USA – Most large American
employers have a plan to control a COVID-19 outbreak at this point. We’re past
the awkward fumbling of early April, where our teams were trying to educate an
unaware workforce about a new pathogen.
employers have a plan to control a COVID-19 outbreak at this point. We’re past
the awkward fumbling of early April, where our teams were trying to educate an
unaware workforce about a new pathogen.
Most employees
understand the rules at this point. Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Avoid large
groups of people. You can adjust the flow of work within a plant to reduce the
risk of exposure within your team. With proper precautions and good execution,
the workplace can be protected.Unfortunately, your
workers can catch COVID-19 from community exposure as well. Your team heads
home, stops by the grocery store, chats with some neighbors, and socializes
with their family — all of which create additional opportunities for them to
catch this new disease.So what do you do when
one of them brings this new pathogen back into the office?COVID-19
as a business challengeThe typical incident
starts with a phone call, generally a few days after an employee calls out
sick. Most COVID-19 cases are mild, by the way, and many patients are on their
way to recovery by the time they become aware of their exposure. This means
they potentially had several days in which to expose their colleagues to the
disease, not to mention contaminate surfaces in their work area.As a business operations
leader, you’ve got two significant challenges. First, you need to quickly
isolate and test exposed team members to ensure the virus doesn’t spread.
Second, you’re going to need to ensure the location is safe enough to bring
people back to work.The first of these
challenges can bring even a well-run manufacturing facility to its knees. For
example, look at the U.S. food processing industry, an industry that routinely
requires large numbers of employees to work in close proximity to each other.
Tyson Foods, a leading U.S. meatpacking company, reported outbreaks at three
meatpacking plants during the month of April. Dealing with these outbreaks
resulted in the closure of each plant for several days for testing and deep
cleaning.In the Tyson case, the
pathogen had spread very quickly before management was aware of the outbreak.
Subsequent testing of plant employees revealed that at least 15% of the team at
two plants had been infected with the virus. This process was hindered by the
fact that three quarters of these cases were effectively asymptomatic, delaying
detection of the outbreak.The business impact was
noticeable. All three of the affected plants were closed for several days,
adding pressure to an already strained grocery supply chain. These closures
attracted the attention of the national media, who ran sensationalist pieces
about the situation, potentially distorting consumer demand and stirring policy
discussion. Politicians and industry regulators alike paid close attention to
events at the meatpacking plants.Beyond the damage to the brand image and the strain on customer relationships, a second major challenge lurked. While 80% of the Tyson workforce tested negative for COVID-19, confidence had taken a major hit. Assurances were needed to get employees to return to work.While an inspector may
deem a manufacturing plant to “be safe”, that doesn’t create any value unless
employees are comfortable enough to show up for work Monday morning.The
business value of deep cleaning: instilling confidence There’s nothing magical
about cleaning and sanitizing an area against COVID-19. Modern disinfectants
have broad kill claims against viruses. If your current janitorial services
provider is diligently doing their job and cleaning surfaces, you should
already be in decent shape. However, dealing with a confirmed case requires a
deeper cleaning process.Aftermath Services is one company that already specializes in deep
cleaning services. Before the crisis they built a nationwide business focused
on trauma and crime scene cleanup, which often requires a similar level of
diligence. With extensive experience addressing biological hazards in unwanted
places, they pivoted to address COVID-19 as the pandemic gained strength.In the words of Bryan
Warcholek, the general manager of Aftermath’s COVID-19 team, describes the
company’s value in this video, “Anyone without training can clean. It’s going
to be everything you can’t see that needs to be disinfected.”There are two additional
assurances attached to that statement. First, the cleaning process should
address hard to reach surfaces where pathogens from an infected employee can
lurk. In addition to a comprehensive scrubbing of every surface, most deep
cleaners use an electrostatic spray or other technology for untouched
areas. Second, you’re paying
for the assurance that the cleaning itself was conducted in a comprehensive
manner, that the cleaning was executed as a controlled and disciplined
technical process vs. the more superficial “tidying up” that a janitor might
provide.These extra assurances
should give your employees the confidence to return to work after an outbreak.Deep
cleaning as a growth platform It takes only a single
infected employee to trigger the need for a deep cleaning service, to contain
the outbreak before it gains strength within a workplace. With 2.3 million
cases of coronavirus in the US, demand for these services is growing rapidly.This demand is a growth
platform for companies in the building services and construction space.
Challenged with the rise of work from home and shift from retail to ecommerce channels, deep cleaning is creating a welcome pocket of
underserved demand in their core markets. We could be headed towards a future
with fewer offices, operated with greater precaution to prevent infection.One company that has
aggressively pivoted into this space is PowerHouse, a portfolio company of Lincolnshire Management. Powerhouse is a construction and building
services contractor that already offers deep cleaning services to their
customer base. They already have expertise in sanitizing and biohazard cleanup.
