Thinking of starting a cleaning business? The first question on your mind might be: Can it be profitable?

The short answer is yes, you can make good money with a cleaning business. But profitability isn’t guaranteed. Your cleaning business profit depends on your business model, pricing strategy, and how well you manage costs.

In this guide, we’ll break down exactly what healthy profit margins look like when you’re starting a cleaning business, how to track your earnings, and the factors that will help you turn a healthy profit.

Cleaning Business Profit Margins: How Much Do Companies Make?

When we talk about cleaning business profit, we mean net profit margin. This is the percentage of revenue you get to keep after all expenses are paid.

For example, let’s say you charge a client $500 for a deep clean. Here’s how the money breaks down:

Your net profit margin is: $175 ÷ $500 = 35%

For every $500 job with this cost structure, you pocket $175.

What are realistic net profit margins for a cleaning business?

Not all cleaning businesses work the same way, so profit margins vary. I analyzed data from industry-specific platforms, insights from established cleaning business consultants, and real financial statements shared by business owners to find these typical net profit margins:

As you can see, a cleaning business’s typical net profit margin isn’t a fixed industry number. Instead, it’s closely tied to the business model.

These figures are valuable benchmarks, but they’re just averages. The only way to know exactly where your business stands and how you can improve it is to know your own numbers. 

How To Track Your Cleaning Company’s Profits

Getting a handle on your profitability requires seeing exactly where your money comes from and, more importantly, where it goes. Here’s how to build a clear financial picture, month by month.

Start with a monthly profit & loss statement

Your best friend is the profit and loss (P&L) statement. Don’t let the name scare you; it’s just a monthly scorecard for your cleaning business. It tracks your total revenue and subtracts your costs to show your actual profit.

A great way to start is by splitting expenses into 2 main buckets: direct costs (the labor and supplies needed to do the job) and overhead (everything else it takes to run the business). You might end up with something like this:

This statement provides clarity. Beyond the profit margin, you can see exactly what funds are coming in and where cash is being spent. You can use this to help answer important questions like, “When can I afford new vacuum cleaners?” or “Is my marketing budget delivering a good return?”

It’s best to run a P&L statement monthly so you can catch any problems like overspending sooner rather than later.

Track these key numbers

That’s just the beginning. Consider keeping track of other profitability metrics that’ll help guide your future decisions.

• Profit by service type: Not all jobs make the same money. Your $300 house clean might net you 20%, while a $300 carpet cleaning job might net you 45%. By tracking based on service type, you can figure out which services are most profitable and think about focusing your efforts there.
• Lifetime Value (LTV): This answers how much a typical customer spends with you in total. If they stay 3 years at $200/month, that’s $7,200. Tracking this will help you understand how much you can afford to spend on marketing per customer.
• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Add up monthly marketing spend and divide by the number of new customers. This will tell you how much it’s costing you, on average, to find a new customer. Repeat clients don’t have this cost, making them much more profitable in the long run.
• Labor percentage: Track the total cost of labor as a percentage of your total revenue. If you see labor consistently eats more than 50% of revenue, you need to raise prices or get more efficient (more on this below).

5 Factors That Drive Cleaning Business Profits (And How To Improve Them)

Now, let’s look at how to profit from a cleaning business and what actually moves the needle on your cleaning business profit margins.

“Competing on price is a race to the bottom,” warned Vance Morris, owner of Eastern Shore Carpet Cleaning in Maryland. “There is no competitive advantage to being 2nd cheapest.”

Top earners “don’t sell ‘cleaning,'” he explained. “They sell healthier homes, safer schools, [and] stress-free offices.” 

The research confirms this. Cleaning in Motion’s State of the Market: Commercial Cleaning Edition 2024 report states 71% of clients will pay more for specialized services.

Calculate your true costs and add a 20%-30% margin. If you’re booked solid and turning down work, it could indicate your prices are too low.

“Many new owners underbid contracts to win business, only to find the work isn’t profitable once labor, supplies, and overhead are factored in,” said Tim Conn, president and co-founder of Image One USA, said. “The solution is to price accurately from the start. Use a structured system to assess each facility’s true needs, invest in training for efficiency, and track costs closely. It’s better to win fewer profitable contracts than to take on work that drains resources.”

One-time jobs mean constantly hunting for customers. Recurring contracts provide predictable income. According to Cleaning in Motion, 78% of clients renew contracts for consistent quality. Top companies hit 92% retention.

Focus on landing recurring contracts such as weekly office cleaning or bi-weekly home service. When you do one-time jobs, always offer ongoing maintenance afterward, and consider creating packages with small discounts (5%-10%) for recurring service. The lifetime value more than covers it.

Turnover is the real killer. Cleaning in Motion found a 200% employee turnover in commercial cleaning in 2024. Every person who quits costs you money in recruiting, training, and dealing with mistakes.

To combat this churn, pay competitively from the start. Trying to save $2 per hour will cost more in turnover. Provide clear training with documented processes and create career paths. This way, you can show cleaners that they can become team leaders and managers.

Track your labor percentage by job. As mentioned, if you consistently spend over 50% on labor for a job type, raise prices or improve efficiency.

Generic house cleaning is competitive. On the other hand, specialty services like carpet cleaning, post-construction cleanup, and Airbnb turnovers can command higher margins.

Consider adding these high-margin services to your lineup. This means that if you’re already in a client’s home, you can offer carpet cleaning or window washing as an upsell. Each add-on increases revenue per client with zero marketing cost.

Pick specialties that match your market. For instance, residential clients need move-out cleaning, commercial clients need floor stripping and waxing, and healthcare facilities pay premium rates for medical-grade sanitization. Track your margins by service type and market the profitable ones harder.

Small inefficiencies compound fast. Cleaning in Motion found that companies using scheduling software saw a 20% increase in efficiency. Do the following:

• Document everything. Create checklists for every service. New employees learn faster, quality stays consistent, and mistakes drop. For instance, Connecteam’s Magic File-to-Form can be used to convert paper checklists to digital ones in seconds. 
• Track locations. Use GPS and time clocks to see where employees are. A GPS time clock allows employees to use an app on their phone to automatically track where they are and what they’re working on.
• Group jobs smartly. Schedule multiple jobs in the same area on the same day. An employee scheduling app makes this easy to manage.

The post Is a Cleaning Business Profitable? 5 Factors That Boost Profits for Your Company appeared first on Connecteam.

Cleaning companies can attract clients in many ways, from flyers and referrals to online ads and even TikTok videos.

But trying to do every marketing tactic at once isn’t the answer, especially if you’ve just started your cleaning business. You need to focus on lead-generation (lead-gen) methods that work for your brand, target market, and available resources. 

In this guide, we walk you through how to get clients for a cleaning business, with 10 expert tactics, examples, and tools to make your life easier.

Prep Steps: Map Out Your “Marketing Mix”

Your lead generation will be most effective when you define a few key factors known as the 5 Ps of the “marketing mix”: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, and People.

Whether you’re just starting your cleaning business or updating your marketing plan, it’s worth taking time to define Place, Product, Price, and People first.

These 4 Ps will shape the 5th: Promotion, how you market your business to attract new customers. When you’re clear on what you offer, who it’s for, and what makes you different, marketing your business gets a whole lot easier. 

Here’s how to outline your Ps before diving into lead generation:

Schedule a strategy session

Aim to spend 1–4 hours chatting about your Place, Product, Price, and People. 

If you have a team, dedicate 1 full day to this, and invite everyone to attend. If you’re a solo operation, set aside a few hours to think things through.

Use our expert chart below to guide your discussion. 

Turn your insights into action

The ideas you and your team discussed about Place, Product, Price, and People should provide insights for your 5th P: Promotion.

Spend about 30 minutes reviewing the top insights from your meeting and decide how each one can shape your marketing.

For example, say your team agrees that customers love your business’s friendly staff who always go the extra mile (People). You could highlight that on your company website and in social media posts, such as “Meet the Team” videos or behind-the-scenes clips that show your crew in action. 

Or, maybe you offer mid-range residential cleaning services (Product) within a 20-mile radius of your office (Place) and charge slightly less than your competitors (Price). You could promote your business locally by partnering with nearby non-competing businesses or handing out flyers that highlight your unbeatable prices and dependable service.

How to Attract Leads and Land Clients for Your Cleaning Company

Below is a comprehensive approach to scoring leads and clients for your cleaning business. Remember, you don’t need to use every method. Choose what feels right for your company; let the 4 Ps guide you, and consider what’s doable with your budget. 

Before spending $$$ on marketing, start with the folks that appreciate you the most: your existing clients. Not only do returning clients cost 5–10x less to win than brand-new ones, but they also spend 67% more on average. 

Here are some top tips to keep customers with you:

• Advertise a distinct “Recurring cleaning” package on your website and other promo materials (such as flyers).
• Offer a discount (e.g., 10–20%) on related services after completing a job (for instance, a deep clean after a standard clean job).
• Send regular (but not intrusive) promos by email or text to clients who booked one-off services.
• Offer freebies like a free fridge clean or a premium cleaning product at key milestones, such as a client’s 5th or 10th clean.
• Always offer 5/5 service, exceeding clients’ expectations. (For inspiration, Connecteam’s guide on selling your cleaning services offers great tips to go above and beyond.)

In the competitive cleaning industry, word-of-mouth marketing can be one of the most powerful and cost-effective ways to attract clients. Customer referrals occur when existing clients recommend your services to family, friends, or other businesses. 

While referrals are valuable in every type of cleaning business, they’re especially great for residential cleaning. Because clients are letting others into their homes, they’re more likely to use cleaning companies recommended by a trusted source than paid advertising. 

It’s the same reason that customer referrals are great for school, hospital, and hotel cleaning. In these spaces, decision-makers look for businesses that can be trusted around vulnerable people and valuable belongings.  

Here’s how you can make the most of customer referrals: 

• Give existing customers a quick, easy way to recommend you to others. This can be through a referral card, a link on your website, or a promo code of their own. 
• Reward referrers with discounts, complementary add-on services, gift cards, or even free products if their referral brings you a new client. 
• Ask customers for referrals when they give positive feedback. This is likely the time when they’re most impressed with your company’s work.
• Always thank customers for making a referral, regardless of the outcome. A simple thank-you note or phone call goes a long way in making them feel appreciated. 
• Closely track referrals using a spreadsheet, app, or analytics tool so you can see who your biggest advocates are and go above and beyond in your interactions with them. 

You could also partner with businesses that deal with similar clients (but don’t compete with you) and refer customers to each other. Partnerships offer great exposure for your brand and build credibility by association, especially if the partner is well-reputed.  

Ideal partners for cleaning businesses can include real estate agencies, builders, property management companies, hardware stores, event companies, or interior design studios. For instance, the builder of a new shopping center could recommend a large-scale commercial cleaner to the shopping center. 

If you don’t already have industry connections, here’s how to start building them:

1. Search on Google Maps and Yelp for businesses in your service area(s) that make sense to partner with. You can also drive or walk around your service area(s) and note places that catch your attention.
2. Write down their contact details, such as email addresses, phone numbers, and physical addresses. 
3. Reach out directly via email or the contact form on their website. Send a short, friendly message explaining who you are, what your business does, and why you’re interested in partnering with their business.

Once a business is interested, suggest a deal that benefits both of you. For example, you could offer your partner’s clients an exclusive discount, give your partner a commission, or simply agree to recommend each other to customers.

After you secure a partnership, be sure to:

• Create a simple contract that includes fair terms and conditions—for example, either party can end the partnership at any time.
• Stay in touch regularly, even (and especially) during slow periods. Check in once a month for 15–20 minutes, and send occasional emails with news or contacts they may find useful.

Don’t discount physical marketing methods—some of them are still powerful ways to get cleaning clients. Here’s what to try:

Create flyers 

Flyers are single-page leaflets that provide information about a company’s services, contact details, special offers, etc. They’re a great way to reach a local audience since they can be easily distributed to specific communities. 

You can create your cleaning company flyers using tools like Canva or by hiring a graphic designer through sites like Behance or Fiverr. 

Flyers should include all key information, such as your company name, contact details, services, service area(s), and any special offers, such as coupons. Make sure they’re readable, too; use a clear, large font, and avoid overcrowding the text. It’s also a good idea to add high-quality photos of your team or past work to enhance trust.

Additionally, make your flyers unique to your target customers. For example, if you target busy working families, you could add text like, “We handle your cleaning so you can focus on what matters most.” Or, if you’re in the green commercial cleaning space, make sure your flyer shows that you use green products and can handle large-scale jobs.

Put flyers anywhere your target customers will regularly see them: neighborhoods, libraries, gyms, community centers, coffee shops, etc. 

Before placing them in a location, always ask for permission. Call or email the local venue (or public authority), or get in-person confirmation from a representative. This’ll help you stay professional and keep your flyers up longer.

Likewise, place your flyers in approved spots, such as a library’s community bulletin board, rather than unauthorized or intrusive ones, like a retailer’s display window.

You could also send flyers directly to potential customers through the mail. One way to do this is to use the USPS Every Door Direct Mail ® tool to send your flyers to properties in specific ZIP codes. 

Sponsor local fundraisers

Cleaning teams go into clients’ homes and business spaces, so meeting your leads face-to-face establishes much-needed trust before potential jobs. 

A great way to do this is by sponsoring local fundraisers: It gets your name out there while showing you care about your local community.

Katie Lambert, founder of Denver cleaning company Clean Queen, says sponsoring fundraisers has been “one of the best ways we have gotten our name out in town.” Her team offers “gift certificates for local fundraisers all year round.”

Lambert recommends setting up a booth at local community events and collecting contact details from visitors (either on paper or via an online form) for their chance to win prizes like a free deep clean. To find events, subscribe to community newsletters and search online for “community events near me” and “fundraisers in [your area].”

“The most effective strategy for consistently getting new clients is having a website and ranking on Google,” Lambert tells Connecteam. 

Why? Because people trust Google. They’ll likely go there to search for options when they need cleaning services, so you need to make sure your company pops up when they do.

Here’s where to start:

Create a Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile is a free tool that helps put your business on the map—literally. Follow these steps to set up your profile: 

• Visit the Google Business website and create an account. 
• Add your business by entering its name, location, and category (for instance, residential cleaning services). 
• Verify your business by phone, email, or mail. 
• Complete your profile by adding a description of your business, your operating hours, customer testimonials (including positive reviews from family and friends), and photos of your team and past jobs. 

Hire a local SEO expert

You also need your business and website to rank high in Google search results, because most people don’t look past the first few. 

Specifically, All Star Cleaning Services co-owner Derek Christian emphasizes ranking in the Google Map Pack (aka the Local Pack or 3-Pack). This is a list of 3 businesses Google recommends in results for searches such as “cleaning company near me.”

To help you achieve this, consider hiring a local search engine optimization (SEO) expert. These professionals specialize in helping companies rank high in local search results. 

They typically do this in 3 ways:

• Updating text on your cleaning business website and online profiles so you rank for certain key phrases, such as “carpet shampooing in Plano, Texas” or “commercial cleaning for schools in Topeka, Kansas.”
• Checking that your business information is current and accurate across all platforms. This boosts your credibility with Google, which helps you rank higher in search results. 
• Getting other trusted businesses to link to your website, content on your site, or online profiles. This is known as backlinking. (To learn more, check out Mailchimp’s guide on how backlinking helps you show up in search results.)

You can hire an expert through a local SEO agency, which typically charges between $100 and $3,000 depending on your business’s needs. Choose an agency with solid reviews or a money-back guarantee.

If you’re in a smaller town, aim to appear in the top 5 local listings on Google (this is more challenging in bigger cities). You can start monitoring results (such as page views and clicks) a few days after your SEO partner makes changes, but wait 3–6 months to judge the full results. If you’re still not ranking well after that, it may be time to switch agencies.

Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are among the most-used social media apps in the US. With the right strategy, you can generate a steady stream of cleaning leads from these platforms (and others). In fact, Christian from All Star Cleaning Services tells us that about 25% of his leads come through Instagram and TikTok alone.

Here’s a look at what types of content are best suited to popular social media apps:

• Instagram: Great for visual content. You could post before-and-after cleaning photos, “Stories” featuring your team, short promos, and quick video testimonials.
• Facebook: Best for local engagement. Tag nearby businesses in posts, join local groups, or engage followers with fun polls like “Which area is toughest to clean: kitchen, bathroom, or garage?”
• TikTok: Perfect for attention-grabbing videos. Try time-lapse videos of cleaning jobs, funny “cleaner reacts” clips, or videos sharing cleaning hacks, using hashtags like #CleanTok.
• LinkedIn: Ideal for non-residential leads. You could share professional tips and updates aimed at commercial and institutional audiences, including property managers, office managers, and operations directors.

You don’t need to be (or even hire) a social media expert to create and post content that attracts leads. Here’s all you need to do:

1. Choose your platforms. Focus on the ones that align with your business goals and customer base.
2. Create your accounts. Use a company or brand account (like an Instagram Business account) rather than a personal account. Include your logo, contact info, and a clear service description on your profile.
3. Define your brand voice. Decide how you want to sound in text and videos (e.g., quirky, friendly, professional, or something else) and stick with it.
4. Assign your social team. Pick 1 or more staff members to create, post, and manage social content (including replying to followers’ comments and messages).
5. Use the equipment you have. A smartphone with a high-resolution camera and simple photo and video editing apps like CapCut or Canva is enough to get you started.
6. Plan ahead. Create batches of photos and videos in advance, and write out captions for each, so you can post consistently.
7. Post at the right times. Otherwise, your posts won’t get seen by as many people. A quick Google search will tell you the best posting times for each platform. Certain platforms, including Instagram, even have business account analytics so you can see when your followers are most active. 

Once you’ve set up your social media accounts and started posting, focus on consistency, but don’t commit to too much too soon. Content takes time, so start with 1 post per week that says something important about your business, like a pro cleaning tip, a customer story, or a behind-the-scenes moment. Between posts, engage with your audience by liking and replying to comments and messages. 

