cleaner

janitor

maintenance technician

building engineer

cleaning technician

ISS Facility Services

This job is located at the airport and I worked the graveyard shift where there is less people and traffic among people which is easy for all the workers to deep clean and maintain areas on an assigned daily basis.
Some of the management and supervisors are ruthless, treats everyone like a number not people, control freaks, love to use fear tactics, favoritism, sexist and some racist, mind games and manipulation, and thrive on negativity that involves client complaints, machine abuses, improper techniques on cleaning, worker misbehavior and bad habits, making good workers feel miserable when they feel miserable, and rumors among other workers. Only occasionally they will reward people based on good performance and accident free days. I got employee of the month and had the rewards and encouragement of all of the management and supervisors until it got old and some of the supervisors decided to make me feel miserable and try to punish and write me up for the smallest things until they got sick of picking on me. I was one of the hardest workers and always maintained my behavior and maintained that way until I decided to quit. At least the union is involved to mediate when there are disagreements between a worker and management. Some of the management and supervisors that were level headed and supportive were great at what they were doing, but the crazy and ruthless ones always put them down. Every manager and supervisor had strengths and weaknesses that they showed to the extreme.
I got along with almost all my co-workers including management, but there are some that choose to act immature and spread rumors about me because of their jealousy,misery, and totally different points of view. I've gotten to learn other people from different countries backgrounds, customs, and understanding their English through their thick accent. I felt like I was back in Jr. high they way some acted, had cliques, and opponents. A lot of hitting on and advances, but turn them all down. I've made some friends and lost some. 
The hardest part of the job depends on the day, weather, time, and situation. When there is a crowd of people due to late, canceled, or delayed flights; it's hard to clean certain areas with a crowd of people or people sleeping in the concourses and terminal areas and have to skip around for later or completely. If the cleaning equipment and machines malfunction or break down during use, it makes it harder to clean, delays cleaning schedule time management before the end of the shift or when the first passengers come in for early flights. Another one is making sure all passengers and other workers that are not cleaners are safe while cleaning despite taking all safety precautions by using caution and closed area signs. Some passengers and other workers are ignorant to be cautious or staying away from closed areas while some workers are ignorant not to take safety precautions. 
The most enjoyable part about this job was the opportunity to learn how to use the cleaning machines, making a person's day with jokes and support, dressing up festively without getting in trouble, meeting new people in all backgrounds, occasionally seeing a low profile celebrity, and some parties that management threw for the holidays and some celebrations. The days never get boring. 
Unfortunately this company runs through a business contract through the airport for a certain set amount of years so a lot competition is involved with other businesses that want to take over certain vendor industries like food, janitorial, retail, and other services. It goes through a bid process where the lowest bidder gets the contract to run its business. This company chose to bid the lowest and forced all the workers to accept wage, benefit, and hourly cuts. 
I decided to move on and start over somewhere else despite the pay rate and benefits.

A typical day we clock in at 5pm get a game plan together for the day. Everyone knows their responsibilities and we go on and get our work gear together. As team leader I was responsible for making sure all assigned daily work was completed in a timely manner and done to the building Managers satisfaction. I oversaw 2&1/2 floors. Trashing wiping glass doors down cleaning all bathrooms nightly (Private/public)< also responsible for vacuuming and dusting. we break at 7pm, take 15min. to grab a snack/drink. At 7:15pm we head back in to check the progress of work, where everyone is, do they need help, ect. The next few hours were spent finishing up all our daily Assignment and making sure that our co-workers had all their work done. We couldn't leave if someone wasn't finished. At the end of the night I had to make one more round to ensure all my doors were locked.

I learned a lot of people skills at this job. It also helped me w/ my efficiency rate and time management. 

Management of ISS broken into a few areas. ISS has a 'general manager' and each building has its own manager. Our building manager takes orders from our 'GM' who takes theirs from KY state building managers. my building manager was great, she was always willing to work w/ me on my time knowing I have kids and things come up. She helped me to learn my job and do it more efficiently.

At ISS you have a high turnover rate, especially on 2nd shift. I learned to work and supervise many different types of people. my coworkers (the ones that weren't in and our after 2 weeks) were great we all worked as a team we had our assigned work if you weren't done w/ your work you had help come the end of the night.

The hardest part of my job was the running I had to do. I wore a pedometer which told me I walked 6,000+ steps in one night. I was constantly back and forth between floors inspecting asking for corrections. If someone needed more supplies I was to run and get that for them. At the end of the night I was responsible for locking up my doors too. Gave me 1 more lap before my night was done.

