a weekly off.

Join this sheet to your general onboarding process and keep the papers organised using the documentation process. See how hospital housekeeping agencies start staff, and the facility management hub for the wider picture.