As leads start coming in from social media, you can begin posting more frequently if you have the staff to support it. Daily posting, for example, is great because it keeps you visible and helps you hop on the latest trends to boost your chances of getting even more leads. 

No matter what you post or how often, make sure your content always fits your brand. For example:

• Brand: You treat clients’ homes as if they were your own.
• Content idea: Post a weekly video series where you or an employee tackles a cleaning challenge (such as a carpet stain their child made) in their own home, in a wholesome, family-friendly way.

Many homeowners, renters, and business owners look for services on platforms like Nextdoor and Facebook. These spaces are free to join and great for building trust and visibility in your local area. 

Ask a team member to spend a few hours a week checking, posting, and responding in relevant communities. Here’s how to make the most of each platform:

Nextdoor

Nextdoor connects people and businesses in the same area, making it a great place to find potential customers nearby. To use Nextdoor:

• Create a business page to showcase your services, post updates, and share special offers. 
• Respond to local posts and questions to build trust and keep your company top of mind for customers looking for cleaning services. 
• Encourage customers to post positive reviews to make your business look more credible. 
• Use Nextdoor’s paid advertising options to increase your visibility in your area. 
• Look for posts where users ask for cleaning recommendations, and respond with a friendly, helpful pitch.

Facebook groups

You can also join local community or interest-based groups on Facebook relevant to your business, such as “Busy Parents in [Your Town]” (for residential cleaning) or “Keeping [City] Clean” (for commercial cleaning).

Once you’ve joined:

• Participate meaningfully in group discussions, e.g., by sharing quick cleaning tips or best practices. 
• Mention your services naturally when relevant, and include photos. 
• Reply promptly to group members who ask for cleaning advice or recommendations for cleaning services.

Facebook Marketplace

Another option is to list your cleaning services on Facebook Marketplace. Here’s what to do:

• Target users who are likely to need the cleaning services your business provides. For example, you might look for posts from people selling furniture, since that could indicate they’re moving or redecorating and may benefit from a deep cleaning. 
• Comment on posts or send sellers direct messages with a note such as, “Good luck with your move! If you need a professional cleaning service to help with your move-out, feel free to message us.”

LinkedIn

If you focus on commercial, janitorial, or specialized cleaning, use LinkedIn to connect with local businesses and professionals who may need regular, extensive cleaning services. 

You can: 

• Post short articles, cleaning insights, or company updates.
• Join or comment in industry groups to get noticed. 
• Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to pitch services directly to relevant decision-makers, such as property or facilities managers.

Industry-specific forums

If you serve niche sectors (like construction), join online forums such as construction.com and BuilderOnline. You can network with industry professionals, answer questions, and pitch your services where appropriate.

Cleaning marketplaces are online platforms where customers can find and book cleaning services based on their needs and location, customer service reviews, and more. Many platforms also handle their own marketing, giving your company free additional exposure.

To score leads through cleaning marketplaces, follow these steps:

• Find 1 or more marketplaces that cater to your type of cleaning and are highly rated in your area. For example, you could explore these:
  • Thumbtack, Angi, and TaskRabbit, which are great for residential, commercial, and specialized cleaning services, such as carpet or upholstery cleaning. 
  • Coverall and Buildingstars, which help customers find commercial and health-based cleaning companies that provide thorough sanitization for establishments like clinics, hospitals, schools, and restaurants.
• Make sure the platform(s) you choose fit your budget. Fees vary by platform. Some charge an annual membership fee, while others charge a flat fee per lead. And some charge a commission based on your quote or invoice. For example, Janitorial Leads Pro’s pricing starts at $150 per lead appointment.
• Sign up via the marketplace’s website or mobile app.  
• Create a compelling business profile with high-quality images and descriptions of past jobs, detailed descriptions of your services, customer testimonials, and your operating hours and contact details. 
• Add positive reviews to your profile by encouraging customers to rate your services and share comments on each platform.
• Regularly update your profile with your current hours, cleaning methods, and products. This helps potential clients trust your business and complete their quote requests.
• Respond quickly and professionally to booking requests or messages. Many customers go with the first company that replies. 

Consider running paid online ads if you have some extra budget or want to reach more people beyond your local network. 

You can advertise on platforms like Google, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. You’ll likely pay per click (PPC) or per 1,000 impressions (pay-per-mille, or PPM).

Here’s how it generally works:

1. Set a budget (you can start from as little as $10/day).
2. Choose your audience (for example, women over 40 in a certain ZIP code).
3. Upload your marketing materials (e.g., images and videos for different services, such as residential versus commercial).
4. Track ad performance. Monitor clicks, impressions, and the number of visitors to your website who request a quote.

Targeting clients actively looking for cleaning services is super effective. But you can also encourage people who haven’t considered cleaning to book your service.

A great way to do this is through creative promotional offers. Try these ideas:

• Give a discount to first-time customers—say, 10–25%. This encourages new people to try your services and hopefully turns them into repeat customers. 
• Create package deals that save customers money when they commit to multiple cleaning sessions at once. 

For example, you could provide 20% off a deep cleaning service if customers book 4 sessions in advance. Or offer window cleaning at 30% off when customers book it alongside general office cleaning. 

Alternatively, consider offers like “buy 9 cleaning services, get the 10th free.”

• Pinpoint times of year when people will likely need cleaning and use it in your marketing. Saying “Contact us for spring cleaning” reminds customers it’s time to clean and that they can reach out to you for services. 
• Pitch your sales around specific events associated with cleaning. For instance, it’s a tradition for Indian families to clean before the festival of Diwali. Offering event-based discounts shows that you take a personalized approach to clients’ needs. 

Conclusion 

Most cleaning businesses face tough competition, so you need to go beyond generic marketing techniques to attract new clients. 

You can encourage current clients to book repeat business, meet potential customers face-to-face by attending community events, posting physical flyers in public spaces, and more. You can also attract leads online by improving your website, Google search ranking, marketplace profiles, and social media presence.

Finally, use cleaning company software like Connecteam. It gives you the tools to be confident that you’re providing exceptional service so you can get word-of-mouth referrals and repeat business.

FAQs

How do I get customers to start a cleaning business?

Focus on discounts, special offers, and free trials to get new clients to try your cleaning services. Additionally, build a strong online presence through social media to foster a community of followers willing to book your services.   

How do you schedule cleaning clients? 

Once customers book their slots online or via phone or messaging, use a job scheduling software like Connecteam to create weekly schedules and assign available, qualified staff members. The best tools give you complete visibility in a calendar format, and some tools even prevent double bookings, staffing issues, and other scheduling errors. 

What are the best scheduling software options for cleaning businesses?

Connecteam is the best scheduling software for cleaning businesses. It offers simple shift planning, real-time updates, and mobile access for teams on the go. With built-in communication, time tracking, and task management, Connecteam streamlines operations, reduces manual errors, and keeps cleaners informed to save you time and boost productivity.

What are the legal requirements for running a cleaning business?

Legal requirements for running a cleaning business include registering your business, obtaining necessary state or local licenses, and complying with OSHA health and safety standards. Employers must also comply with federal and state labor laws.

How much should I charge for my cleaning services?

Charge for your cleaning services by calculating labor costs, overhead, and your desired profit margin. Rates vary by location, service type, and frequency, but the average hourly rate for cleaning companies is around $25–$75 per cleaner.

What kind of insurance do I need for my cleaning business?

Cleaning businesses usually need general liability, workers’ compensation, and property damage insurance. You might consider additional coverage like business interruption or bonding to offer extra protection and increase client trust.

The post 10 Proven Ways to Get Leads (and New Clients) for Your Cleaning Business appeared first on Connecteam.

An employee onboarding survey enables you to get feedback from new hires and improve your onboarding process. We cover everything you need to know about onboarding surveys and highlight 10 onboarding survey questions you should ask.

Your company’s onboarding process is the first impression your business makes on new hires. It’s important to make the process as good as possible, or else you risk talented new employees feeling disengaged and considering leaving your business 

One of the best ways to improve your onboarding process is to ask new employees to take an onboarding survey. This can reveal how employees feel about your onboarding process, including where your business has room to leave a stronger mark.

In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about employee onboarding surveys and highlight 10 onboarding survey questions you should ask.

What is an Onboarding Survey?

An onboarding survey, also called a new hire survey, is a questionnaire that asks new employees for feedback on your company’s onboarding process.

The goal of onboarding surveys is to help HR managers improve the onboarding process. With employee feedback, HR administrators can decide what works, what doesn’t, and where to invest the company’s onboarding budget.

These surveys can cover a wide range of topics about an employee’s pre-hire experience and their first few months on the job. For example, an onboarding survey might ask about:

• How an employee heard about your company
• How the employee felt about the job application and interview process
• Whether the employee found your company’s new hire training program effective
• How engaged the employee feels after a few months on the job
• Whether the employee sees themselves staying at your company

You should ask employees to take an onboarding survey within a few months of hiring them. Ideally, send the survey after an employee has been fully onboarded but while the experience is still fresh.

Onboarding surveys are often anonymous, as many employees feel more comfortable giving honest feedback when their name isn’t attached to the responses.

Benefits of a Powerful Onboarding Survey

An employee’s first few months on the job are a critical time in their tenure at your organization. This is when they’re deciding whether or not they like working for your company and whether they plan to stay. One-third of new hires consider leaving a job within their first 6 months, but a good onboarding process can change that.

Asking your new hires to take an onboarding survey can help your company in several important ways.

First, the survey itself is part of employees’ onboarding experience. It gives them a chance to share direct feedback about their experience. Surveys are a great way to engage employees and make them feel heard.

Additionally, the data you collect from onboarding surveys can help you measure the effectiveness of your onboarding process. If one component of your process—for example, your new employee orientation— falls short, survey responses will highlight that problem and enable you to address it.

As you make improvements to your onboarding process based on feedback, you can provide a better experience for every new hire your business makes. That can increase the degree to which new employees engage with your business and improve your employee retention rate.

Onboarding Survey Best Practices

To get the most out of your employee onboarding surveys, it’s important to follow a few best practices.

Enable employees to respond anonymously

Many employees are more comfortable being honest about their onboarding experience when they know their responses are anonymous. If your company is small or hires new employees infrequently, it may be difficult to keep surveys anonymous. However, you can still assure new employees that their responses will be kept confidential.

Update your survey over time

Your business, your onboarding process, your company culture, and more will all change over time. Keep your survey up-to-date with an annual review. Add new questions, adjust ones to be more relevant, and remove anything that’s outdated.

Time your survey to coincide with an onboarding milestone

You can send your new hire survey after an orientation event, after an employee completes their training, or after an employee has been on the job for 30 days. In any case, be sure to keep the timing consistent for each new employee you survey.

Seek other forms of feedback after conducting onboarding surveys

Your onboarding survey should be just one of several pieces of information you use to evaluate how new employees are doing. You should also consider employee engagement surveys and performance reviews.

Use software to automate your surveys and analyze the data

HR software like Connecteam can send surveys to new hires automatically as well as remind them to complete surveys. These tools typically also offer analytics dashboards to help you identify trends in employees’ responses and make more data-driven decisions.

10 Powerful Onboarding Questions for New Hires

The questions in your onboarding survey should be designed to give you specific, actionable information about employees’ experiences. 

In addition, your questions should be tailored to the specific needs of your business and the components of your onboarding process that you want to improve.

Here are 10 survey questions for new hires to include.

Do the responsibilities of your job match your expectations?

How you describe a job in your job listing and during interviews can significantly impact what employees expect when they get into the role. If an employee finds that a role’s responsibilities don’t match their expectations, they may think about looking for another job.

This question can help you identify whether you need to re-evaluate a job description or the role itself.

Do you understand how your role contributes to our business’s mission?

Employees want to feel like their job is important to the business. Otherwise, they could become disengaged or feel like their work is unimportant.

This question can reveal whether your onboarding process does enough to highlight how an employee fits into your company mission.

Do you feel like you received adequate training for your role?

Employee training is an important part of the onboarding process. It ensures that employees know not only how to work effectively but also where to go if they need help.

Do you feel welcome at our company?

The employee onboarding process should make new hires feel needed and welcome. If it doesn’t, employees may not feel connected to your business or invested in their jobs. They may even feel anxious about showing up for work. This can all make them more likely to leave.

Were all of your questions answered during the onboarding process?

New hires should view onboarding as an opportunity to ask questions—about their job, the company, employee policies, and more.

If they feel like not all of their questions were answered, it could be because your onboarding wasn’t comprehensive enough. It could also be because they didn’t feel comfortable asking questions during the onboarding process.

Do you see yourself staying with our company for 5 years? Why or why not?

When asked about long-term plans, employees may be more honest about the things they like or dislike about your company and onboarding process. Employees who feel unsatisfied after your onboarding process may be more likely to question whether they see a future for themselves at your business.

Do you understand the benefits included in your compensation package?

Benefits like health insurance and retirement plans can make up a significant portion of an employee’s compensation. Employees who understand their benefits and how to use them are more likely to feel that they are being compensated fairly for their work.

Thus, it’s important that your onboarding process clearly explains to new hires what benefits are available to them. 

How helpful have your conversations with your manager been so far?

Interactions between a new employee and their manager can have a big impact on the employee’s performance and happiness at work. Managers should be actively engaged in the onboarding process and create a welcoming environment for new employees.

If there are issues with how a manager engages with new hires, you may want to consider additional training for that manager.

What was your favorite part of the onboarding process?

While it’s important to learn what aspects of your onboarding could be better, it’s also important to know what aspects are working well. This question can help you determine what parts of your onboarding process to keep or even expand.

What changes would you like to see to the onboarding process?

New employees may have ideas for how to improve the onboarding process that aren’t prompted by your other questions. This question invites a more open-ended response for employees to share their suggestions.

How to Assess Employee Onboarding Survey Results

Once you get survey results from new employees, it’s important to act on that data to make positive changes to your onboarding process.

The first thing you can do is look for trends in your survey responses. If multiple employees mention the same thing, then that’s a strong signal that your onboarding is lacking in a specific area. You can use that insight to adjust your process.

For example, if several employees say that they didn’t receive enough information about their benefits, then you could add to onboarding a training module about how employees can access benefits.

Another thing you should do is let employees know that you’ve heard their feedback and are acting on it. You can send an email summarizing the results of your onboarding survey and describing the changes you plan to make in response. You can also offer follow-up training if there are specific aspects of your onboarding training that fell short.

After you make changes, it’s important to monitor how effective they are. Modify your onboarding survey to ask specifically about modules you’ve changed.

Additionally, you should compare onboarding survey responses against annual employee engagement survey responses. This enables you to measure whether improvements to your onboarding process increase employee engagement over the long term.

Conclusion

Making your company’s onboarding process the best it can be is critical to engaging and retaining talented employees. Your company spends a lot of time and money recruiting new employees, so you want to do everything possible to ensure they stick around and perform well. 

The best way to improve your approach to onboarding is to ask new hires what went well and what could be better. The 10 onboarding survey questions we highlighted in this article are a great place to start.

If you want to learn even more about onboarding, check out our ultimate guide to employee onboarding and our onboarding checklist template.

FAQs

What is an onboarding checklist?

An onboarding checklist is different from an onboarding survey. An onboarding checklist covers tasks that a new employee needs to complete, including training they need to complete and forms they need to submit. An onboarding survey asks employees for feedback about the onboarding process.

When should I send an employee onboarding survey?

You’ll get the best feedback from an onboarding survey if you send it shortly after a major onboarding milestone. That could be the completion of orientation or a major training course, or at the end of an employee’s first month on the job.

The post 10 Powerful Employee Onboarding Survey Questions to Ask & Why appeared first on Connecteam.

An employee retention survey can help you better understand your employees’ opinions and needs so you can prevent turnover. Below, we share 35 employee retention survey questions and tips for implementing your survey successfully. 

Turnover is a frustrating problem that affects you and your team members alike. When workers leave your business, you face a drop in productivity and decreased employee morale. It’s also costly and time-consuming to recruit and hire new talent to replace ‌‌employees who have left. 

The good news? There are steps you can take to reduce turnover at your company. And you can start by listening to a group you already have direct access to: your employees. 

Employee retention surveys can help you find out what your workers truly want so you can meet their needs and keep more of them around for the long term. 

In this article, we cover the ins and outs of employee retention surveys, why you need to conduct them regularly, how to do it, and the most important questions to ask. 

What Is an Employee Retention Survey?

An employee retention survey is a questionnaire that goes out to employees to gain their honest feedback about their roles and the workplace. These surveys are an important way for an organization to gauge employee sentiment and the likelihood workers will stay on the team. 

These surveys will typically ask employees questions related to: 

• Job satisfaction
• Compensation and benefits
• Communication and feedback
• Work-life balance
• Professional development opportunities 
• Management
• Rewards and recognition  

The insight your employees provide on these subjects can help you understand which of their needs aren’t being met. This way, you can make meaningful changes that will make employees feel more valued and better equipped to do their jobs. 

In turn, employees are more likely to feel engaged with their work and your organization as a whole, decreasing the chances that they’ll quit.

Why Use an Employee Retention Survey?

Prevent turnover

Of course, one of the two biggest reasons to implement retention surveys is to prevent employee turnover at your company. 

More than half of employees say their employers could have prevented them from leaving. This means employee turnover is a preventable problem. Using an employee retention survey can help you get ahead of the problem, saving you the time and money of having to hire new employees down the road. 

Increase retention

When turnover rates go down, retention rates go up. And increasing retention is the other main reason to use these surveys.

Employee retention can be defined as the rate your employees stay with you over a period of time and the strategies you’ve set up to keep them there. Employee retention surveys are a key part of a strong retention strategy. 

A good retention rate is about 90% and comes with benefits of its own. These include:

• Lower hiring and training costs
• Stronger company culture
• Improved employer brand and reputation
• Increased revenue
• Higher customer satisfaction
• Improved productivity
• Better team collaboration and morale
• Retained knowledge and expertise

Measure and boost employee engagement 

According to Gallup research, engaged employees are less likely to quit their jobs and are more productive than non-engaged employees. However, almost 80% of employees worldwide aren’t engaged or are actively disengaged at work. 