The most enjoyable part of my job was the family I felt there. I feel like our building was an exception to the rule. we were friends, had small dinners after work to celebrate birthdays or whatever. The atmosphere I guess was the best part.

I moved to Iss 16 months ago under TUPE when they took over the contract from the previous company I had been with for years. It has without a doubt been the worst 16 months of my entire working life. The company like bidding for contracts but once theyve won them they have no idea how to service them properly. Their staff turnover is ridiculous. They do not value dedicated hard working staff. Their favourite word is ‘ Restructure ‘ and they spend more time putting new structures into place ,which normally means another change in management, than they do actually servicing the contracts and trying to keep their clients happy. Most of the higher management think the word ‘ cleaner ‘ means lowest of the low when it is actually the hard working underpaid cleaning staff who are trying to keep the clients happy. They do not value them at all. As a Manager I saw evidence of this on a daily basis. Pay issues are an ongoing problem and no one actually seems to care if the cleaners get paid properly for the work they do which explains why they can’t keep good staff. Why would they expect the people who they are paying the lowest the law allows them to pay to give up their family lives and give their all to a company who treats them like dirt and doesn’t want to pay them for the work they’ve done. This makes recruiting and retaining staff a nightmare for supervisors and managers. By the end of my 15 months with this company I was verging on being depressed, losing all sense of my own self worth and sick to death of butting heads with higher management who didn’t have a clue and changed that often I struggled to keep up with who my boss was. Their HR dept is a joke their payroll dept is a joke and fobbing staff and customers off with one promise after the other and then never delivering is common practice. I am now fortunate enough to be out of it and to have my family life and self esteem back. Good luck with your next ‘ Restructure’ Iss because like all your previous ones it won’t work.

Not a bad place to work.  People here are VERY talented (HP employees)  But the ISS World  management are pretty much short sighted as far as future expectations.  HP will  lay people off with little or NO warning at all.  People with over 25-30 years of tenure are tossed away with no one in mind to replace them.  Not a lot of help from supervisor's if you want to advance at all.  Day consists of working with and for customers wanting to ship INTL and domestic also trouble shooting for all people in my region when there are issue's with our SAP system. I have learned to expect the unexpected and to not take people's request's for granted.  I learned what it takes to be on top of my game, a lot of anticipating customers wants and needs and how to come through for them without fail. Co-workers are great to interact with, having taught them how to work through a problem and succeed is very gratifying. Hardest part is trying to convey to customers what happens when they don't comply with HP procedure as far as customs and Brokers are concerned. Also some of the road blocks that management throw at us concerning manpower and surprise assignments with almost NO warning. Best part of the job is coming through for the customer when they think all is lost.  Also teaching my crew how do certain task's and then having them succeed is by far the best reward.

That is if you don't mind the low pay, working with broken down equipment, and superisors that don't even know the job required. ISS has screwy budgets they hold to.  For example, they don't have a problem throwing out mop heads and dust mops when they just need to be washed, but instead waste money buying new ones.  In return, when more workers are needed for a job, they refuse it for the sake of their budget and expect the job to be done regardless of the loss of help.  

I was placed in a supervisor position for a new contract they recieved with the Navy.  There wasn't enough hours in a day to make sure the Navy was pleased with the work being done.  First off, ISS was not ready when the job started and a month into it they still didn't have everything in place. ISS only allowed for 5 people under me when I actually needed another 4.  They refused me to work beyond the hours given to me and refused me in working off-clock to get the job requirements done. When the Navy complained, ISS threw me under the bus.

I wasn't fired however, but still have my job in the school system, but am quite dissapointed that a company of their size and professionalism, or lack thereof, behaves this way.  ISS is a workplace that is only good for low-level workers who don't care about advancement or getting anywhere in life.  ISS is a company who serves its own desires and doesn't seem to care about what is actually needed for a job due to their "budget".

