janitor

custodian

shift manager

hvac technician

groundskeeper

SSC Services for Education

From my personal experience, you should be prepared to be micromanaged. I would be constantly hovered over by management and they would point out trash or glass doors needing to be wiped, etc. while I was still in the room cleaning them! I constantly received phone calls and text messages from them during off the clock hours. Even had a supervisor show up to my house. They moved me around to a harder workload, because according to them, I was their “best cleaner” and I only ever had one noted complaint, which was fixed. It’s a shame good workers get penalized by receiving more work. Waited about 3 months for my initial keys, so I had to constantly flag down the supervisor or hopefully find a coworker to unlock the classrooms and the janitor closet so I could work. Few weeks later, my key tore, and although was still useable, I had requested a replacement as I was afraid it would snap every time I used it and would get locked out of the building. Three additional months later and I still never received a replacement. SSC rarely provided adequate cleaning supplies or equipment to complete tasks effectively and/or efficiently and if they did, management would hide the supplies until you begged them for new ones. I also was not provided with all the tools I needed like a scrapper and had to buy one at my own expense. Dry mop heads would become so worn out they would eventually only push around dirt and your pole would practically penetrate through the other side. Wet mop heads would become so old and dirty that they would smell of mildew and mold. They also recently changed their wet mop heads which, unfortunately; fall off as soon as it gets wet. It got to the point that I was willing to once again spend my own money to order new ones for myself so I could do my job. I also would spend time at the beginning or end of my shift to organize my cart and to replenish any needed supplies like cleaners, paper towels, trash bags, etc. only to come in the next shift to almost all of it completely gone. Meaning someone deliberately unlocked the closet that was assigned to me and took supplies from my cart and shelving. Not once had anyone refilled or replaced said supplies, and the manager would not even give me the light of day for a legitimate explanation about why the supplies were being taken away from me; but rather met with a dismissive attitude and response. At the location I was assigned, the manager was a bully and is SSC’s biggest downfall as they were controlling and power hungry, regularly using immature and passive aggressive behavior, and being petty on minor cleaning habits. I also witnessed said manager bully another coworker into quitting.

My experience at SSC Services for Education was characterized by a fundamental disconnect between hiring promises and daily operational reality. During the onboarding process, I was hired for a full-time position despite requesting part-time work, and I was assigned to a job site different from the one I had originally requested.
The management culture is deeply problematic. Supervisors are frequently disengaged, often focusing on personal phone conversations through their earbuds rather than providing active leadership. This lack of support is compounded by a reliance on "tribal knowledge" rather than standardized operating procedures. When logistical failures occur—such as being sent to a site without the necessary keys or access—management frequently resorts to gaslighting the employee and expressing annoyance, rather than providing the tools required to perform the job.
The working conditions are equally unstable. Management unilaterally alters shift start times—shifting from 3:30 PM to 11—and imposes irregular schedules like 10-hour shifts without any prior consultation. Furthermore, I was required to commute between multiple job sites within a single day without any form of mileage reimbursement, placing a significant and unfair financial burden on me. The workplace environment is further marred by exclusionary "mean girl" tactics and forced isolation, which creates unnecessary interpersonal friction. This is an environment that prioritizes drama and logistical chaos over professional, respectful, and reliable employment.

The work environment at SSC is extremely challenging and stressful. Managers constantly push you to finish tasks, even if it means overwhelming you with more work than you can handle. Instead of finding the problem or source, they'd rather find a person they can throw all the work onto. 
They also lacks in getting you proper supplies and communication making it difficult to perform your job tasks.


Your typical work day is very packed, busy and little to no breaks especially when your alone and no actual help is available. You will constantly be on the move. And then occasionally, you will get more tasks thrown on you if you do get a slow down point. The company does not want you to leave if your task is unfinished. They'd rather try to
Inform you that you cannot leave until your area is done.Even if that means you go into overtime. 