To unlock growth, they added sales resources and marketing.“We want to grow the
products and services to other spaces and do more in healthcare, retail and
hospitality,” said Phil Kim, a managing director at Lincolnshire.This approach to growth
is well aligned with Lincolnshire’s playbook as an operationally focused middle
market private equity firm. Like many private equity firms, Lincolnshire’s operating model enabled them to
pivot into an emerging market unlocked by industry disruption, one that could
help American employees return to the workplace.
understand the rules at this point. Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Avoid large
groups of people. You can adjust the flow of work within a plant to reduce the
risk of exposure within your team. With proper precautions and good execution,
the workplace can be protected.Unfortunately, your
workers can catch COVID-19 from community exposure as well. Your team heads
home, stops by the grocery store, chats with some neighbors, and socializes
with their family — all of which create additional opportunities for them to
catch this new disease.So what do you do when
one of them brings this new pathogen back into the office?COVID-19
as a business challengeThe typical incident
starts with a phone call, generally a few days after an employee calls out
sick. Most COVID-19 cases are mild, by the way, and many patients are on their
way to recovery by the time they become aware of their exposure. This means
they potentially had several days in which to expose their colleagues to the
disease, not to mention contaminate surfaces in their work area.As a business operations
leader, you’ve got two significant challenges. First, you need to quickly
isolate and test exposed team members to ensure the virus doesn’t spread.
Second, you’re going to need to ensure the location is safe enough to bring
people back to work.The first of these
challenges can bring even a well-run manufacturing facility to its knees. For
example, look at the U.S. food processing industry, an industry that routinely
requires large numbers of employees to work in close proximity to each other.
Tyson Foods, a leading U.S. meatpacking company, reported outbreaks at three
meatpacking plants during the month of April. Dealing with these outbreaks
resulted in the closure of each plant for several days for testing and deep
cleaning.In the Tyson case, the
pathogen had spread very quickly before management was aware of the outbreak.
Subsequent testing of plant employees revealed that at least 15% of the team at
two plants had been infected with the virus. This process was hindered by the
fact that three quarters of these cases were effectively asymptomatic, delaying
detection of the outbreak.The business impact was
noticeable. All three of the affected plants were closed for several days,
adding pressure to an already strained grocery supply chain. These closures
attracted the attention of the national media, who ran sensationalist pieces
about the situation, potentially distorting consumer demand and stirring policy
discussion. Politicians and industry regulators alike paid close attention to
events at the meatpacking plants.Beyond the damage to the brand image and the strain on customer relationships, a second major challenge lurked. While 80% of the Tyson workforce tested negative for COVID-19, confidence had taken a major hit. Assurances were needed to get employees to return to work.While an inspector may
deem a manufacturing plant to “be safe”, that doesn’t create any value unless
employees are comfortable enough to show up for work Monday morning.The
business value of deep cleaning: instilling confidence There’s nothing magical
about cleaning and sanitizing an area against COVID-19. Modern disinfectants
have broad kill claims against viruses. If your current janitorial services
provider is diligently doing their job and cleaning surfaces, you should
already be in decent shape. However, dealing with a confirmed case requires a
deeper cleaning process.Aftermath Services is one company that already specializes in deep
cleaning services. Before the crisis they built a nationwide business focused
on trauma and crime scene cleanup, which often requires a similar level of
diligence. With extensive experience addressing biological hazards in unwanted
places, they pivoted to address COVID-19 as the pandemic gained strength.In the words of Bryan
Warcholek, the general manager of Aftermath’s COVID-19 team, describes the
company’s value in this video, “Anyone without training can clean. It’s going
to be everything you can’t see that needs to be disinfected.”There are two additional
assurances attached to that statement. First, the cleaning process should
address hard to reach surfaces where pathogens from an infected employee can
lurk. In addition to a comprehensive scrubbing of every surface, most deep
cleaners use an electrostatic spray or other technology for untouched
areas. Second, you’re paying
for the assurance that the cleaning itself was conducted in a comprehensive
manner, that the cleaning was executed as a controlled and disciplined
technical process vs. the more superficial “tidying up” that a janitor might
provide.These extra assurances
should give your employees the confidence to return to work after an outbreak.Deep
cleaning as a growth platform It takes only a single
infected employee to trigger the need for a deep cleaning service, to contain
the outbreak before it gains strength within a workplace. With 2.3 million
cases of coronavirus in the US, demand for these services is growing rapidly.This demand is a growth
platform for companies in the building services and construction space.
Challenged with the rise of work from home and shift from retail to ecommerce channels, deep cleaning is creating a welcome pocket of
underserved demand in their core markets. We could be headed towards a future
with fewer offices, operated with greater precaution to prevent infection.One company that has
aggressively pivoted into this space is PowerHouse, a portfolio company of Lincolnshire Management. Powerhouse is a construction and building
services contractor that already offers deep cleaning services to their
customer base. They already have expertise in sanitizing and biohazard cleanup.
To unlock growth, they added sales resources and marketing.“We want to grow the
products and services to other spaces and do more in healthcare, retail and
hospitality,” said Phil Kim, a managing director at Lincolnshire.This approach to growth
is well aligned with Lincolnshire’s playbook as an operationally focused middle
market private equity firm. Like many private equity firms, Lincolnshire’s operating model enabled them to
pivot into an emerging market unlocked by industry disruption, one that could
help American employees return to the workplace.