Employee retention surveys serve as a pulse check on your workforce and can help you measure employee engagement and improve performance. 

Identify areas for improvement in your business 

The only way you can truly know what needs improvement in your business is by asking those who work for you. Your employees probably experience challenges that you’re currently unaware of. They also often have a more direct relationship with customers and awareness of inefficiencies in day-to-day operations. 

Employee retention surveys help you identify what’s working and what’s not in your business so that you can improve your employees’ lives, while growing your business at a faster rate. 

Show employees you care

Employee retention surveys can be a powerful way to signal to employees you care about them and are committed to hearing them out in a systematic way. 

Plus, when everyone on the team feels like their voice is heard, morale improves and conflict decreases. This allows everyone to be more productive, collaborate more efficiently, and enjoy a more positive work environment.

Create a culture of communication

These surveys can also help you create a culture of open communication at your organization. They help you provide employees with a place they can share their honest opinions and concerns, which fosters open communication between workers and management. This then improves transparency and trust at your company.

Better understand how your company compares to others in the industry 

To retain your employees and stay competitive in your industry, it’s good to know how your business stacks up in key areas like: 

• HR and hiring procedures
• Onboarding and training
• Employee benefits and incentives
• Professional development investments
• Overall job satisfaction

You can compare your employee retention survey results to industry standards to see where you stand. ​​This can help you increase your competitive edge when it comes to hiring and retaining top talent and creating a better work experience for your team. 

Employee Retention Survey Best Practices

Creating and implementing an employee retention survey takes time and effort. The following best practices can help you get maximum participation and better results.  

Set a clear objective 

Before you can create your survey, you need to think about your goals and set an objective. What are you hoping to gain from the survey? What are you most curious about when it comes to your employees? 

For example, perhaps you want to understand what’s impacting employee engagement at your company. Or maybe you want to know how your workers feel about members of management. 

Your objective will inform the questions that you ask and ensure you get meaningful, actionable results from your survey.

Communicate with your employees 

Ensure employees understand why you’re asking them to complete the survey. For instance, you can note that the purpose of the survey is to give employees an opportunity to share their honest thoughts about their jobs and the workplace in general. 

You should also tell them when they need to complete it. Give them a reasonable deadline, such as 1-2 weeks, and plenty of reminders via email, instant message, phone call, etc. 

Remember to be patient when implementing a survey, especially for the first time. You might have to try a few times before you get the participation you want. Keep communicating and give your employees time to get used to the process. Ensure they know how important their contribution is and how the information they provide will help you make the workplace better. 

Make surveys easy to complete

You want to make it as easy as possible for employees to participate in your retention survey. Try to keep your survey short—around 10-15 questions—and tailored to what you want to know. 

Also, make your survey mobile-friendly with an employee communication app like Connecteam. This way, employees can complete the survey on the go, from wherever they are. An app can also send regular reminders to employees to ensure you get more participation. 

Conduct surveys regularly  

Help employees get accustomed to retention surveys by launching them on a consistent basis—like once every quarter or a couple times per year. Consider adding a retention survey when you do quarterly performance reviews or annual engagement surveys. 

Conducting surveys regularly will help you stay consistent and maximize your results. It will also signify to employees that you’re committed to hearing their feedback and making positive changes.   

Ask the right questions 

Finally, the right employee retention survey questions are essential if you want to get results you can use. Gather both qualitative and quantitative data by including several question types in your survey. 

Quantitative data is numerical data, and you can gather it by incorporating rating scale questions that ask employees to offer a score from 1-5 or 1-10. Qualitative data is non-numerical data that captures more nuance. Gather this through open-ended, yes/no, and multiple-choice questions.

Additionally, try not to make any assumptions about how your employees feel and avoid leading questions. For example, “What challenges do you have with your teammates?” assumes that an employee has problems with their coworkers. A better way to phrase this is, “Tell me about the relationship you have with your teammates.” 

Of course, since employee retention surveys help you combat employee turnover, it can also be helpful to think of the common reasons for turnover and ask questions related to that. 

35 Employee Retention Survey Questions

Below, we outline the best retention survey questions to ask—broken down into the most common reasons employees quit.

Benefits and compensation questions

Nearly 70% of employees are dissatisfied with their current pay, and 61% of employees say they’re interested in benefits their employer doesn’t currently offer. 

Asking your employees directly how they feel about their pay and benefits can help you determine whether you’re hitting the mark or if it’s time to get more competitive with your offerings.

Questions to ask

• To what extent are you satisfied with your current compensation?  

• 5 – Very satisfied 
• 4 – Satisfied 
• 3 – Neutral 
• 2 – Dissatisfied 
• 1 – Very dissatisfied 

• Do you feel that you’re paid fairly for your work?
  • Yes
  • No
• To what extent are you satisfied with your employee benefits?
  • 5 – Very satisfied 
  • 4 – Satisfied 
  • 3 – Neutral 
  • 2 – Dissatisfied 
  • 1 – Very dissatisfied 
• What benefits would you like to see that currently aren’t offered? 
• To what extent are you satisfied with the company’s paid time off policy?
  • 5 – Very satisfied 
  • 4 – Satisfied 
  • 3 – Neutral 
  • 2 – Dissatisfied 
  • 1 – Very dissatisfied 

• On a scale of 1-10, rate each of our benefits in terms of importance to you. [Insert list of benefits]
• On a scale of 1-10, rate these potential new benefits in terms of importance to you. [insert potential new benefits]  

Overall job satisfaction questions

When surveying employees about their job satisfaction, you’re looking for a glimpse into the day-to-day details of their current role. 

It’s up to you to ensure employees have what they need to be successful—including support from leadership, a manageable workload, and more. The following questions can help you get a sense of how your employees feel about their jobs overall. 

Questions to ask

• To what extent are you satisfied with your current job?
  • 5 – Very satisfied 
  • 4 – Satisfied 
  • 3 – Neutral 
  • 2 – Dissatisfied 
  • 1 – Very dissatisfied 
• Do you plan on working here a year from now?
  • Yes
  • No
• Do you have the resources you need to be successful in your role?
  • Yes
  • No
• How likely are you to recommend working here to a friend?
  • Very likely 
  • Likely 
  • Neutral 
  • Unlikely 
  • Very unlikely 
• How strongly do you agree with the following statement? “The reality of my role aligns with the expectations I had for it at the beginning.”
  • Strongly agree
  • Agree
  • Neutral
  • Disagree
  • Strongly disagree 

Employee engagement questions

Though the concepts are similar, employee engagement isn’t the same as employee satisfaction. Employee engagement refers to how connected your employees are to their work and their motivation to get it done. It also refers to how committed they feel to your company. 

Employee retention surveys can help measure employee engagement and give you some ideas about what employees need to be more engaged. 

Questions to ask

• To what extent do you agree with the following statement? “I feel like I can be myself around managers and teammates.”
  • Strongly agree
  • Agree
  • Neutral
  • Disagree
  • Strongly disagree   
• Do you feel you’re properly recognized for your efforts and accomplishments?
  • Yes (and explain why)
  • No (and explain why)

• When was the last time you felt proud about something you achieved at work?
• Do you have any goals at work that you’re excited about? If so, what are they? If not, can you explain why not?
  • Yes (and explain)
  • No (and explain)
• To what extent do you agree to the following statement? “I understand the company’s vision and how I contribute to it.”
  • Strongly agree
  • Agree
  • Neutral
  • Disagree
  • Strongly disagree   

Management questions

Strong leadership and management make a big impact on how happy your employees are at work and are often motivating factors when employees leave a job. 

Including some questions about management in your employee retention survey can help you determine how well managers at your organization are actually doing and how your employees feel about them. 

Questions to ask

• When leadership makes decisions, do you understand why?
  • Yes
  • No
• Do you feel the feedback you receive from your manager is helpful? Why or why not?
  • Yes (and explain why)
  • No (and explain why) 
• Do you feel your manager(s) accepts and acts on the feedback you give them?
  • Yes
  • No
• Do you feel managers handle disagreements professionally?
  • Yes (and explain why)
  • No (and explain why)
• To what extent do you agree with the following statement? “My manager effectively communicates the information I need to understand.”
  • Strongly agree
  • Agree
  • Neutral
  • Disagree
  • Strongly disagree   
• To what extent do you agree with the following statement? “My manager cares about me as a person.”
  • Strongly agree
  • Agree
  • Neutral
  • Disagree
  • Strongly disagree  
• When was the last time you received recognition from your manager?

Professional development questions 

One of the most common reasons employees quit is due to a lack of professional development opportunities. Workers value ‌opportunities for growth and want to understand their trajectory at your company. Those who don’t see any path for growth are more likely to seek out new opportunities. 

Use questions like the ones below to gauge your professional development initiatives and see where you can improve. 

Questions to ask

• Do you see a clear path for growth at this company?
  • Yes
  • No 
• Do you feel there are adequate professional development opportunities available at this company?
  • Yes
  • No
• How well does your role align with your career goals? 
• Do you feel you’re supported in meeting your career goals? Why or why not?
  • Yes (and explain why)
  • No (and explain why)
• To what extent are you satisfied with current training and development programs at the company?
  • 5 – Very satisfied 
  • 4 – Satisfied 
  • 3 – Neutral 
  • 2 – Dissatisfied 
  • 1 – Very dissatisfied 

Company culture questions

Company culture is one of the main reasons employees stay in their jobs, according to a Glassdoor survey. The survey also found that a change in company culture would push 71% of workers to seek new employment.

Including some questions about company culture in your survey can help you pinpoint weak spots and uncover biases you might not be aware of. 

Questions to ask 

• What changes would you make at this organization if given the opportunity?
• On a scale of 1-10, how aligned do you feel you are with the organization’s mission and values?
• Do you feel respected at work? Why or why not?
  • Yes (and explain why)
  • No (and explain why not)
• How would you describe the company’s culture?
• Do you feel the company’s values are in line with the reality of the work culture?
  • Yes
  • No
• What measures do you think the company should take to improve cultural diversity?

How to Use Your Employee Retention Survey Data 

You’ve designed your survey, asked the right questions, and gathered feedback. Now it’s time to use your data to make positive changes in your organization. 

Let’s go over some next steps that can help you put your data to good use and improve retention. 

Analyze your data and identify common themes 

As your data starts rolling in, the work of combing through the answers begins. Analyze your data and determine what it’s telling you. Are several employees feeling burned out and overwhelmed? Are workers dissatisfied with the company culture?

Look for common responses when identifying areas for improvement. For example, you may not have a reason to make any changes if only 1 employee said they were unhappy with the health benefits you offer. However, it may be time to evaluate your benefits package if multiple employees expressed dissatisfaction with your current offerings.

Depending on the size of your team, you might also benefit from breaking the data down further and segmenting it based on certain characteristics. For example, you could organize your answers by department or the length of time employees have been with the company. 

Some groups may have different challenges than others because of the nature of their role or management in that role. Breaking your data down can help you create unique initiatives to address department-specific issues or frustrations that only certain groups of employees have expressed. 

Share what you’ve learned with your leadership team 

Once you’ve analyzed your data, share your findings with your leadership team. Let other decision-makers in the company know where the biggest issues are and give them time to reflect on these concerns. 

Make a plan of action

The next step is to organize a meeting with your leadership team. Together, you can brainstorm creative solutions to meet your employees’ needs. 

You may have been given a lot of feedback or identified numerous areas for improvement. In that case, prioritize and target areas where improvement is needed the most. 

For instance, perhaps you find that your company needs to improve the amount and quality of employee professional development opportunities. Your plan of action might be to work with human resource (HR) staff and senior managers to create a mentorship program. You can set specific goals for this plan, such as creating the program within 12 weeks and launching it with 10 pairs of mentors and mentees. 

Or, maybe survey results showed you that employees are feeling underappreciated. You might plan to create a new policy where managers select an employee of the month from each of their teams.

Some larger improvements may need to be implemented step by step. Begin by outlining what those steps look like and a reasonable timeline for getting them done. 

Communicate with your employees 

Employee retention surveys are a great way to empower employees and show them you care about their needs. Giving them an outlet to voice their concerns goes a long way, but it’s also important to show them you plan to act on their feedback. 

Consider multiple communication channels to let your employees know how you’re addressing their concerns. You might share the big themes from your survey via email, then go into more detail during an in-person or virtual meeting. 

Even if you can’t give them exactly what they’re asking for at the moment, take a transparent approach and explain why. Tell them what your roadblocks are with resolving certain issues (budget, bandwidth, etc.), and ensure they know they’ve been heard and that you’re working on it. 

Educate your managers and supervisors 

It’s important that ‌managers at your company understand what issues are causing your employees to leave. Your managers are often in the best position to implement change at the ground level, so you’ll want to ensure they’re an integral part of the process and that they have a clear understanding of the biggest issues. 

Sometimes, managers themselves are part of employees’ concerns. You can broach this with managers without pointing fingers and use it as a coaching opportunity. 

For example, let’s say many of your survey respondents called out a shift leader that never provided them with recognition. These employees feel like their contributions aren’t valued and their motivation at work is quickly dropping off. 

Approach the manager one-on-one, and explain the situation to them fully. Describe the comments you received in your survey and the impact the lack of recognition is having on your employees. 

Keep an open mind and listen. See if you can get to the root of the issue. In this example, it’s possible that the manager is shy about giving feedback or unsure of the proper ways to recognize employees. You might provide them with some ideas for employee recognition, and challenge them to acknowledge at least 1 member of their team each day. 

Take action

In addition to keeping your employees informed and educating managers about their needs, you’ll have to implement the plan of action you’ve put into place. Roll out the programs and policies that you’ve decided on, and continue to communicate at every level.

Designate leaders and supervisors that will be responsible for maintaining momentum on these initiatives and checking ‌progress against your goals.

Repeat the process and monitor results

Employee retention surveys need to be a regular part of your retention strategy in order to be effective.

You can repeatedly measure employees’ satisfaction, engagement, overall feelings about your company, and likelihood of quitting—thus helping you stay on top of turnover.

Conducting regular surveys also enables you to monitor whether your retention initiatives are actually working for your employees. You can compare the results of previous surveys and track changes in sentiment over time. Then, you can reevaluate your strategy as needed and adjust as new problems arise. 

Using Connecteam for Employee Retention

An all-in-one work management solution, Connecteam has a ton of features to support a strong retention strategy at your company—starting with conducting employee retention surveys!

Make and distribute custom surveys in minutes 

Connecteam’s surveys feature allows you to quickly create custom surveys or build them using templates. Incorporate various question types to gather quantitative and qualitative data: yes/no, multiple-choice, open-ended, and rating scale questions. 

Surveys can be anonymous, and they’re sent directly to employees’ devices when you’ve published them. Connecteam can even send automated reminders to workers so they don’t forget to participate in your survey. 

You can gather results in real time and generate detailed reports on survey data. This makes it easier for you to identify areas for improvement and implement necessary changes. When employees see these changes take place, they’ll be more motivated to keep participating in ongoing surveys. It’s a win-win. 

Streamline employee training 

Proper employee training plays a big role in retention. It sets up your new employees for success and provides the right first impression that will keep them with you long term. 

Use Connecteam to make onboarding and training easier and more accessible for your employees. Make fully customized training courses and materials using templates or from scratch, and add videos, images, PDFs, audio notes, and other files. 

All your educational materials are centralized and stored securely. Plus, they’re accessible via any mobile or desktop device for convenient learning. You can even store essential company documents in the knowledge base, which employees can access anywhere, at any time.

Stay in touch with your workers from anywhere

A big part of your employee retention survey strategy should include effectively communicating with your team throughout the process. Thankfully, Connecteam centralizes employee communication!

The secure in-app chat is the go-to place for you and employees to send messages back and forth—either in one-on-one conversations or group discussions. Additionally, the company newsfeed is the perfect way to share company-wide updates. 

Connecteam notifies all employees of new messages and updates so no information is missed.

Create a rewards and recognition program

According to a study by Aon Hewitt, companies that regularly recognized employees’ accomplishments and efforts slashed their turnover rates by over 30%.

With Connecteam’s employee recognition features, you can celebrate your team members privately with in-app badges and messages or shout them out on the company newsfeed. You can also reward your staff with tokens that can be exchanged for gift cards.  

And more

Connecteam also has features for benefits and time off management, a knowledge base where employees can access all the information they need to do their job, task management features so workers know what to do each day, and so much more. These tools not only help you support employee retention, but they also make your job as a manager easier. 

Get started with Connecteam for free today!

Conclusion

An employee retention survey helps you gain valuable feedback from your employees around things like engagement, management, professional development opportunities, job satisfaction, and more. In turn, these insights help you understand what’s driving turnover at your business so you can create a plan of action to reduce it.

It takes time and effort to create an effective employee retention survey, but by asking the right questions and following best practices, you can gather meaningful data and implement changes that make employees want to stick around for the long term.

FAQs 

What are the 5 main drivers of employee retention?

The 5 main drivers of employee retention are: 

1. Strong leadership 
2. Frequent feedback and recognition 
3. Growth opportunities
4. Competitive compensation and incentives
5. Flexibility/work-life balance 

A good employee retention survey touches on all of these points to determine how well a retention strategy is working. 

What is the best way to measure employee retention?

You can find your employee retention rate with this simple formula: 

Number of individual employees who remained employed for entire measurement period / Number of employees at start of measurement period) x 100

Other metrics you might track include: 

• Overall turnover rate 
• Involuntary turnover rate 
• Voluntary turnover rate 
• Cost of employee turnover
• Average employee tenure

The post 35 Employee Retention Survey Questions to Ask Your Staff appeared first on Connecteam.

Choosing the right workforce management platform can make or break your day-to-day operations. 

Connecteam and Deputy are two popular tools in this space, but they offer very different experiences. Below, I break down their pros and cons to help you determine which one suits your team best.

At a Glance: Quick Summary

Connecteam is best known for its all-in-one mobile experience for deskless teams, covering scheduling, time tracking, checklists, and communication in one place. Its Small Business Plan is free for up to 10 users, and its built-in compliance and operations tools make it a strong fit for growing teams that want more structure without adding another system.