This company also gives false promises and false hope that cant be forfilled. They can say one thing, but take it back in an instant.  They do not take complaints seriously and often dismisses them, creating a hectic work environment. Another thing that is a problem. Everybody wants to be in charge, and be the one giving orders, but you never can find the person who's actually in authority this causes a lot of miscommunication and stress on an individual. 

There is little to non promotional opportunity, Low pay, and unprofessional employees. 

Though, I will say one positive thing about this job. The best thing about working at this job is being in the school with the other staffs and students. They make your day truly worth it. They are so kind and friendly, When it comes to you. 

This job was the worse experience of my life. I came from the hospital system and I thought that was bad. 

There’s no work life balance.
 You will manage 8-12 public schools that are horrible.
Turn over is so bad
Working 12-15 hours daily. Plus computer work at home. Phone going off all day and night.
When school is out it only gets worse. They will lay almost everyone person off then expect floors to be stripped and waxed and all furniture must be moved by ssc staff. I worked almost 40 days straight with no days off, some days I was forced to work 19 hours. 

I was a new hire having to do all this for 6-8 months with almost no training, I wasn’t even shown all my schools I was going to manage. 
Management above me was very disrespectful and did nothing to help me or the other directors. Multiple people quit and they will probably be losing the contract as well.

I recommend to never join SSC, I enjoyed my time with compass group at the hospitals but this was so bad and no structure in SSC period. 

It’s hard to keep people because they know they lie and tell them they won’t get laid off but then they do and tell them they can come back when school starts. Why would anyone want to come back when there’s no job security? No holiday pay, barely accumulated vac days, the list goes on.

It does no matter what state you live in either, they do the lay offs during the summer all over and they will work you to death and disrespect you in the process. 

The only thing I enjoyed was the company truck. Nothing else. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
You have great respect for the directors and hourly workers doing the work to keep the schools clean.  They care about the job they need to do and the best do about 60% of the work.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Contracts bid 20-30% under the labor hours needed to get the schools cleaned.  Maintaining a consistent hourly staff that gets paid no holidays and limited PTO.  The turnover was high during major holidays at the new accounts because they realized they didn't get paid for being off.  Leadership constantly wanted you to "cut days", taking $ out of the hourly custodial worker's pockets.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Leadership did not listen to any legitimate issues with the labor force such as holiday pay and PTO.  A common phrase was "we don't do that" while many of our competitor's did.  Like all of my experiences at Compass Group, it was who you knew and performance didn't matter.  People were constantly promoted even though their operations were poorly run and everyone else knew it.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Answering emails from clients complaining that their schools weren't clean.  Taking calls from directors complaining that they didn't have enough people to keep the schools clean.  Answering calls and emails from leadership on why we were over budget on labor even though our contracts didn't match the RFPs.

What is the best part of working at the company?
At one point the freedom to work independently with no one micro managing you. But now that has changed management is the worst 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
This is the most unprofessional, unorganized, company I have ever worked for. They make up rules day by day. They want you to go above and beyond, but aren't welling to pay more for the work you put in. They don't allow OT, when you try to use your PTO they will deny you if the reasoning isn't to their liking  they write up for the dumbest reasons, and treat their employees like kids. Some managers will talk to you crazy, but will punishment you if you respond back. Don't bother contacting HR because they don't have your back nor does the Upper management over your supervisors. The list goes on. But I'll end it with this... If your not a favorite or a butt kisser they will make things hard for you.  No matter how hard you work, they don't care because they act based off emotions and not professionalism.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Depends on who your manager and supervisors are, and what school or locations they put you at

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
In the beginning it was chill! Once you learned your school and got the hang of it it was simple and peaceful. IF you're not a walkie holder/ day porter. But now they they have new management it's AWFUL