Good brand to work for and standard company documents well exceed expectations in terms of employee protection and advancement.
BUT
Not having Uncles, Brothers and Mates up in hierarchy is a severe career disadvantage.
Management is top heavy and boots on the ground are squeezed, trodded and disposed.
Company culture in the division is toxic, 90 plus management staffs turnover in less then 4 years of the contract. Don't even have introductory and good-bye emails/ meets, may be due to high turnover and no bonding in-between.
Parachuted managers and supervisors thus create culture clash and chaos due to lack of support and guidance. Field staffs have less regard for management staffs as high turnover and limited exposure creates no bond.
Safety is a concern at every worksite. Its plainly disregarded, its amazing how worksafe never gets involved in this government contract !
Tea room talk is always 'Everyone who left are doing better in their career and work life balance' not encouraging for any new starters. Everyone seems like waiting for other career opportunities.



Very unpredictable days which require intense multitasking. I learned how to manage multiple locations and employees at once. I learned how to produce supply orders, payroll, and also use disciplinary action with problematic employees. Management is pretty divided and lacks team work. There is not much developing of individuals but more of a figure it out type approach by management. Due to tension and an uncomfortable work place co-workers have become immensely self centered and fear that stepping out to help others will leave their responsibilities unattended giving room for error. The hardest part of the job is team projects which ties in with the previous sentence. Projects which by all means have very good purpose and good information, instead of becoming motivating for success become burdens. Much like the smart kid in class who puts a biology presentation together with endless nights of work only to be surrounded by a team that only shows up for the credit. On the other hand I do enjoy making leaps and being involved with new implementations to a company. Most often than not a team project means it will become an individuals project. My ultimate passion is seeing and helping my employees succeed in what ever they do and is the reason for all my hard work.

A typical day began at 5 pm by getting admittance into locked facility.  Completed all assigned duties and improvised when unexpected situations arose.  Drove to 2nd facility and completed all assigned duties; locked up facility buildings and deposited garbage.

Learned to use some new cleaning products and methods and also developed good organization timing.

Management was almost non-existent--basically a short training on how and where to perform duties.  Then only saw our supervisor (sometimes) when supplies were delivered.  There were 4 supervisor changes in the short period I was there.  I didn't even know the last name of one of them nor the name of the last one.  Response to requests for supplies were extremely tardy.  So, learned to do job without the supplies or worn out supplies.

My 2 co-workers were superb--hard-working and reliable.  Also, the employees of the 2 facilities were friendly and helpful.

Hardest part of the job was trying to get supplies or get supervisor to contact you with answers to questions or concerns.

Most enjoyable part of the job were my co-workers and the stability of the job.

Worked for ISS for 6 years. My first manager was actually insane. He throw things at people, threatened them with physical harm, yelled and screamed at you at the top of his lungs, and didn't know what he was doing. Many people reported him to the higher up but nothing would ever happen. It wasnt until he threated to beat some one up and a employee of where we worked at over heard and reported him did any thing finally change. Then we got a Junky for a supervisor who wouldn't even show up and when she did she was high off her rocker. Again we would report to the higher ups and nothing would happen.

We cycle through people like crazy because no one wants to work their. One year we were down to 1/3 the people because we couldn't hire any one because the Manager was home getting high. I'm shocked they still have the accounts. The pay is awful. been their for 6 years and got one raise. They keep telling you that oh next year we will be giving you guys a $1 more a hour and that never happens. 

They want you to give and give but they give nothing in return. Try to get time off for any thing and you have to ask a month in advance. The management is just vile and disgusting. When I got a new job I didn't even give them my 2 week notice as a rotten dump like that and how badly they treated me I owed them nothing.

Never work for this company.

In my 18 years of being in the workforce, ISS Facility Services has been the only employer to actually give me an anxiety attack from how poorly I was treated.

ISS took over the support staff for the company I used to be an employee for and suddenly I was no longer well-paid, trained and skilled employee -  I was a contractor to be treated like garbage by the new ISS manager.

And that's to say nothing of how impressively disorganized the company was at a whole. I technically worked for two months off the clock because they couldn't get their payroll sorted out. It took them weeks to send our department our new uniforms. And then we they finally did, they sent everyone the wrong sizes. It then took several more weeks to get replacement uniforms and even then, they screwed up and didn't send enough 

And in the end my employment was terminated not because of poor performance but so they could hire a replacement for three dollars less per hour.

ISS likes to pretend that they're different but they're the exact same as every other heartless and incompetant contracting company.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Cleaner 9 salaries reported	$11.57 per hour
Janitor 18 salaries reported	$14.46 per hour
Maintenance technician 5 salaries reported	$21.60 per hour
Building engineer 22 salaries reported	$43.52 per hour
Cleaning technician 9 salaries reported	$19.94 per hour

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