Deputy stands out for scheduling depth, including demand-based planning tools and labor cost controls that help optimize coverage across locations. It’s a strong option for operations that depend on shift optimization, real-time availability handling, and configurable compliance rules.

Pricing and Plans

Both Connecteam and Deputy offer subscription-based pricing models, but they have distinct approaches to their tiers. 

Connecteam offers three hubs: Operations, Communications, and HR & Skills. Each hub has its own feature set and plan tiers. The pricing is flat for the first 30 users per hub, and the additional per-user rate after 30 varies by hub and tier. The features and pricing in the table above reflect the Operations Hub.

Instead of a per-user price from the first seat, Connecteam charges a flat fee for the first 30 users (per hub), then adds a per-user rate after that. This pricing model can be especially cost-effective for teams that want predictable costs as headcount grows.

Since October 2025, Deputy’s pricing is organized into Lite, Core, and Pro plans, with optional add-ons such as Messaging+ and Analytics+ (and additional add-ons depending on what your team needs). In practice, most teams choose Core or Pro for the deeper scheduling, labor optimization, and admin controls, then add capabilities as required.

When choosing between the two, the decision often comes down to what you want to pay for and how you plan to scale. Connecteam’s flat pricing for the first 30 users (per hub) can be a strong value for midsize teams that want one mobile platform for day-to-day operations.

Deputy’s Lite, Core, and Pro structure is better suited to organizations that want deeper scheduling optimization and labor controls, with add-ons available when collaboration or analytics needs grow.

Pros and Cons

Both platforms are feature-rich, but no tool is flawless.

Connecteam pros ✅ 

• All-in-one experience for deskless teams: Time tracking, task management, and team communication live in one app. You can activate the tools you need through Connecteam’s hubs, so teams are not forced into a bloated setup.
• Free plan for up to 10 users, plus flat pricing for the first 30 users on paid tiers (per hub): This keeps budgeting predictable, especially compared with tools that start charging per user from the first seat.

Connecteam cons ❌

• Setup depends on your team’s tech comfort: Getting everything dialed in properly depends on how familiar your team is with customizing workflows.
• Limited third-party integrations: While Connecteam offers a wide range of built-in tools, external integrations are currently somewhat limited.

Deputy pros ✅ 

• AI-powered scheduling and shift forecasting: These tools eliminate manual work by creating schedules for you based on sales, demand, and more.
• Built-in compliance templates: Deputy includes ready-made rules for labor laws like Fair Workweek laws. It’s especially useful for multi-location teams that need region-specific enforcement without manual setup.

Deputy cons ❌

• Limited real-time location tracking: While Deputy offers geofencing and GPS stamps at clock-in/out, it doesn’t provide continuous breadcrumb-style tracking.
• Steeper learning curve for new users: The interface is clean, but configuring advanced features like scheduling rules and compliance settings takes time.

Use Cases

Connecteam is best for:

• Centralizing shift-based workflows: Connecteam makes it easy to manage scheduling, time tracking, task assignments, and team communication all in 1 place.
• Mobile-first task management: Employees can check off tasks, upload photos, and complete custom forms directly from their phones, even during site visits or deliveries.

Deputy is best for:

• Smart, demand-based scheduling: Deputy’s AI-powered auto-scheduler and labor forecasting tools are excellent for building efficient weekly rosters.
• Enforcing labor law compliance: With built-in rules for breaks, shift caps, and certification checks, Deputy automates compliance.

Connecteam vs. Deputy: Side-by-Side Feature Overview

Both Connecteam and Deputy promise to simplify time tracking, scheduling, and team management. But how they deliver those features makes a big difference on the ground.

Employee scheduling & availability management – Winner: Tie

Connecteam functions as a scheduling app, making it easy to build and manage recurring and custom shifts with visual drag-and-drop tools. I love how you can assign shifts based on role, location, or tag, and the app supports templates for recurring weekly schedules. You can color-code by job type, filter by availability, and include shift-specific notes or attachments like checklists or training guides.

A standout is Connecteam’s auto-scheduling feature, which can pre-fill shifts based on qualifications, previous assignments, or availability, saving time during weekly planning. Employees can mark availability, request time off, claim open shifts, or swap shifts directly in the app, with customizable rules for manager approvals.

I appreciated how real-time alerts are triggered when someone’s a no-show, and how you can reassign shifts with 1 tap. For companies with rotating schedules or last-minute changes (like cleaning, security, or delivery crews), this helps avoid panicked phone calls and missed work. Employees can access their schedules from the mobile app and sync them with their calendars to stay on top of their shifts without needing to bother their managers.

Deputy brings equally strong scheduling tools, especially for businesses managing large hourly workforces. The AI-powered smart scheduler suggests optimal shift assignments based on availability, labor costs, fatigue rules, and sales forecasts.

What stood out to me was the Deputy’s newer location setting, which lets employees claim shifts even during their marked “unavailable” hours (if enabled by the manager). This means someone might mark themselves unavailable for regular scheduling but still be able to volunteer for last-minute coverage. This could benefit, say, a part-time worker who’s normally unavailable on Tuesday mornings but wants to pick up a shift if their plans change. 

Deputy also offers shift swaps, offers, and self-service availability management, allowing team members to negotiate coverage without needing a manager to intervene each time.

Time tracking & location enforcement – Winner: Connecteam

Connecteam supports time tracking through mobile, web, and kiosk modes, so employees can clock in from the mobile app, a browser, or a shared tablet. When you have employees clock in through a shared device, you can require them to input personalized PIN codes or take selfies so they can’t clock in for each other. 

Connecteam features a real-time GPS tracker, so you can verify clock-in locations, restrict clock-ins to specific geofenced areas, and track workers’ real-time locations with GPS breadcrumb tracking. I found this feature especially useful for seeing movement history during shifts.

You can also use “shift attachments” to collect information (like shift feedback, mileage, or equipment used) during clock-outs. 

Deputy also does a solid job tracking time through multiple devices, including shared kiosks and mobile apps with GPS. The iPad kiosk captures photos of workers during clock-ins. Employees can also leave shift feedback during clock-out, which we found to be a nice morale touch.

However, Deputy provides only static location snapshots but not live GPS breadcrumbs. So you get a moment-in-time view rather than a holistic understanding of where employees move during their shifts. I think this might be fine for static job sites, but for mobile teams like cleaners, event crews, or delivery staff, it means less visibility and fewer accountability tools.

PTO & leave management – Winner: Connecteam

I find Connecteam’s time off management features surprisingly smooth. Employees can submit leave requests directly through the mobile app, whether for vacation, sick leave, or unpaid time off. Managers receive instant alerts, and approvals can be done in just a few taps. 

What I really like? The system syncs those approvals with the schedule and timesheets, so you’re not manually cross-checking leave records later.

Connecteam lets you customize leave types, assign policies to the right employees, and control approval flow so requests land with the right manager.

Deputy’s leave management system handles the basics well. Employees can submit requests and view remaining balances from the app, and managers can approve or deny them with notes. 

However, when we tested this feature, we noticed an issue: If a manager doesn’t act on a leave request promptly, there’s no alert stopping them from assigning a shift on top of that pending request. In Connecteam, you can view and act on time off requests directly from the schedule view, which makes it easier to catch conflicts while planning coverage.

Compliance – Winner: Tie

The Connecteam break management software allows managers to enforce break rules based on shift length and set alerts for missed breaks. Overtime rules can be customized according to your state laws (by day or week), and the system warns when employees are approaching limits. 

You can even prevent clock-ins that would push someone into unauthorized overtime. One thing I found especially useful was how these rules show up in the scheduler and make it easier to catch issues before they happen.

I also liked the automatic break deduction feature. If someone forgets to clock out for a meal break, the system adjusts the timesheet automatically, reducing payroll corrections. 

Deputy’s compliance features include break rules, fatigue management, and overtime alerts. These tools work well, but configuring them takes time. That said, the fatigue management settings, which let you set limits on hours, days, and rest periods, are pretty unique for workforce management software.

It also includes built-in compliance templates for laws like Fair Workweek, New York City scheduling rules, and California break requirements, which is a big advantage for teams operating across strict labor jurisdictions.

Deputy’s break planning tools allow you to set automatic unpaid break deductions based on shift length.

We appreciated the alerts Deputy sends when a shift assignment risks triggering overtime or violating scheduling limits.

Task management & checklists – Winner: Connecteam

I used the Connecteam task management app to assign jobs across locations, attach photos or forms, and set deadlines. What really stood out was the ability to track task completion in real time, which helps you stay on top of recurring operational processes without micro-managing.

Even better, Connecteam lets you create customizable checklists for everything from opening procedures to safety inspections. You can add time stamps and required signatures, or even make completion mandatory before clocking out. I think that’s a big win for industries like hospitality, security, or cleaning, where missed steps can lead to costly oversights.

Deputy’s tasking tools are stronger than they first appear. It supports task templates and task groups with sub-tasks, which can cover many checklist-style routines. Where Connecteam still tends to win is operational enforcement and visibility, especially when you want tasks tied to specific workflows, attachments, and completion expectations inside the daily mobile experience.

Communication tools – Winner: Connecteam

Connecteam makes internal communication feel intentional with a central hub that blends real-time updates with structured knowledge sharing. 

• The updates feature lets you post announcements and track who saw them, which is great for accountability.
• The online team chat supports both 1:1 and group conversations, creating a business-only space that doesn’t bleed into personal WhatsApp threads. 
• The directory helps team members quickly find contacts without needing to message a manager.

Deputy includes a News Feed for updates and also offers built-in Messaging, with Messaging+ available as an add-on for teams that want more advanced collaboration features. In testing, the News Feed worked well for announcements, and Messaging plus the optional Messaging+ add-on covers day-to-day team chat needs, though some teams may still prefer the simplicity of a chat-first layout for heavier back-and-forth.

HR & training tools – Winner: Connecteam

Connecteam delivers a fully integrated HR and employee training experience through its HR & Skills hub. You can build structured onboarding flows with interactive lessons, assign quizzes to confirm understanding, and track employee progress in real time. Everything lives in the same app your team already uses for scheduling and time tracking, which makes adoption simple for deskless employees.

Beyond training, Connecteam includes secure document storage, digital ID cards, surveys, recognition and rewards, and visual org charts. These tools help managers keep teams aligned while giving employees clear visibility into policies, expectations, and growth paths.

Deputy has strengthened its HR and engagement capabilities since we first reviewed the software. Features like Shift Pulse and Kudos allow teams to capture end-of-shift feedback and encourage peer recognition. For businesses that want a more structured HR layer, Deputy also offers an optional Deputy HR add-on that expands onboarding workflows, document management, and engagement reporting.

If your goal is to build structured training programs with lessons and quizzes directly inside your workforce platform, Connecteam remains the stronger choice. If you want scheduling tightly paired with engagement signals and HR workflows, Deputy now covers more ground than it once did.

Integrations – Winner: Deputy

Connecteam integrates smoothly with accounting tools like QuickBooks, Xero, Gusto, and Paychex. Plus, integrations with tools like Lightspeed POS and Wix Bookings can be especially handy for retail and service-based businesses. 

Connecteam’s native integrations cover several common payroll and operations tools. For long-tail workflows, you can extend it through Zapier, and the Connecteam API is available on higher-tier plans.

Deputy has a broader native integration ecosystem. It connects with Gusto, ADP, Square, and BambooHR, and more. Its tight integrations with payroll and point-of-sale systems is a major strength for businesses in hospitality, healthcare, and retail. 

Mobile experience – Winner: Tie

Connecteam’s mobile app is one of the most polished workforce apps I’ve tested. The interface is clean, fast, and clearly built for real-world use. Employees can clock in/out, view schedules, chat with teammates, complete checklists or forms, and access training from their phones. Meanwhile, admins can assign shifts, review logs, approve time off, send announcements, and more, even while offsite.

We tested Deputy’s app and found it just as responsive and intuitive. It shines for its scheduling: Employees can view shifts, claim open ones, swap with coworkers, and get push alerts for last-minute changes to reduce no-shows, while admins can manage leave, edit shifts, and check who’s on-site. 

Overall usability – Winner: Connecteam

Connecteam puts usability front and center. The interface is clean, with navigation built around real workflows like scheduling, forms, and communication. The UI avoids jargon and keeps tasks logically grouped. Employees get the same simplicity through a widget-style home screen showing only what matters: shifts, tasks, forms, and unread chats.

Deputy also offers a sleek experience, especially for shift tasks like clocking in, checking schedules, or requesting time off. But a few things slowed us down when we tested it: Some admin tools were hard to locate, and employees had to click through multiple steps just to adjust availability.

User Ratings

Both Connecteam and Deputy earn strong ratings across major review sites, but Connecteam’s scores come from a significantly larger user base. 

Connecteam

• ⭐ 4.6/5 on Capterra
• ⭐ 4.6/5 on G2

Deputy

• ⭐ 4.6/5 on Capterra
• ⭐ 4.6/5 on G2

Security & Compliance

Both platforms publish security and compliance information through vendor documentation, and each takes a serious approach to protecting workforce data. Connecteam publicly lists SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 in its Trust Center, and it offers HIPAA support for designated customers who enter a BAA (additional fees may apply).

Deputy publicly lists ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II, and it publishes encryption and hosting-region information on its security resources.

If your team operates in a regulated environment, treat this as a starting point and confirm requirements directly with each vendor’s Trust Center documentation before rollout.

Setup and Onboarding

I had no trouble getting started with Connecteam. The setup was smooth and well-guided, with a checklist that walked me through adding users, roles, and modules like time tracking or scheduling. I liked how modular it felt: It let me focus only on what I needed without the rest getting in the way.

There’s also a built-in training center with short, useful videos for admins and employees to onboard at their own pace. 

When we tested Deputy, the experience was equally smooth. The onboarding wizard quickly helped us configure locations, teams, and shift rules. We appreciated how it nudged us to set permissions early, making access more structured from day one.

Support and Customer Service

Both Connecteam and Deputy offer great multi-channel support.

Connecteam makes support feel accessible and dependable, even on the free plan. I’ve consistently gotten helpful responses via live chat and email, often within minutes. The help center includes step-by-step guides, videos, and templates for everything from scheduling to form setup. 

What truly stands out is the Connecteam Pros service. For an hourly rate, you’re connected to certified experts for hands-on onboarding and tailored guidance—something I’d recommend if you’re switching from spreadsheets or scaling fast.

Deputy was also responsive during our tests. We submitted 2 tickets and heard back within an hour each time. Live chat begins with a bot, but reaching a real agent is easy. The help and learning centers cover common issues well.

During our testing, most Deputy support flowed through tickets and live chat. If phone support is a must-have for your team, confirm the exact support channels included in your plan before rollout.

🏆 Who Wins: Connecteam or Deputy?

Both Connecteam and Deputy are excellent workforce management platforms, but they serve slightly different priorities.

Deputy is particularly strong in environments where scheduling complexity is the primary challenge. Organizations that rely heavily on demand-based planning, labor cost visibility, and configurable compliance rules may appreciate its forecasting tools and structured rostering engine, especially in industries like retail and hospitality, where shift optimization is central to performance.

Connecteam focuses on centralizing day-to-day workforce operations into one unified platform. Its all-in-one structure brings scheduling, time tracking, task management, communication, HR tools, and training into a single mobile app. For teams that want operational clarity without stitching together multiple systems, this consolidated approach can simplify both admin work and employee experience.

Employees can clock in, view shifts, complete tasks, submit forms, chat with teammates, and access training from one interface. For growing businesses, the free plan for up to 10 users and flat pricing for the first 30 users per hub offer predictable scaling without immediate per-seat pressure. Built-in compliance controls, GPS-based clock-in verification, and structured workflows further support teams that need accountability in the field.

👉 The verdict:

Choose Deputy if scheduling optimization, forecasting depth, and advanced labor controls are your top priorities across large or multi-location operations.

Choose Connecteam if you want a cost-conscious, mobile-friendly platform that unifies scheduling, time tracking, compliance, communication, and operational workflows in one place.

Get started with Connecteam for free today!

FAQs

Is Deputy a CRM?

No, Deputy isn’t a CRM. It’s a workforce management tool focused on employee scheduling and time tracking. It doesn’t include sales or customer relationship management features.

Is the Deputy app safe?

Yes, Deputy publishes its security posture through its security resources and Trust Center, including information about encryption, access controls, and compliance standards. If you operate in a regulated environment, review the Trust Center documents with your compliance team and confirm whether Deputy’s published compliance scope matches your requirements.

Is Connecteam an HRIS?

Connecteam includes several HRIS-like features, such as onboarding, documents, time off, and training, but it’s not a full-scale HRIS. It’s better suited for teams that need practical, mobile-friendly HR tools without complex payroll or benefits admin.

Is Connecteam really free?

Yes, Connecteam offers a comprehensive free plan for up to 10 users.

The post Connecteam vs. Deputy: Which Workforce Management Platform Is Better for Frontline Teams in? appeared first on Connecteam.

Clockify and Harvest both handle time tracking well, but differ in features, usability, and pricing. Below, I break down where each one wins and which teams they’re best suited for.

Clockify and Harvest both aim to make time tracking easier, improve project visibility, and help teams stay on top of budgets. But depending on your needs, the wrong choice could lead to missing features, clunky exports, or limited mobile control.

In this guide, I compare both side by side, looking at where each tool shines, what’s missing, and which one fits best based on how your team works, whether you’re tracking time at a desk or out in the field.

At a Glance: Quick Summary

Clockify is best known for its flexible, free plan that supports unlimited users, making it ideal for startups or budget-conscious teams that want solid time tracking and reporting. It offers detailed filters, GPS tracking, and a range of integrations, but lacks integrated invoicing and advanced reporting.

Harvest shines with its built-in invoicing, polished client-facing reports, and clean UI. It’s a strong fit for freelancers or service-based teams focused on billable hours and smooth billing workflows. But it lacks built-in scheduling and GPS for location enforcement.

Pricing and Plans

Both Clockify and Harvest offer competitive pricing, but they differ in what features you get at each tier.