This job is the most flexible I've ever had. Calling out is not hard to do and the work is very straightforward. Pull trash, dust mop, sweep, mop, virex. The managers are a joke though. They can be very lazy and have a tendency to blow up your phone to do extra work but there is no overtime or extra pay; so you learn very quickly to turn the additional work down. Many people are getting away with showing up and not doing their jobs and then management will have the nerve to call you and ask you if you can show up and do it (again for no additional pay and a halfway thank you). My coworkers so far have been nice and so have many of the teachers and students; but some are quite dismissive and rude. Sometimes the teachers stay for hours after school ends so that makes it difficult and awkward to do your job at times. The pay is also bad. I've learned some folks can get hired for around $9-12 an hour. I make $9 an hour so I'm soon going to leave and find somewhere with better pay. Easy work but if you want a much better rate of pay with more organized and communicative managers, DO NOT WORK HERE!

This is the worst job I think I’ll ever have. The work itself is great, it’s the people that will have you ready to leave after a month. Management is non existent, they stay in their offices and when you go to them for supplies or  issues concerning your building they act as if they’d rather be doing anything else. You have to screw you’re way up the ladder if you want pay advancement at all. They can’t keep up with supplies and employees are literally  having to barter for bags and toilet paper between each other. You have to take your trash in your car in most buildings even though the lead/supervisor is supposed to pick it up. If you have multiple people in your building and one calls out it’s the supervisors job to cover that but they put it off on other employees because they’d rather get paid to hide in their vehicles all day. There’s no drug test required and apparently the boss can’t tell when somebody’s geeking so be prepared to work with some real crack headed jewels. $8 an hour full time gets the bills paid. But it IS NOT WORTH IT. If you absolutely can’t find anything else, they’ll hire you and you can probably deal with it long enough to find something better. Otherwise stay away from this place.

Being clean and tidy is my thing and I'm good at it. The plus was knowing my own kids' school was being well cared for and sanitary. I had no problem being thrown into neglected situations, I can fix it. I understand how overwhelming it can get to some people, and that was okay with me because this was my profession. I've been in hazardous cleaning jobs before this, neglected hoarder houses, air bnb gigs, and plenty of time in the BOH. Tbh, I thought I was signing up for a job that would be a lot lighter duty (because of me getting older), and I was humble with the thought of retiring as a janitor. Making sure those babies had a clean room to come into every morning pleased me. Especially Making sure to pay special attention to those rooms with the children that may have sensory issues.  But, I had bad management, bad communication, which none was needed much, but when it was an emergency, I got no one. Then, I had to learn my hours were cut, and so many hours could be had at a one school. I gave more than myself to that company, and I did receive that pat on the back every now and then, and that's all I needed. Till the last 4 months under new management, it was extremely difficult to handle their drama. I love the schools and I'd go back in an instant for them kids, but I'd have some stipulations first,  or no go, yo!

The job is fairly simple. As long as you're willing to work and can comprehend basic things, you should be fine. Unfortunately some of the co-workers don't have very good work ethic. The manager is great. She's fantastic, unfortunately, I feel she's overworked and slightly overwhelmed . There's two supervisors at night that float between their assigned schools. One is cool and laid back one is a demon, depending on who's in charge of your school will greatly affect how you like your job. 
Unfortunately during my time there most of my co-workers were basically useless. There was a couple that were okay. They tried to add mini bosses  at night  which in my opinion was not needed and in fact hurt them. These know nothings (leads)will tell you what to do down to a tee while they themselves. Laylow. Playing on their phone hiding away in the shadows.
Communication is not a strong suit here. Unfortunately that was the end of the road for me. I just couldn't deal with any more stress . It's a shame. The manager is super nice and deserves better. Other than that, if they left you alone the job was fine but the amount of work you had to do sometimes with staggering. Pay needs to improve.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Janitor 20 salaries reported	$28.76 per hour
Custodian 10 salaries reported	$10.49 per hour
Shift manager 1 salary reported	$59,296 per year
Hvac technician 1 salary reported	$25.00 per hour
Groundskeeper 19 salaries reported	$13.50 per hour

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