Employee retention is always important, but in janitorial and facility services, its impact shows up immediately in service consistency, client satisfaction, and operating costs.
During the BSCAI Virtual HR Summit, Ewa Lorick, vice president of human resources for The Budd Group, and Karina Villasenor, vice president of human resources for Forum Building Solutions broke down why retention matters, what to measure, and how to turn those insights into action. Here, we recap some of their key points you can start incorporating into your work today.
Retention Is Not Just HR’s Problem
Lorick opened with a point that framed the entire conversation: in this industry, retention functions as a business performance indicator, not just a people metric. Better retention lowers recruiting and onboarding costs, reduces the need for constant equipment replacement, and frees supervisors from the churn of retraining new hires.
It also stabilizes service quality. Long‑tenured cleaners know the building layout, understand client expectations, and often catch issues before they turn into complaints. High turnover disrupts that continuity and leads to inconsistent service, which clients notice immediately.
Villasenor underscored this from the client’s perspective: day porters become the visible face of the company. Clients may never meet corporate staff, but they know when their regular porter is missing. Longevity builds trust and personal rapport, something that’s hard to replace once lost.
6 Metrics That Tell the Real Story
Retention rates alone don’t explain much. Lorick walked through several metrics that offer a clearer, more actionable view of what’s happening inside the workforce.
1. Voluntary vs. involuntary turnover: This distinction is one of the earliest indicators of deeper issues. High voluntary turnover signals cultural or managerial problems; high involuntary turnover usually points to hiring or recruiting gaps.
2. Regrettable vs. non‑regrettable loss: Losing high performers (regrettable loss) should set off alarms. Losing low performers or poor fits (non‑regrettable loss) can be healthy. Monitoring the balance between the two helps leaders understand whether they’re losing the wrong people.
3. New‑hire turnover: The first 90 days or first year of an employee’s journey are particularly revealing. At The Budd Group, Lorick’s team found that employees who left early were also more likely to have safety incidents, evidence that onboarding and training weren’t making an impact. The company used that insight to review training, safety gear, and expectations set during hiring.
4. Tenure curve changes: If employees who used to stay two to five years begin leaving earlier, it may mean they’ve hit a ceiling with no visible path forward.
5. eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score): Asking employees how likely they are to recommend the company on a scale of 0 to 10 gives leadership early information on satisfaction, well before resignations start showing up.
6. Manager‑level outliers: A local spike in turnover is rarely random. If attrition clusters under one supervisor or in one building, leadership should take a closer look.
Early Warning Signs Before an Employee Leaves
Lorick pointed out several behavioral patterns that show up before someone resigns:
- Withdrawal from engagement: Reduced participation, no longer offering opinions.
- PTO stacking: Calling out more often or taking sudden clusters of time off.
- Behavioral shifts in high performers: Especially those who have been in the same role, title, and pay for a long time.
These signals often show up before a resignation letter hits a manager’s desk. Catching them early can prevent replacement costs.
Stay Interviews: More Than an HR Tool
Villasenor explained that stay interviews complement retention data by shifting leaders into a more proactive stance. Instead of waiting for exit interviews, where feedback comes too late, stay interviews uncover what keeps employees committed or what’s starting to push them away.
They also add context behind numerical trends. Data might show an uptick in turnover; stay interviews help pinpoint if the reason is workload, pay, a supervisor, or lack of mobility.
Career Pathways Matter
When employees can’t see a path forward, both speakers agreed that turnover risk increases. Villasenor described Forum’s Lead360 program, which offers clear advancement opportunities, internal classes, and company‑funded external training. This structure gives both hourly employees and managers a roadmap for growth, something that keeps top performers from looking elsewhere.
The Bottom Line
In janitorial services, retention is a direct contributor to service quality, client satisfaction, safety, and profitability. From Lorick and Villasenor’s experiences, the most effective organizations know exactly which metrics to watch, look for early warning signs, act on data quickly, and make career growth visible and attainable.
In an industry built on trust, consistency, and long‑term client relationships, keeping good people extends beyond good practice. When managed carefully, it becomes a competitive advantage.