I found Clockify gives teams strong flexibility with its unlimited-user free plan and lower-cost entry tiers. But scheduling, forecasting, and GPS features unlock only with the $7.99 Pro tier.

Harvest, on the other hand, keeps it simple: $11/user/month for full Pro access or $14/user/month for Premium. While it’s pricier per seat, you’re getting comprehensive invoicing, client-facing reporting, and administrative controls. 

In short:

• Clockify is better for cost-conscious teams that need flexible plans and don’t mind enabling features gradually.
• Harvest suits small consultancies or agencies needing polished invoices, reports, and faster client handoffs without needing to juggle integrations.

Pros and Cons

Clockify pros ✅

• Free plan with unlimited users: It’s great for startups and growing teams trying to manage time on a budget.
• Highly customizable reports and flexible tracking options: The platform supports manual entries, GPS tracking, kiosk mode, and detailed tagging for projects/tasks.

Clockify cons ❌

• Scheduling is clunky and lacks basic controls: There’s no day view or smart conflict detection, and it’s easy to miss time-off overlaps.
• Admin experience on mobile is limited: While the mobile app supports basic time logging, you’ll need the web version for most admin tasks.

Harvest pros ✅

• Clean UI and built-in invoicing: Harvest lets you track time, create estimates, and generate professional invoices from a single dashboard.
• Strong client-facing tools: The Premium plan includes project profitability, timesheet approvals, and support for recurring or retainer invoices.

Harvest cons ❌

• No built-in scheduling: A separate app, Harvest Forecast, is required for team planning.
• Lacks GPS tracking or real-time enforcement tools: Harvest isn’t ideal if you manage deskless or location-based teams that need punch-in validation.

Use Cases

Clockify is best for:

• Detailed time tracking across projects and teams: Clockify lets you log time by project, client, task, or tag with second-level accuracy. Admins can apply rounding rules, custom fields, and approval flows.
• On-site or mobile tracking with validation: Features like GPS tracking, kiosk mode, and offline logging make it reliable for fieldwork or multi-location teams.

Harvest is best for:

• Quick invoice creation and payment tracking: Harvest pulls from tracked time and expenses to generate branded invoices, estimates, and retainer summaries.
• Basic time and expense reporting: Built-in reports let you view billable vs. non-billable hours, unbilled time, and project costs. I like how these are ready to send to clients with minimal edits.

Clockify vs. Harvest: Side-by-Side Feature Overview

Below, I break down the most crucial features of Clockify and Harvest and declare a winner for each.

Time tracking and location enforcement – Winner: Clockify

Both Clockify and Harvest deliver reliable time tracking, but Clockify edges ahead thanks to its more flexible tracking methods, mobile kiosk mode, and GPS options that give managers better control in the field.

You can use Clockify’s time tracking via its browser extension, desktop app, or mobile app, or set up a kiosk with PIN codes at a job site. It supports live timers and manual entries, with adjustable settings to prevent edits or enforce break times. 

Admins can enable GPS verification on the Pro plan. I think that’s a big win if you manage frontline or field workers and are trying to prevent time theft or verify field activity. Screenshot recordings are also available on this plan through the desktop app. I think this will appeal to companies with desk-based workforces that need to ensure their workers are doing what they’re meant to be doing during paid work time. 

Clockify also offers rounding rules and approval workflows, which help with payroll consistency. One thing to note? You can’t switch tasks mid-timer unless you stop and restart it. That’s a small friction point unless you’re using kiosk mode, where task switching is easier.

I tested Harvest and found the timer experience smooth but more limited. You can track time using a timer or manually add entries on both web and mobile, which makes it easy to correct forgotten punches. The timer UI is clean and requires minimal clicks, but I noticed that it kept running even when I shut down my laptop. That’s a real concern if employees forget to stop tracking, because Harvest doesn’t flag idle time or automatically adjust. (Clockify does this too, so you’ll need to keep manual oversight to avoid inflated hours for workers who forget to clock out.)

Harvest’s lack of GPS tracking or kiosk support also makes it harder to manage field teams. It works fine for consultants, freelancers, or agencies logging hours from desks, but there’s no way to verify locations or prevent buddy punching. And while I appreciated the timesheet view for weekly tracking, it’d be helpful to have a monthly or role-filtered option when managing multiple clients.

Invoicing & estimates – Winner: Harvest

When I used Harvest, I could generate professional-looking invoices in just a few clicks. Logged hours, expenses, and billable rates automatically filled into the invoice. I also liked that you can create recurring invoices or retainers, send estimates for client approval, and track payments without leaving the platform. You can also customize the layout, add your logo, and include personalized messages. It felt like a seamless experience from time tracking to getting paid.

Harvest also integrates with Stripe and PayPal for online payments and includes native payment buttons directly on its invoices, though clients must manually trigger those payments (there’s no auto-charge). I wish it had more automation for reminders and more language options for global clients. But even with those limitations, the end-to-end billing workflow is fast and polished. If you invoice clients regularly, this is where Harvest shines.

Clockify’s invoicing is available only starting on the Standard plan. We tested it briefly and found that you can pull in billable time and generate line items, but the experience isn’t as smooth. There’s no built-in estimate system, and tax setup only recently became customizable per line item. I think that’ll help agencies that work with different rates and tax rules, but the UI still feels a bit rigid.

Clockify also doesn’t offer built-in payment processing. You can create and send invoices, but you must handle collections separately through another platform. And there’s no option to send reminders or see who’s viewed an invoice, which limits its usefulness for teams with recurring billing cycles.

Employee scheduling – Winner: Clockify

Clockify offers a built-in (though basic) scheduling module, but it functions more like a project planner than a full shift scheduler. You’ll see a week-by-week calendar where you can assign users, visualize capacity, and compare scheduled vs. tracked hours. Clockify also supports recurring weekly assignments, letting you copy full weekly schedules from one user to another. For many teams, this provides a simple and centralized view of who’s supposed to be working and when.

However, there are notable limitations. You can’t create specific daily shifts or set hourly time blocks. You’re confined to full-day entries on the week grid. There’s no drag-and-drop for easy adjustments, plus no conflict alerts if someone ends up double-booked.

Employees can see their assigned shifts, and approved time-off is visible (in light green), but it’s easy to miss. In our test, we were able to schedule someone directly on top of their approved time off with no warning. That could lead to confusion or, worse, missed coverage if your team doesn’t double-check availability.

Harvest doesn’t offer any scheduling capabilities within the core product. Instead, it promotes Harvest Forecast, a separate (paid) app that’s also meant for project-based resource planning. And while Forecast is clean and good for capacity forecasting in agency setups, it’s not meant for shift scheduling. There’s no drag-and-drop shift builder, no open shift posting, and no way to handle last-minute changes or swaps from within the app.

If your team relies on structured shifts, whether daily, weekly, or rotating, I think Clockify gives you a better starting point, even if it’s not perfect.

PTO management – Winner: Clockify

Clockify offers basic but useful PTO tracking on its paid plans. You can set up leave types, let employees submit time-off requests, and approve or reject them from the admin dashboard. While it doesn’t handle accruals automatically, it gives your team a transparent way to request time off and know where they stand without having to juggle spreadsheets or follow-up emails.

Harvest doesn’t include a formal PTO system. I tried logging vacation time during testing and had to create a custom project just to represent it. There’s no request workflow, no visibility into balances, and no approval tracking. If you’re trying to manage time off for a growing team, that’s a definite gap.

Clockify isn’t perfect here, but it gives you the essentials.

Reporting and timesheet approvals – Winner: Tie

We liked the flexibility of filters with Clockify. You can break reports down by client, project, team member, task, and tags, and export in PDF, Excel, or CSV. You can track time types, customize views, and even display text in right-to-left languages. 

Clockify also includes timesheet approvals. Admins can review and approve submitted time entries, and there are role-based permissions to control who can approve what.

Harvest’s reports are cleaner and more visual. I tested Time, Expense, and Invoice reports, and they all felt ready to present to a client. It’s easy to pull billable vs. non-billable hours, project profitability, and un-invoiced time at a glance. This is ideal if accuracy and client billing are your top priorities. 

Harvest also supports timesheet approvals, but the process is more basic. Admins can review and approve hours, but there aren’t advanced settings for role-based reviews.

Clockify gives you more control, while Harvest delivers clarity. I’ll call it a tie.

Labor law & compliance controls – Winner: Clockify

With Clockify, you can flag missed breaks, set overtime thresholds, and require timesheet approval before anything is finalized. If your business needs to track employee hours against legal limits or union rules, I think those extra layers of control can save headaches.

Harvest lets you set team capacity and assign hourly limits, but when I tested it, I noticed it doesn’t send alerts when employees go over those limits or when overtime thresholds are crossed. That lack of real-time notifications can be risky in regulated industries and damaging to your team. There’s no automatic calculation for overtime pay, either, which means you’ll need to ensure that you pay workers accurately for overtime hours using manual processes.

Mobile app – Winner: Tie

Both Clockify and Harvest offer polished mobile apps that cover the essentials. When we tested them, time tracking was smooth across both. We could start timers, switch tasks, and work offline, with automatic sync once reconnected. A good mobile app makes your workers’ lives easier, especially if they’re working in the field.

Where the apps fall short is in admin functionality. You can see who’s clocked in and review hours, but deeper tasks like reporting, approvals, or editing entries still must be done from the web. These apps are reliable for basic tracking on the go, but they aren’t designed for full team management from your phone.

Integrations – Winner: Tie

Harvest makes integrations easier, especially for non-technical teams. You can connect it directly with QuickBooks, Xero, Asana, Trello, Slack, and more—no Zapier or coding required. The setup is quick, and syncing time entries to invoices or accounting platforms feels polished and intuitive.

While it integrates well with accounting software like QuickBooks for payment tracking, payroll capabilities within those tools aren’t directly linked. You’ll typically need to export your timesheet data and import it into a separate payroll system. However, Harvest does offer a native integration with Deel, streamlining time transfer for paying global contractors.

Clockify offers broader flexibility, with support for tools like Trello, Jira, Notion, and GitHub. But integration often requires Zapier, webhooks, or API setup. When tested, it worked well but needed more manual configuration. This gives tech-savvy teams room to customize, though it may be slower to get up and running.

Clockify also integrates with Gusto, Paychex, Sage, and Deel for payroll-related exports and processing. However, like Harvest, it still doesn’t sync with QuickBooks Payroll directly.

If you want a faster plug-and-play setup, Harvest is easier. If you need more extensibility and custom workflows, Clockify gives you more control. 

User Ratings

Users consistently rate both Clockify and Harvest well, particularly for their clean interfaces and no-fuss approach to tracking time.

Clockify

• ⭐ 4.8/5 on Capterra
• ⭐ 4.5/5 on G2

Harvest

• ⭐ 4.6/5 on Capterra
• ⭐ 4.3/5 on G2

Security & Compliance

Clockify and Harvest both offer strong baseline protections, with encryption in place for data in transit and at rest, and adherence to modern privacy standards.

Clockify stands out with enterprise-grade certifications like ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II, plus options like audit logging on higher tiers. Admins can enforce 2FA, restrict features by role or group, and manage access at the project level.

Harvest also supports 2FA and provides solid role-based permissions, but it lacks published certifications like ISO or SOC. It hosts data on secure AWS servers and follows GDPR guidelines, though I think the documentation could be clearer, especially when it comes to region-specific compliance and data retention policies.

Both lack HIPAA compliance, so they’re not suitable for teams handling protected health information.

Setup and Onboarding

Clockify gets you up and running quickly, especially for basic time tracking. When we tested it, the setup flow made it easy to add users, define roles, and enable core features like kiosk mode. I think most admins, even those without much tech experience, can get started in under an hour. 

Bulk import tools and task templates help larger teams move faster, though integrations and audit logs require more manual setup.

Harvest takes a bit longer to configure but feels more polished. You’ll input company details, clients, projects, and billing rates step by step. When I set it up, I liked how structured it felt once everything was in place. 

Support and Customer Service

Clockify and Harvest both offer essential support options. 

Clockify offers true 24/7 live chat support, which is a major advantage for teams working across time zones or needing help outside standard business hours. You can also reach the Clockify team via email or phone, depending on your tier. In our experience, the chat reps were fast, helpful, and didn’t just point us to articles—they solved the issue directly.

Harvest doesn’t offer live chat in the traditional sense. Instead, there’s a chatbot that can surface help articles or take your query. That said, when I filled out the support form, a real agent responded within minutes, so it’s not a dead end—it just lacks the immediacy of live conversation. 

On paid plans, Harvest also offers scheduled phone support, which can be helpful if you’re trying to resolve a billing issue or something more complex.

🏆 Who Wins: Clockify or Harvest?

The better choice really depends on your needs.

Our take:

If you want reliable time tracking with detailed filters and admin-level oversight, Clockify is the stronger fit. It works well for teams managing hours across jobs, clients, or departments, especially when mobile or field-ready tools are important.

If you value simplicity, faster invoicing, and professional output with minimal fuss, Harvest is the better choice. It’s ideal for teams focused on billing and clean reports, without needing deep customization or multi-layer admin tools.

Connecteam vs. Clockify vs. Harvest

While Clockify and Harvest work well for certain teams, neither is built for workers on the ground. If your staff operates across job sites, tracks time in the field, or manages rotating shifts, those gaps become clear. 

Connecteam stands out as a full workforce management platform designed for frontline operations and compliance-heavy environments.

Below is a side-by-side comparison of how Connecteam stacks up against both.

Time tracking with control and accountability

Connecteam’s employee time clock gives you more control than Clockify or Harvest when it comes to tracking hours and verifying work locations. Employees can clock in via mobile or desktop, but admins can enforce rules like geofenced clock-ins, early clock-in prevention, or automatic clock-out at shift end. 

I especially appreciated the breadcrumb tracking, which shows you where workers have been during the day. That’s far beyond what Harvest offers or Clockify’s basic GPS stamps.

Powerful scheduling tools built in

Unlike Harvest, which lacks any native scheduler, and Clockify, which locks its basic drag-and-drop tool behind higher tiers, Connecteam includes a powerful employee scheduler on all plans. 

Depending on your plan, you can publish shifts, set open shifts or jobs for self-assignment, allow swaps, and even auto-fill based on skills or availability. I think that’s a major win for shift-heavy teams.

Time off, breaks, and approvals made easy

Connecteam’s PTO module is far stronger than Clockify’s limited add-on and Harvest’s lack of any built-in time-off management. You can build accrual policies, approval chains, and let staff request time off via the mobile app. Break rules are customizable too, whether paid, unpaid, time-capped, or enforced.

Stronger payroll & export handling

While all 3 tools support payroll exports, Connecteam’s timesheet dashboard offers better bulk controls. You can approve entries in 1 click, auto-flag missing punches, or assign roles with different pay rates. It also tags time by project, location, or cost center. 

That depth is something I found missing in Harvest (it focuses more on invoicing than timesheet accuracy), and Clockify can feel too manual for large teams.

Tasks, forms, and communication

One of Connecteam’s biggest advantages is its built-in forms and task tools. I like how it lets you create job site checklists, custom digital forms for inspections or reports, and assign detailed tasks with subtasks and files. Neither Harvest nor Clockify support anything close to this (Clockify does offer basic task lists under projects, but there are no subtasks, assignments, or checklists).

Plus, with Connecteam’s online team chat, announcements, and file-sharing, teams stay connected.

Support when you need it

Even on the free plan, Connecteam offers live chat support 24/7, which is a big deal if your team works across time zones or outside the usual 9 to 5. 

And with Connecteam Pros, a pay-per-hour service, you can get hands-on help from certified onboarding specialists who walk you through workflows, feature setup, and account configuration. That kind of guided support goes a level deeper than Clockify’s and Harvest’s support.

Overall verdict

Unlike Clockify and Harvest, Connecteam goes beyond time tracking. It offers comprehensive employee management with scheduling, communication, task management, HR features, HIPAA compliance (which neither Clockify nor Harvest offers), and so much more.

For deskless or mobile teams, Connecteam is the clear winner. The free plan covers up to 10 users, and the Basic plan starts at just $29/month for 30 users—less than $1 per user for a tool that replaces multiple apps.

Try Connecteam for free.

FAQs

Does Harvest track idle time?

No, Harvest doesn’t automatically track idle time. It relies on manual or timer-based tracking, so users must pause or adjust time entries themselves if they step away.

Does Harvest take screenshots?

No, Harvest doesn’t take screenshots. It focuses on manual and timer-based time tracking, without screen monitoring or automatic activity capture.

Is Clockify completely free?

Clockify offers a completely free plan with unlimited users and basic time tracking features. However, advanced tools like PTO tracking, approvals, and integrations are available only on paid plans.

Who are the competitors of Clockify?

Clockify competitors include Toggl Track, TimeCamp, Hubstaff, Harvest, and Connecteam. Connecteam is the best option if you need more than just time tracking. It offers scheduling, task management, internal communication, and more.

The post Clockify vs. Harvest: Which Time Tracking Tool Is Better for Your Team? appeared first on Connecteam.

Even with the best staff, supplies, and customer service, many cleaning companies struggle to get noticed.

A solid marketing plan bridges that gap, helping you to reach potential leads, outshine competitors, and build a base of customers who keep coming back. 

Below, I walk you through 6 steps to create a solid cleaning business marketing plan, and even provide a free template to get you started. 

What Is a Marketing Plan, and Why Does Your Cleaning Business Need One?

A marketing plan is a written guide that covers the A-to-Z of your marketing strategy, including who your clients are, where you’ll reach them, and how you plan on winning them. Here’s why it’s essential to have one:

Gives you direction 

Starting a cleaning business or expanding an existing one involves many moving parts: buying tools and supplies, hiring staff, managing schedules, and more. It’s easy to fall into doing marketing tasks at random, hoping something works. 

A marketing plan gives you clarity and focus. You can see exactly what to do, when to do it, and why it matters, so every effort moves your business forward.

Sets you up for long-term success

Quick wins like ads and discounts can bring in new clients, but true business growth takes planning. A clever marketing plan helps you map out long-term strategies, such as loyalty programs and seasonal promotions, and a calendar to follow so you can stay consistent over time.

It also gives you a chance to outline clear goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure what’s working and what’s not.

Makes you look credible 

A clear marketing plan shows investors and lenders that you’re putting in the work and have the right strategies in place. This can make it easier for you to get the buy-in you need to kickstart or grow your cleaning business.   

6 Steps to Create a Marketing Plan for a Cleaning Business

Step 1: Identify your target audience 

Even the most well-written marketing plan won’t work if it’s aimed at the wrong people. That’s why the first step is defining exactly who you’re marketing to. This will help you reach them in the right places, craft messages that resonate, and price your services effectively. 

Here’s how to identify your target customers:

1. Define your cleaning niche and services

Do you clean homes, offices, institutions, rental properties, construction sites, etc.? Or do you specialize in something specific, like carpet, window, or post-renovation cleaning? Your ideal customer will depend on the type of cleaning business you run and the services you offer. 

2. Identify typical decision-makers

In your sector, who makes the decision to hire a cleaning business? For home cleaning, it’s usually the homeowner or tenant. For short-term rentals or commercial spaces, it may be a property manager. And on construction sites, contractors may coordinate hiring a cleaning company. 

3. Craft customer personas with a KYC exercise

Once you’ve identified your broad audience (for instance, homeowners), dig deeper and start picturing your ideal customer on a more individual level. Are you targeting working couples? Larger families with children and pets? Luxury property owners with indoor and outdoor cleaning needs? 

Then create customer personas for each by identifying their desires, expectations, budgets, and pain points. A great way to do this is through a KYC (know your customer) exercise:

• Proactively reach out to potential clients (via phone or email) and ask them what cleaning services they may need. 
• Read your competitors’ customer reviews on Google or Yelp to see what clients are happy with and what they’re complaining about. 
• Speak to peers about their customer experiences and lessons learned in cleaning industry associations like ISSA or the American House Cleaners Association.

Here’s an example of what this can look like in action:

• Airbnb hosts you contact say that their top priority is good prices. 
• Competitors’ customer reviews reveal that Airbnb hosts are actually willing to pay more for faster turnarounds. 
• Through industry peers, you learn that several Airbnb hosts are looking for bundled services that include daily housekeeping for guests, not just cleaning between stays. 

In this case, your customer persona could be an Airbnb owner who values speed and convenience, is willing to pay more for it, and wants bundled services.  

Step 2: Use Porter’s Five Forces to study and surpass the competition

Marketing a cleaning business is about telling customers what sets you apart. But if you’re starting a new business, or even growing or expanding into a different niche, you may initially struggle to identify which strengths to focus on.

I recommend using Porter’s Five Forces framework to analyze the external market, identify gaps, and decide how to stand out. It looks at five competitive pressures that shape your industry and how money and profit get split between businesses, customers, and suppliers. This helps you see where you can win and build a clearer marketing plan.

Here’s how the framework works:

1. Existing competition

Who are your existing competitors? (Tip: A quick Google search can help you spot cleaning businesses that offer similar services in your area.) How do they position themselves (e.g., affordable, eco-friendly, etc.), and how do customers rate them on platforms like Google or Yelp?

How it shapes your marketing plan: Knowing how competitors position themselves helps you adjust your messaging. 

Example: If most local competitors boast affordability, but their customers complain about quality, you can market yourself as a business that “doesn’t cut corners.”

2. Threat of new entrants

How easy is it for new cleaning businesses to enter your niche (startup funds, licenses, local regulations)? When entry is easy, new competitors can show up quickly and increase price pressure.

How it shapes your marketing plan: If it’s easy for new entrants to swoop in and “steal” your customers, that tells you to defend your position with branding, loyalty programs, or long-term discounts to retain customers.

Example: Launch a “Members” plan: priority booking + locked-in rate for 6 months + every 5th clean 20% off.

3. Customer power

How much choice do customers have locally, and to what extent can they push prices down or demand more for the same price—especially if switching providers is easy?

How it shapes your marketing plan: When customers have more power, you’ll usually need clearer packaging and stronger value-based messaging. 

Example: Unique niches, like post-construction cleaning, can charge premium prices and focus on outcomes rather than competing on price.

4. Supplier power

How much do you depend on suppliers for cleaning materials, tools, uniforms, etc.? If you rely on just one or two key suppliers, cost or availability changes can squeeze your margins.

How it shapes your marketing plan: If supplier power is high, it indirectly affects your pricing and promises. 

Example: A carpet-cleaning business may offer pet-friendly materials, but it’s risky to base its entire marketing on it if it relies on only one supplier.

5. Threat from substitutes

What could be a substitute for your cleaning services? For example, could customers do it themselves, use a robot vacuum, or hire someone through an app like TaskRabbit? 

How it shapes your marketing plan: This affects how you explain what makes your service hard to replace. 

Example: In residential cleaning, focus on deep cleaning, toilet scrubbing, and post-party cleanups that customers or robots can’t tackle well.

Step 3: Pick a mix of marketing channels

There are plenty of ways to reach cleaning customers, online and offline. Popular marketing channels include:

• Business website. The best cleaning company websites are simple but complete: covering pricing, services, photos of jobs, testimonials, contact info, and a booking form. Remember to add local keywords (like “window cleaning in Portland”) so people can find you easily.

• Professional profiles. Build a Google Business Profile and Yelp profile that include your services, contact info, operating hours, and reviews. These make your business easier to find and show customers you’re legitimate.

• Social media. You can share before-and-after photos, behind-the-scenes content, customer testimonials, and even ASMR cleaning videos on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and other platforms.

• Paid ads. Tools like Google Ads and Meta Ads let you reach people in your area who are actively searching for cleaning services.

• Direct outreach and email marketing. Send newsletters, special offers, or quick follow-ups to stay top of mind. You can find leads through LinkedIn, Google searches, social media, or tools like RocketReach that give you access to verified emails and phone numbers. 

• Physical marketing. You can distribute cleaning flyers throughout local communities, place door hangers in apartment complexes and office buildings, or send brochures and coupons via direct mail. 

• Partnerships. Connect with property managers, realtors, contractors, or others in related sectors who can use and recommend your cleaning services. 

Now, you don’t need to use every channel. And you shouldn’t. Start with 1–2 that fit your business. For example, if you mainly serve local neighborhoods, start with physical marketing and partnerships. Once those are working well, you can slowly add more channels. 

Step 4: Calculate and map out your marketing budget

Once you’ve chosen your marketing channels, decide how much you can spend on them. Most cleaning businesses allocate 7–10% of their annual revenue to marketing. If you’re just starting out and don’t have revenue yet, use the same percentage from your startup budget instead.

For example, a cleaning business with $100,000 in annual revenue should set aside $7,000–$10,000 for marketing. Meanwhile, a new business owner with $20,000 in startup funds should plan to spend around $1,400–$2,000 on marketing.

How you’ll divide your marketing budget depends on your niche, customers, and goals. For example: 

• A solo home cleaner just starting out could invest more in printed flyers or door hangers, as these tactics are cheaper than running online ad campaigns. 

• A window cleaning business may allocate more budget to building partnerships with property managers since they often need window cleaning for their properties.  

• A short-term rental cleaning company could pay for targeted ads that showcase its services, before-and-after photos, and client testimonials to quickly generate cleaning leads.  

From here, create a simple budget table that lists each marketing channel and how much you plan to spend on it. (Jump to the marketing plan template to see what this looks like.) I recommend adding 2 extra columns to track actual expenses and see how much budget you have left. 

Step 5: Create PACT goals and a marketing timeline

Many businesses use SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) goals, like “gain 10 new home cleaning clients in the next 3 months.”

But for cleaning businesses, I recommend PACT goals. They focus on testing and improving over time rather than chasing one fixed result.

PACT stands for:

• Purposeful: Tied to a meaningful outcome, not just numbers—e.g., building loyal customers or becoming a trusted name in your area.
• Actionable: Broken down into clear, simple tasks. 
• Continuous: Reviewed and improved regularly instead of treated as a one-time effort.
• Trackable: Measured through KPIs (key performance indicators) such as clicks, conversion rates, or customer acquisition costs. 

For example, your PACT goal may be, “Increase local visibility over the next 12 months by testing different ways to reach nearby customers.”

Once you’ve set a goal, break it down into tasks and add them to a marketing calendar or Gantt-style timeline with due dates to stay on track. 

Using the example above, your timeline might look like this:

• Q1: Create a Google Business Profile and optimize for SEO.
• Q2: Add a “How did you hear about us?” question to client booking forms. 
• Q3: Distribute cleaning flyers in all neighborhoods in the week before Halloween. 
• Q4: Monitor how you’re ranking on Google or local maps and track how many leads heard about you through flyers. 

Step 6: Track marketing KPIs

Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) shows you where your marketing is paying off and where you might need to adjust your approach.

Here are a few KPIs to keep an eye on:

• Website traffic: How many people visit your website and take action, such as requesting a quote or booking a service. 
• Google Business calls and reviews: How many customers find and contact you through Google, and what they’re saying about your service. 
• Referral numbers: How many clients came through word-of-mouth or partner recommendations. 
• Cost per customer: How much you spend to attract and convert each new client. 
• Conversion rate: The percentage of enquiries that turn into paying customers.
• Repeat customer rate: How many customers return for additional bookings.

Check your KPIs at the end of each quarter: March 31 (Q1), June 30 (Q2), September 30 (Q3), and December 31 (Q4). That gives you time to test new strategies, see what’s working, and update your marketing plan accordingly.

Your Free Cleaning Business Marketing Plan Template

Use the template below as a sample marketing plan for your cleaning business. It helps you map out your target customers, competitors, key differentiators, marketing channels, budget, and goals. Click the link below, then click “Make a copy” to get your own editable version in Google Docs.

Get your Free Marketing Plan Template for Cleaning Businesses Here!

This is a starting point, not a finished plan. Adjust it for your services, pricing, location, and the customers you want. Fill in the basics first, then expand: add more customer personas, sharpen your differentiators, and build out your calendar with specific tasks. Use the budget table to track what you planned to spend, what you actually spent, and what you have left. Revisit the doc monthly or quarterly and update it based on results.

FAQs

Disclaimer

This article is for general informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as and does not constitute business, financial, or professional advice, and should not be relied upon as such. Connecteam accepts no responsibility for consequences arising from actions taken or not taken based on the information present in this article.

The post Cleaning Business Marketing Plan: 6 Steps to Help You Get Paying Clients appeared first on Connecteam.

Ever caught yourself saying “Wow!” while browsing a competitor’s cleaning website? You can have a site that wows, too.

Whether you’re just starting a cleaning business or growing an existing one, a great business website can help you attract new customers and turn them into paying customers. 

To write this guide, I reviewed dozens of websites from North American cleaning businesses and found 6 truly outstanding sites that you can use as examples to get started today. I’ve also included some practical tips to make creating your new website quick and easy.

Real-World Examples: 6 Best Cleaning Business Websites 

Large cleaning businesses 

Maid Sailors

Company overview: Maid Sailors is an NYC-based cleaning company that has cleaned 200,000+ homes. It also runs operations in Boston, Chicago, and Austin.

Key features: 

• Trust signals and a “Book Now” button at the top of the page.
• Detailed breakdown of services on separate pages.
• Transparent pricing page.
• Booking and payment form.
• Customer portal.

Why I like the website: 

• The website’s color scheme matches the blue-and-white Maid Sailors brand. The colours and whitespace also make it easy to read.
• The top of the homepage builds trust with phrases like “200,000+ homes cleaned,” “100% satisfaction guaranteed,” and “97% positive reviews.”
• The menu’s “Cleaning Services” dropdown lists separate pages for “Deep Cleaning Service,” “Airbnb cleaning service,” and others. Each page includes a checklist of what you get.
• The pricing page outlines different cleaning packages, and also includes checklists (e.g., for bedrooms and bathrooms). And the booking form calculates your bill based on factors such as square footage and additional services. 

Coverall

Company overview: Coverall is a commercial cleaning franchise with operations across the US and Canada. Its teams clean offices, medical facilities, industrial buildings, and more.

Key features: 

• Services, verticals, and process overview on homepage. 
• Specialist service menu dropdown.
• Blog, news, and FAQ pages.
• Website accessibility tools.
• Commercial quote form.

Why I like the website: 

• The offering is super clear: “a worry-free commercial clean” for “every type of workplace.”
• The homepage lists different commercial property types, including retail, fitness, and offices, with links to learn more.
• The “Get a free cleaning quote” button is prominent, always visible, and easy to access. 
• Pages often refer to Coverall’s “Core 4® Cleaning Process,” with specific methods and equipment. 

Small cleaning businesses

MyClean

Company overview: MyClean is a local residential cleaning company serving New York and New Jersey.

Key features: 

• Long-scroll homepage that covers pricing packages, customer reviews, and business differentiators. 
• Lists big-name publications in which MyClean has been mentioned.
• Blog and FAQ pages.
• Booking page.
• Customer portal.

Why I like the website: 

• It’s superbly designed. There’s a clear and consistent color scheme (white and blue), high-res images, and professionally made graphics that invite viewers in.
• There’s little information overwhelm. First, you just scroll up and down the homepage, through pricing packages, reviews, company story, and more. Second, you get extra detail through pop-ups, such as the 60- and 75-point checklists included in each package.
• It’s so quick to book! You enter your residence type and ZIP code at the top of the home page, and the “Book From $92” button takes you to the booking page. Here, you add a few more details and make the payment.
• There’s an up-to-date blog with cleaning tips relating to mold, pets, moving in, and other topics. This website feature helps build trust with first-time customers.

Comfy Cleaning

Company overview: Comfy Cleaning is a family-owned, Wisconsin-based residential cleaning business. It offers essential services, including standard and deep cleaning, as well as move-in and move-out cleaning.

Key features: 

• Homepage with service breakdown and service area.
• “About” section with cleaning approach and FAQs.
• Individual cleaning service pages.
• Bright, colorful imagery.
• Simple quote request form.

Why I like the website: 

• The design is consistent and balanced, with white as the base and blue and pink as accent colors. The high-quality photos align with this branding—for instance, showing staff members using pink and blue cleaning supplies.
• Its services and target market are clear. Comfy Cleaning serves homes in Greater Milwaukee, Menomonee Falls, and a few other areas. Each cleaning service has a checklist and process breakdown, plus individualized benefits.
• It’s a great example of what’s achievable for family-owned cleaning businesses on a budget. There’s no fancy quote and payment form, or nifty image carousels. Just clear services, a clean design, a simple contact form, plus email and phone details.

Specialized cleaning businesses

SoCal Luxury Cleaning

Company overview: SoCal Luxury Cleaning is an LA-based cleaning company specializing in luxury home cleaning. Its services include basic and deep cleaning, move-in and move-out cleaning, and short-term rental turnover.

Key features: 

• Scroll-through homepage.
• Service-focused pages.
• Target-market-appropriate design.
• Customer testimonials.

Why I like the website: 

• The design is fit for purpose for the luxury home market. The color scheme centers on black, white, and gold, which are also featured in the site’s high-res photography. 
• There’s no unnecessary information, making it easy to scan. For example, service-specific pages, such as the move-in/out one, only feature checklists for different room types. 
• The homepage spotlights 3 customer testimonials of similar length, creating symmetry. This minimalism, in contrast to some other websites’ long lists of reviews, suggests a select clientele. 

Greenly Pro

Company overview: Greenly Pro is an environmentally driven commercial cleaning company in Massachusetts. It works with clients in education, healthcare, and more, and handles specialized projects, including disaster cleanup and post-construction work.

Key features: 

• An extensive list of cleaning services.
• “Why choose us” section.
• Commercial client examples via a carousel.
• Client reviews via a carousel.
• Online call booking.

Why I like the website: 

• The branding is clear. It’s in the name, color palette, and web copy: Greenly Pro cleans with environmentally friendly methods. In its stats section, it lists “0 Products that contain harmful toxins such as formaldehyde and ammonia.” Also, it lists specializations including “LEED-certified cleaning, chemical-free solutions.”
• It offers a contact form and a 1-on-1 specialist call. This is market-appropriate since commercial clients, especially those with multiple locations (such as property managers), need custom quotes and trust-based relationships.
• The “Services” page lists 10+ commercial niches, from industrial to hospitality and post-construction cleaning, all with brief descriptions. This builds trust with specific verticals. Elsewhere, a carousel of 5-star reviews signals the vendor’s quality service.

How To Create a Cleaning Business Website

You don’t need a Web Design degree to build an effective website for your cleaning business. You just need to: 

1. Prep your branding basics, including your business name, logo, and high-quality photos.
2. Buy a website domain (for example, iclean.com). Or piggyback on your site builder’s domain for free, if available (e.g., cleaning.wixsite.com).
3. Choose a website builder that suits your business needs and technical skill level. For instance, you may need a payment gateway and pre-made website templates. Platforms like Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace are popular with cleaning businesses.
4. Customize your website content and design by following your platform’s guidelines.

Alternatively, to save time and get pro results, you could hire a freelancer or agency to create your cleaning website. Expect to pay for the initial website launch and future maintenance (for instance, updating photos or quote forms).

If you’re inspired by our website examples, here’s a crash course in nailing your own. I’ll cover website content, design, and lead generation.

Website content

Homepage

• Company name: Type your cleaning business name or add your logo at the top of the homepage. Include a simple tagline that represents the “soul” of your business—for instance, “Precision in every polish.” 
• Services summary: Showcase roughly 3–5 cleaning services on your homepage, with brief descriptions. Link to in-depth service pages (or pop-up windows).
• Service area: Confirm cities, towns, or neighborhoods you can serve clients in. Add a map as a visual aid, if your website builder offers it.
• Values and differentiators: Add 3–5 headings that realistically set your team apart, and 1–2 sentences on why and how you apply them. Some ideas: “Non-negotiably eco-friendly,” “Respect and privacy,” “Trained staff, no gig workers.” 

Services

• Emotional messaging: Include a sentence or paragraph that connects readers to the specific service. For instance, reference the comfort and certainty of having a high-standard move-in or move-out clean.
• Checklists: Provide full or partial checklists for each cleaning service (and, where relevant, each commercial vertical—e.g., retail vs. healthcare).
• Methods and equipment: Wherever possible, confirm which cleaning techniques and products you use (e.g., following CDC guidelines). Also, confirm whether you or the client must provide certain equipment (e.g., vacuum cleaner).
• Pricing: If you choose to advertise prices, organize them by cleaning packages, and list the services and add-ons. For example, you might price standard and deep cleans separately, with different checklists and extra per-hour prices.

Cleaning website design

Here are some easy-to-do design tips to get your website sparkling without hiring technical help:

Images and visual design

Display high-quality photography showing a gleaming, clean home, office, or facility (depending on your target market). Aim for real-world photos from client premises to showcase your cleaning skills and build leads’ trust. Alternatively, stay true to life with stock photos that closely match your standard post-clean results.

Apart from images, ensure a clean, consistent visual experience across your website. Here’s what to do:

• Stick to 2–3 brand colors to create cohesion and avoid distracting the visitor.
• Use drag-and-drop tools to create columns for categorizing information (e.g., a paragraph and an image) and to add white space.
• Keep text formatting simple and easy to read. For example, avoid fancy, colorful fonts and use text hierarchy (big headings vs. smaller text) to help viewers skim.

Smooth user experience

Good user experience (UX) means visitors can quickly find the information or action they need, with minimal obstacles.

Do:

✅ Test “user journeys” on your website thoroughly—for instance, scrolling down the homepage, clicking on “Services” pages, and submitting a contact form.

✅ Ensure website features (such as images, columns, and forms) work as expected on both desktop and mobile. 

Don’t:

❌ Add large files (such as videos or animations) since they often slow down the website.

❌ Add unnecessary pages that distract clients from booking or calling you. For example, add your testimonials on the homepage or booking page, rather than as a menu item.

Cleaning website lead generation

Now, there’s not much point in building a gorgeous website if clients can’t hire you. Here are some simple ways to grab cleaning leads’ attention and secure bookings.

Trust signals

• Commercial client logos: If you work with businesses, institutions, or property managers, throw their logos in a website carousel.
• Testimonials: Feature a few high-praise reviews (for example, from Google reviews or websites such as Yelp) along with their star ratings. Prioritize grammatically correct ones that mention why you’re great.
• Professionalism: Confirm you run professional services with facts such as “Bonded and insured” and “Trained professional cleaners.”
• Stats: Add some impressive numbers if you have them. Examples include “15 years in business” and “Cleaned 20,000 homes.”

Contact and booking form

• Call to action (CTA) button: Make the main contact or booking button visible and available. For instance, add a “Book now” button in the top-right corner of the website, just below the top homepage title.
• Contact form and details: Add a contact form even if you also take bookings and payments. Keep it simple. Request name, contact details, a message, and, optionally, service type and property size. Provide your business phone number and email address.
• Online booking: If you provide prices and instant quotes, add a booking and payment form to your website. Make sure clients can select dates and times when your staff are actually free to work.

FAQs 

Disclaimer

This article is for general informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as and does not constitute business, financial, or professional advice, and should not be relied upon as such. Connecteam accepts no responsibility for consequences arising from actions taken or not taken based on the information present in this article.

The post Best Cleaning Business Websites: Examples + DIY Tips appeared first on Connecteam.

You don’t always need a big budget or fancy party to appreciate your employees. Sometimes, sending a well-timed, funny quote in a team chat, recognition post, or card is all it takes to make someone feel seen. 

We’ve rounded up 50 funny employee appreciation quotes, perfect for quick messages, team announcements, birthdays, wins, and everyday kudos. Here’s how to recognize your team in a way that actually makes them smile (and maybe even laugh).

Why Humor Makes Employee Appreciation More Meaningful

Employee appreciation works best when it feels real and when people actually remember it. That’s where humor comes in.

Adding humor to recognition isn’t just about getting a quick laugh. It creates a moment that sticks. A funny quote in a team message or recognition card does something a standard “thank you” can’t: it shows your team you see them as people, not just names on a schedule.

And it’s not just a feeling. Laughter reduces stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, helping employees feel calmer, more focused, and more energized. 

When teams laugh together, it strengthens trust and builds connection. This matters even more for managers leading teams across multiple shifts or locations. The right message in your team chat can close the distance and remind everyone they’re part of the same team.

The best part? Using humor to recognize your employees doesn’t take more time or budget. It’s simple, scalable, and works everywhere.

How to Write Your Own Funny Employee Appreciation Quotes

You don’t have to be a comedian to recognize your employees in a funny, meaningful, and professional way. Here’s how to show genuine appreciation and make your team laugh:

Know your audience

Before you start writing, think about who you’re recognizing. What kind of humor do your employees actually enjoy? The best funny appreciation quotes are personal, but what makes one person laugh may miss the mark with another. Pay attention to what your team jokes about or shares in a chat. Aim to match the message to the personal so it becomes memorable.

Keep it light and positive

Humor at work is all about balance. The goal is to make someone feel good about their work, rather than accidentally embarrassing them or turning appreciation into a joke at their expense. Skip sarcasm that could be misread, sensitive topics, or humor that sounds like criticism in disguise.

The safest option is humor that celebrates, not critiques. Lean into shared workplace experiences. Think: too much coffee, long meetings, the Friday feeling. Make fun of situations, not people. If there’s any chance a joke could make someone uncomfortable, it’s not worth it. When in doubt, keep it warm, positive, and inclusive.

Inside jokes: proceed with caution

Inside jokes can be powerful. Referencing something only your team understands creates instant connection, shared laughter, and it shows you’re paying attention and genuinely part of the team culture.

That said, inside jokes need to be handled carefully. Make sure they’re inclusive and positive, not tied to mistakes or embarrassing moments. The goal is to bring people in, not leave anyone out. The best inside jokes celebrate shared experiences everyone recognizes. 

50 Funny Employee Appreciation Quotes

Now that we’ve covered what makes humor in the workplace land, let’s get into 50 funny employee appreciation quotes. I broke them down into categories so you can find the right message for any situation or team member.

For the problem solver

These quotes are for team members who get things done, even when challenges pop up. 

1. “You’re like a Swiss Army knife in human form—always the right tool for the job.”
2. “If there was an Olympic sport for solving problems, you’d have a gold medal collection.”
3. “Every time something breaks, we all quietly hope you’re on the schedule.”
4. “Challenges see you coming and immediately reconsider.”
5. “Thanks for turning ‘this might be a problem’ into ‘already handled.’”
6. “You handle chaos like it’s just another Tuesday.”
7. “We don’t know how you do it—we’re just glad you do.”
8. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” —Thomas Edison

For the team player

Perfect for employees who go above and beyond to support their coworkers.

1. “You somehow make everyone else’s job easier just by being on the team.”
2. “Teamwork makes the dream work, and you’re basically the dream.”
3. “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” —Harry S. Truman
4. “You help so much we’re starting to wonder if you cloned yourself.”
5. “When you’re on the shift, everything runs smoother. Coincidence? Definitely not.”
6. “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” —Michael Jordan
7. “You collaborate so well, we’re convinced you have telepathic powers.”

For the productivity machine

These quotes are for the employees who get the job done on time, every time:

1. “Your to-do list has a to-do list, and it’s still shorter than your completed list.”
2. “You’re so productive, we’re convinced you’ve figured out how to add extra hours to the day.”
3. “Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.” —Peter Drucker
4. “You don’t just meet deadlines; you make them look easy.”
5. “You’re like a well-oiled machine, except you never break down and you actually smile.”
6. “Ordinary people think merely of spending time. Great people think of using it.” —Arthur Schopenhauer
7. “Getting things done is your superpower.”
8. “If getting things done were contagious, we would have already caught it from you.”
9. “We’re not sure how you stay this productive, but we assume it involves skill, focus, and maybe magic.”
10. “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” —Stephen King

For the creative genius

Great for team members who bring innovation and fresh ideas to the table.

1. “You think outside the box so much, we’re not sure you even know where the box is.”
2. “You turn ‘boring’ into ‘brilliant’ faster than we can say ‘what a great idea.’”
3. “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” —Albert Einstein
4. “You bring ideas to the table that we didn’t even know we needed.”
5. “The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” —Sylvia Plath
6. “Your brain is basically a creativity factory, and we’re grateful for everything it makes.”
7. “Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.” —Albert Einstein
8. “You bring ideas we didn’t know we needed. And now we can’t live without them.”
9. “You manage to be creative and practical, which feels unfair.”
10. “You find ideas in places the rest of us didn’t think to look.”

For the glass half-full employee

These quotes celebrate the people who make work better just by being there.

1. “You bring sunshine to even the cloudiest days.”
2. “If optimism was a currency, you’d be a billionaire.”
3. “Positive anything is better than negative nothing.” —Elbert Hubbard
4. “You make Mondays feel less like Mondays and more like ‘let’s do this.’”

For the mentor and teacher

These quotes are for employees who help others grow and develop professionally.

1. “You teach so well, we’re convinced you missed your calling as a professor.”
2. “You share knowledge like it’s going out of style—and we’re here for it.”
3. “If patience was a virtue, you’d be a saint.”
4. “Your ability to explain complex things in simple terms is basically a superpower.”
5. “You’re the kind of mentor who makes people actually want to learn.”

For the customer service champ

These quotes recognize employees who consistently deliver great customer experiences.

1. “You treat every customer like they’re the only one in the room…even when the room is very full.”
2. “You turn frustrated customers into happy ones like it’s part of your job… which it is, but still impressive.”
3. “If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.” —Red Adair
4. “You turn chaos into compliments on a regular basis.”
5. “You handle customers so smoothly we forget how tricky it can be.”
6. “Somehow, your customer service voice survives the entire shift.”

How to Share Funny Employee Appreciation Quotes

Now that you’ve got the quotes, it’s all about delivery. Where and when you share appreciation matters just as much as the message itself. The right quote at the right moment can turn a quick shout-out into a moment your team remembers. Here’s where to share:

Team chats

Team messaging platforms are great for quick, informal appreciation. They make it easy to recognize someone in the moment and let the whole team join in.

Why it works:

Sharing appreciation right where work happens makes it feel natural. Reactions and replies turn a simple message into a small celebration that lifts the team’s mood right away. Tools like Connecteam offer team instant messaging, so funny quotes can reach employees wherever they’re working: on the floor, in the field, or on the job site. That way, recognition feels connected to real work. 

Best practices:

Keep it short and friendly. One-liners or short quotes work best in chat. Tag the person you’re recognizing so they see it, and share wins after a busy shift or a job well done. 

Example:

“Hey @Sarah, you’re so productive we’re starting to think you’ve figured out how to add extra hours to the day. Thanks for crushing it this week 🚀”

Cards and paper notes

There’s something special about a handwritten or printed recognition card that a digital message just can’t match. Physical cards feel more personal, and they often turn into keepsakes employees take home.

Why it works:

Tangible recognition feels thoughtful. It shows you took a few extra minutes to write something just for them. Employees can reread it later, share it with family, or pull it out on a tough day when they need a boost.

Best practices:

Handwrite the card whenever you can because it makes a real difference. Include a funny quote, then add a short personal note explaining why you appreciate them. A few doodles, stickers, or even a well-placed emoji can make it feel more fun and less formal.

Example:

A handwritten card with a lighthearted problem-solving quote, decorated with a few lightbulb doodles, given to an employee after they step up and solve a major issue.

Team meetings and shout-outs

Starting a team meeting with a funny appreciation shout-out is an easy way to set a positive tone. It works especially well for distributed teams that don’t always see each other in person. 

Why it works: 

Public recognition goes a long way. It shows the employee they’re valued, reinforces the behavior you want to see, and helps build a culture of appreciation. 

Best practices:

Keep it short; about 30 seconds is plenty. Be genuine and call out exactly what the person did. Then give the team a moment to react.

Example:

“Before we get into it, I’ve gotta shout out Marcus. No matter what comes up on site, he handles it without losing his cool, and somehow keeps the client happy too. Problems show up, Marcus fixes them, and the job keeps moving. We don’t know how he does it, but we’re glad he’s on our crew. Let’s hear it for Marcus.”

Employee appreciation apps

Employee appreciation apps like Connecteam make it easy to highlight great work as it happens. Connecteam lets you create custom recognitions, add a personal message or badge, and choose whether to share it privately or with the whole team. Recognitions show up in a shared feed where coworkers can react and comment, turning appreciation into a visible, team-wide moment.

Why it works:

Recognition shared on a company feed gets more eyes and more reactions. That wider visibility turns individual appreciation into a shared celebration, reinforces your company values, and helps build a positive culture.

Best practices:

Decide whether the recognition should be private or public. Keep the message professional but fun, and tag the employee so they’re notified and can join the conversation.

Example:

“Shout-out to our front desk team 🌟 Your guest service belongs in a museum. Thanks for making every guest feel welcome from the moment they walk in.”

One-on-one conversations

Sometimes the most meaningful appreciation happens in private. A quick one-on-one paired with a funny quote adds a personal touch that group shout-outs can’t always replace.

Why it works:

Private recognition feels genuine. It gives employees space to react, ask questions, and feel truly seen. Adding humor helps the message stick without making it feel formal or awkward.

Best practices:

Keep it casual. Catch them during a natural moment or set up a short check-in. Lead with the funny quote, then explain why you appreciate their work. Ask how things are going and if they need support. Aim for a real conversation, not a script.

Example:

“Hey, I wanted to grab you for a minute. I was thinking about how you handle every challenge that comes your way. Honestly, you turn ‘impossible’ into ‘done’ faster than we can say thank you. I really appreciate everything you do.”

The Bottom Line on Appreciating Employees with Humor

Employee appreciation works best when it feels real, and humor helps make that happen. A funny quote can turn everyday recognition into something people actually remember. It boosts morale, strengthens team connections, and shows employees they’re valued as people, not just workers.

The best part? You don’t need more time, budget, or planning to get started. If you already recognize your team, adding humor is a simple way to make those moments more engaging and more meaningful.

Try using a quote from this list in a team chat, a meeting shout-out, or a recognition post. Remember: small moments of appreciation add up fast and can make a real impact on your team.

The post 50 Funny Employee Appreciation Quotes to Recognize Your Team appeared first on Connecteam.

If you’re managing employees on a daily basis, making sure that they’re doing their job right simply isn’t enough. No matter what industry you work in, you need to make sure that your employees are being heard.

Sure, you could just drop a cardboard box in the staffroom and let your workers submit anonymous suggestion paper slips about anything and everything. 

But when are you supposed to keep up with them? And how can you expect employees to remember about this random box when they may be away from it most of the time? This simply doesn’t work.

Instead, you should consider using a virtual suggestion box. This is usually in the form of an app that you and your employees can access from your mobile phones. 

You can add as many suggestions in the form of files, images, and documents, without having to worry about them piling up and getting lost.

Let’s take a look at some of the very best suggestion box software solutions on the market today that will ensure no feedback falls through the cracks.

Our Top 3 Suggestion Box Software Solutions

1. Connecteam – the all-in-one business and employee management suggestion box app; free for up to 30 users.
2. Ideaglow – gather suggestions and turn them into actionable tasks; 30-day free trial.
3. Qandle – easily seek suggestions and offer rewards for the best solutions; 14-day free trial.

If you’re in a hurry, jump to our comparison table to compare the recommended suggestion box software solutions below.

The Best 5 Suggestion Box Software Solutions in 2022

Connecteam is an award-winning suggestion box software solution designed specifically for the mobile workforce (such as deskless workers and remote teams).

Whether you’re a business owner or HR manager, Connecteam’s Suggestion Box will help you gather feedback on any matter that plays a part in your daily operations. 

If any employee has a suggestion to make, they can simply submit it using this all-in-one app instead of relying on messy, paper-based suggestion boxes that take ages to get checked.

Then you, the manager, can easily take a look at your customized suggestion box to see what’s on your employees’ minds.

With the Connecteam employee engagement app, you can actively include your employees in decision making, respond to all queries and improve employee satisfaction and retention in the long run.

Here are just some of the awesome benefits and features that Connecteam’s Suggestion Box provides:

It’s Completely Customizable

Connecteam’s Suggestion Box is fully customizable in a number of ways:

• As the admin, you can design a feedback tool in the business language that your employees understand. For example, change its name, icon and colors.
• Create multiple suggestion boxes and share them with specific employees or groups, depending on their purpose. For example, you can allocate different suggestion boxes to teams working at different locations. Or, they can be used for specific roles (CEO box, HR feedback, etc).
• Employees have full control over their involvement in the submitted suggestion as they can add their names or choose to remain anonymous.

Use the Suggestion Box as a Form

While it’s super easy to use Connecteam’s Suggestion Box in its traditional form, this forms, checklist app proves there is another way that employees can submit suggestions:

• As the manager, you can actually create your very own form that allows employees to submit suggestions. 
• Make it as simple or advanced as you need it to be – adding checklists, multiple selections, images, videos and files to it. 
• Keep employees in the loop, adding statuses to submitted suggestions (rejected, approved, needs more information, etc).
• Another easy option is to use Connecteam’s very own “suggestion box” form template. 

Quickly Turn Suggestions Into Solutions

While employees can keep their suggestions anonymous, you can still decide who sees and acts upon them. For example:

• If the suggestion is approved, you can easily tag individuals who are qualified to put those suggestions into practice. 
• Easily close the loop on all suggestions, whether you choose to use them or not, by tagging other relevant employees to perform tasks to address that suggestion. 

So Many More Communication Tools

That’s not all. Connecteam is laden with many other essential features that will help improve employee communication across the board. These include:

• Keep personal and professional communication separate with the instant private and employee team chat.
• A vibrant social feed to send updates such as newsletters, announcements, milestones, employee recognition, and all business-related matters.
• Employees can also feel heard through organizational surveys and live polls.
• Locate any employees’ contact details via the employee directory.

More than 36,000 companies around the world from over 90 different industries benefit from Connecteam’s wide range of features, including it’s Suggestion Box.

What’s more? Connecteam is free to use and will help you scale your business.

Pricing 

• Connecteam starts at just $29/month for up to 30 users.

• Free 14-day trial

• Free-forever plan? Yes, for up to 10 users, without limitations

One of IdeaGlow’s key features is its virtual suggestion box. This can be used to gather suggestions from employees and customers alike, put them into action and keep users engaged. 

Users can vote on their favorite suggestions, collaborate to turn suggestions into actionable tasks, and prioritize them. This cloud-based software is designed for mid-to-large companies and is ideal for security teams.

• Standard Edition costs $499 per month for up to 100 users.

• Free trial? 30 days

• Free plan? No

With Qandle’s employee suggestion box (branded as the Ideabox), employees’ managers can easily seek suggestions and offer rewards for the best solutions. Employees can come together and decide what are the best actions to take moving forward. An ideal HR software solution, Qandle also include’s polls and surveys and a vibrant social network.

• Regular plan costs $5 per user/month, with a company base price of $38 per month.

• Free trial? 14 days

• Free plan? No

An easy-to-use employee suggestion box is at the heart of Vetter’s internal communication software. Users can easily submit ideas on both desktop and mobile. Employees can rate these suggestions, and motivate specific users to provide feedback on suggestions. Also, managers can set “challenges” for employees to submit feedback about specific topics.

• Basic Plan costs $99 per month for up to 60 users.

• Free trial? 30 days

• Free plan? No

When it comes to coming up with suggestion box ideas, managers should consider using Suggestion Ox. This software solution makes it easy for managers to prevent small communication problems from turning into big ones. Users can collect real-time feedback with anonymous suggestions, two-way communication and the entire software is fully customizable.

• Lite plan costs $29 per month, Business plan costs $49 per month

• Free trial? 14 days

• Free plan? No, but it is possible to request trial extensions

A Quick Comparison Of The Best Suggestion Box Software Solutions

Summary

Monthly Price

Free Trial

Free Plan

Connecteam is an all-in-one suggestion box software solution that helps you gather feedback on any matter that plays a part in your daily operations. Users can easily share ideas and thoughts and managers can see what’s on their minds at their leisure.

10 users – $0

20 users – $29

50 users – $39

14-day

Start For Free

Yes, for up to 10 users

IdeaGlow’s employee suggestion box gathers suggestions from employees, and allows users to collaborate to turn them into actionable tasks.

Standard Edition:

10 users – $499

20 users – $499

50 users – $499

30-day

No

Qandle’s virtual suggestion box allows managers to easily seek suggestions and offer rewards for the best solutions.

Regular Plan: 

10 users – $88

20 users – $138

50 users – $238

14-day

No

Vetter is an easy-to-use employee suggestion box tool that allows users to easily submit ideas on both desktop and mobile.

10 users – $99

20 users – $99

50 users – $99

30-day

No

Suggestion Ox is a useful software solution that makes it easy for managers to prevent small issues from turning into big ones. Collect real-time feedback with anonymous suggestions.

Lite plan – $29

Business plan – $49

Professional plan – $99

14-day

No, but it is possible to request trial extensions.

Summary

Connecteam is an all-in-one suggestion box software solution that helps you gather feedback on any matter that plays a part in your daily operations. Users can easily share ideas and thoughts and managers can see what’s on their minds at their leisure.

Monthly Price

10 users – $0

20 users – $29

50 users – $39

Free Trial

14-day

Start For Free

Free Plan

Yes, for up to 10 users

Summary

IdeaGlow’s employee suggestion box gathers suggestions from employees, and allows users to collaborate to turn them into actionable tasks.

Monthly Price

Standard Edition:

10 users – $499

20 users – $499

50 users – $499

Free Trial

30-day

Free Plan

No

Summary

Qandle’s virtual suggestion box allows managers to easily seek suggestions and offer rewards for the best solutions.

Monthly Price

Regular Plan: 

10 users – $88

20 users – $138

50 users – $238

Free Trial

14-day

Free Plan

No

Summary

Vetter is an easy-to-use employee suggestion box tool that allows users to easily submit ideas on both desktop and mobile.

Monthly Price

10 users – $99

20 users – $99

50 users – $99

Free Trial

30-day

Free Plan

No

Summary

Suggestion Ox is a useful software solution that makes it easy for managers to prevent small issues from turning into big ones. Collect real-time feedback with anonymous suggestions.

Monthly Price

Lite plan – $29

Business plan – $49

Professional plan – $99

Free Trial

14-day

Free Plan

No, but it is possible to request trial extensions.

Frequently Asked Questions on Suggestion Box Ideas & Solutions

What Are The Benefits Of Employee Suggestion Box Software?

There are countless benefits that come with a virtual employee suggestion box. Here are some of the most important ones:

• It boosts employee morale: when employees can use a virtual suggestion box to make their voices heard and they know that their suggestions are being addressed and acted upon, this can only help boost employee morale.
• Improved communication: seeing that an employee suggestion box is a formal way for employees to share ideas, this is one of the best ways to bridge the communication gap between the employee and their manager.
• It keeps employees engaged: when it comes to employee engagement, a virtual suggestion box goes a long way. Employees are going to be more productive at work if they know their feedback is being acknowledged.
• A true problem solver: with this unique tool, employees can both submit complaints and problems, while also providing solutions too.
• All employees are heard: for those good employees who still aren’t the most confident when it comes to vocally sharing their opinion, an employee suggestion box is a much less intimidating alternative.

What Other Suggestion Box Ideas Are Worth Considering?

While the following suggestion box ideas can make employee feedback stronger, they depend on whether you are using a virtual suggestion box or a physical one.

Generally, though, we’d strongly advise going digital with a communication tool. Overall, this is an easier, more practical way of submitting suggestions. Useful ideas include:

• Set up a virtual suggestion box: once you have found the software you want to use, get your IT specialist to double check protocols for anonymous feedback. Before going live, ensure that the box has been tested by a few employees.
• Announce the suggestion box: when informing your employees about the new suggestion box, explain why employee feedback is important, how often the company will review suggestions and if you will provide any employee incentives for suggestions that get approved.
• Provide guidelines: it’s important to remind employees that negative feedback is allowed, as long as it’s constructive.
• Set up a physical box: if using a virtual suggestion box still doesn’t appeal to you, then making a physical one is better than nothing! Ensure that all employees know the location of the box. Apply a lock to the box for privacy reasons and only give keys to those who are in charge.

The Bottom Line On Suggestion Box Solutions

As you can see, all of the suggestion box software solutions mentioned above include useful features that are going to enhance the way that you gather feedback from employees.

This begs the question: which solution is best suited for your business?

It’s worth mentioning that Connecteam’s Suggestion Box is only scratching the surface of it’s true capabilities.

With this all-in-one app, managers can smoothly communicate with their employees, track their time, build employee schedules, manage tasks, maintain compliance, and so much more.

We recommend trying out the free trials that these software solutions provide. This is a useful way to learn which suggestion box features benefit your company the most and which virtual suggestion box will be the best fit for your business to boost employee feedback.

The post Top 5 Digital Suggestion Box Tools for Your Business appeared first on Connecteam.

Choosing the right name for your cleaning company can feel tricky. You need something simple enough for people to remember, but specific enough not to sound generic. 

But how do you find that balance? And how can you ensure the perfect cleaning company name for your business hasn’t already been taken?

I’m here to help. In this article, I show you how to choose a good cleaning company name and share a list of 63 cleaning company names to choose from. 

Choose a Business Name That Reflects Your Cleaning Niche

When choosing a name for your cleaning company, the most important thing is to keep your niche in mind. Your business name should reflect the type of clients you want to attract and the services you offer.

For example, if you’re targeting a luxury clientele, choose something that feels polished and upscale. As Katie Lambert, founder of Clean Queen Cleaning Services, explains:

“We love our branding: We are Clean Queen, and we are a luxury cleaning service, so we don’t try to compete based on price. […] We also recognize that we spend more time in our clients’ homes than the average service in town, which is why our prices tend to be higher, so we need to market to the luxury market.”

On the other hand, say you’re aiming for a more affordable, high-volume service. You’ll want a business name that’s friendly, simple, and approachable. 

No matter your niche and direction, aligning your business name with your target market helps you attract the right customers and build a brand that fits your goals. 

Now, let’s get into how to pick the best cleaning company name—whether you’re in the general, commercial, or residential cleaning space—so you can move on to actually starting your cleaning business.

General Cleaning Service Names 

General cleaners service a wide variety of clients, including houses, apartments, offices, and small businesses. That can make coming up with a good name for a general cleaning service a bit tricky. You have to ensure your company can appeal to as many types of customers as possible. 

To do that, lean on neutral words that convey reliability, attention to detail, and cleanliness. Some great words to use include “prime,” “apex,” “clear,” “pro,” “care,” “shine,” “neat,” “spotless,” “tidy,” “pristine,” “bright,” “fresh,” and “clear.”

Avoid playful names, like Happy Mop Cleaners, or ones that include specific property types, like HomeShine Cleaning Co. or Office Sparkle Cleaners, which will box you into a certain service category.

No matter what you choose, it’s often good to include location-specific details in your business name. This could be the city (such as Atlanta), county (such as Fulton County), or nickname or abbreviation of the city (such as ATL). 

Derek Christian of All Star Cleaning Services of Fort Collins tells Connecteam that there’s a big benefit of including location details in a business name:

“For all the claims of fancy algorithms, Google tends not to know when you type in ‘Atlanta Maid Service’ if that is [a] generic [query] or the name of a company, so having your name be something people search for will help you pop up. 

That is why we are All Star Cleaning Services of Fort Collins. When people search ‘cleaning service Fort Collins,’ we are going to pop up.”

With that in mind, here are 12 general cleaning service names you can use:

1. Pristine Cleaners of [Location]
2. TotalCare Cleaning [Location]
3. EverClean Solutions of [Location]
4. Apex Cleaning Company
5. Renew Cleaning Co. [Location]
6. Bright Spaces Cleaning 
7. PureShine Cleaning Services
8. Neat & Tidy Cleaners of [Location]
9. [Location] Spotless Living 
10. Clear Skies Cleaning 
11. FreshStart Cleaners of [Location]
12. [Location] Star Cleaners

Commercial Cleaning Company Names 

Because they target business clients, commercial cleaning companies should choose names that sound neutral, reliable, and professional. A clear, descriptive name like “Citywide Cleaners of Atlanta” often works best because it communicates both the service and the market served.

As a general rule of thumb, the larger or more prestigious your commercial clients, the more refined and upscale your name should sound. Avoid overly casual or playful names since they’ll feel less suited to professional environments.

Some good words to use include “facility,” “solutions,” “maintenance,” “janitorial,” “pro,” “premier,” “total,” “city,” “metro,” and “office.” These communicate organization, reliability, and scale, which matter to business customers.

Like with general cleaning services, it’s a good idea to add your location to your name. This signals to Google and other search tools that your business is relevant for local searchers. 

You could use any of these cleaning company name ideas for your commercial services:

1. Total Cleaning Solutions of [Location]
2. [Location] Prime Commercial Cleaning
3. [Location] ClearEdge Janitorial
4. Sterling Maintenance of [Location]
5. Premier Cleaning Group [Location]
6. [Location] Precision Facility Care
7. ProVista Cleaning Services
8. Brightline Commercial Cleaning
9. Vanguard Maintenance Co. [Location]
10. Total Facility Care of [Location]
11. [Location] MetroClean Systems 
12. ShineWorks Commercial Cleaning [Location]

Residential Cleaning Company Names

Residential cleaners should choose names that sound friendly, trustworthy, and reassuring. Because employees work inside clients’ homes, your business name should make people feel comfortable and cared for. 

That said, if you’re targeting luxury homeowners, a name with a more elegant or refined tone can be appropriate. Don’t be afraid to use words like “crystal,” “premier,” or “signature”—these suggest quality and exclusivity.

Of course, it’s also smart to include your location in your business name.

Here are some strong name ideas for residential cleaning companies:

13. HappyNest Cleaning 
14. [Location] Fresh Home Cleaning
15. HomeGlow Cleaning of [Location]
16. BrightHome Cleaners
17. [Location] Neighbors Cleaning Co. 
18. Sunshine Housekeeping [Location]
19. HappyHome Cleaners [Location]
20. CrystalCare Home Services
21. Premier Home Cleaning [Location]
22. [Location] Elite Residential Cleaning
23. Neatline Home Services of [Location]
24. Signature Home Cleaning [Location]

Short-Term Rental Cleaning Company Names

In places with high tourism or business travel, short-term rental cleaning can be hugely profitable. Property owners are often willing to pay a premium for speed, reliability, and spotless results because their own income depends on quick turnovers and guest satisfaction.

To appeal to this market, choose a company name that reflects the fast-paced, detail-oriented nature of short-term rental cleaning. Go for words like “turnover,” “guest,” “stay,” “host,” “suite,” “breeze,” “fresh,” “ready,” “quick,” “prep,” and “key.”

It can also help to reference your local area or nearby travel destination, but avoid any copyrighted names. For instance, if your service area is near Disneyland in California, don’t call your cleaning company “Disneyland Rentals Cleaning Company.” Instead, something like “HappyHost Cleaners of Anaheim” will do the trick. 

Here are some strong name ideas for short-term rental cleaning companies:

25. [Location] Turnover Pros 
26. Guest-Ready Cleaning [Location]
27. SuiteClean Services
28. NextStay Cleaning Co. [Location]
29. Breeze Suite Cleaning 
30. [Location] TurnKey Cleaning
31. HostCare Cleaning Services [Location]
32. FreshFlip Cleaning 
33. QuickTurn Cleaners of [Location]
34. GuestPrep Cleaning
35. HappyHost Cleaners of [Location]
36. Ready4Guests Cleaning [Location]

Bonus: Funny Cleaning Company Names  

Humorous cleaning company names—ones that use puns, clever wordplay, or pop culture references—can grab people’s attention and make them remember your business. 

These names work especially well for residential and small business cleaning services, as they sound approachable, lighthearted, and friendly. However, they’re not the best for commercial cleaners since larger clients tend to prioritize professionalism over personality.

If you’re thinking about going for a funny cleaning company name, use words related to cleaning or household tasks that can be used in puns, such as “mop,” “dust,” “scrub,” “grime,” “shine,” “sweep,” “soak,” “broom,” “polish,” and “sparkle.”

Here are some names you could use:

37. Grime and Punishment
38. Mop Til You Drop
39. The Dirt Whisperers
40. Maid to Perfection
41. Dust Busters
42. Lord of the Rinse
43. The Grateful Scrub
44. The Mopfather
45. Sweep Dreams
46. Between a Mop and a Hard Place
47. Suck It Up
48. The Scrub Hub
49. The Bleach Boys
50. Maid in Heaven
51. Zero Dirt Thirty

A Guide to Registering and Trademarking Your Business Name 

Once you’ve narrowed down your list, it’s time to register and trademark your business name. Start with your top contenders, then follow these steps to see which are legally usable:

Step 1: See if your desired business name is available

First, you have to see if the business name you want is already taken. You can do this by heading to your state’s business registry (through the Secretary of State website) and searching for your desired company name. 

It’s also important to search for close variations. For instance, if the name you want is “The Bleach Boys,” you might search for “Bleach Boy Cleaners” and “Bleach Boys Cleaning Company.” 

Each state follows its own naming rules, but most don’t allow businesses to have the same or very similar names.

Step 2: Search for trademarks

Next, search the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) database to see whether your desired name or anything similar to it is already trademarked nationally. 

If you find a match in your industry, it’s best to avoid it entirely. Even if your business could legally operate under that name locally, a trademark holder could later challenge your use and force you to rebrand. 

However, if the same or similar name is used in a totally different industry, you can generally still move forward. Just steer clear of well-known or trademark-protected brands. For example, don’t name your business “Harry Potter Cleaners.”

Step 3: Check domain and social media availability

Once you’ve settled on a name that is available and not trademarked, don’t rush to register it. You want to check whether matching website domains and social media handles are available. This is because consistency across platforms helps customers find you easily and strengthens your brand identity. 

Use domain search tools or WHOIS databases to confirm availability. If your exact business name is taken, don’t panic. Try small, simple variations. For instance, you could move the location name from the end to the start (e.g., biirminghamstarcleaners.com instead of starcleanersbirmingham.com). Or, you could add short words like “the,” “co,” or “services.”

The golden rule is to keep your website domain and social media handles short and memorable. Overly long, cluttered domains and handles can look unprofessional and may be difficult to remember. For instance, imagine if Clean Queen Cleaning Services’s domain name was cleanqueencleaningservicesdenvercolorado.com. That’d be tricky to recall!

Step 4: Register the name legally

Next, register your business name with your state or local government. In most states, you’ll do this through the Secretary of State’s office, but some states handle business registration at the county level. If you’re unsure, contact your county clerk for more information.

If you plan to operate under a brand name different from your legal business name, you’ll need to file a “Doing Business As” (DBA) form. This enables you to legally use multiple brand names under one registered business.

For instance, say your company’s name is “Total Cleaners of Salt Lake City.” You could create a separate residential brand called “SLC Dust Busters” to appeal to homeowners, while keeping “Total Cleaners of Salt Lake City” for corporate clients. 

As with business registration, each state handles DBA filing differently. Contact your county clerk for details.

Step 5: Trademark your business name

Once your business is officially registered, consider trademarking your name through the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Trademarking gives you exclusive rights to use the name nationally within your industry and protects your brand against imitators.

Step 6: Comply with tax and licensing laws

If you plan to hire employees, you’ll need to file for an employer identification number (EIN) through the IRS. You need an EIN to file tax returns and pay payroll taxes. 

If your cleaning business serves specialized industries (such as healthcare, construction, or food service), you may need additional permits or licenses from local or state agencies. Requirements vary by location, so check with your county clerk or local business licensing office to confirm what applies to you.

FAQs 

The post 63 Cleaning Company Names You Can Use in 2026 appeared first on Connecteam.