Custodian and Administrator Responsibilities

• Custodians have these primary responsibilities
  • Room setup and teardown
  • Cleanliness
  • Maintenance
  • Security
• Administrators are responsible for the work done (or not done) by the custodian(s).
  • If a custodian is not meeting expectations, the administrator must take action in the form of a meeting or disciplinary consequences.
  • Before taking disciplinary action, it is important to learn the reasons for the poor performance. Sometimes a personal matter can make it hard for an employee to focus. The administrator might be able to help with the personal matter and thus retain a good employee.
  • If the custodian is just not able to do his or her job, release the employee ASAP. Be as generous as you can with a severance package and recommit yourself to hiring well on the next custodian.
• Administrators are responsible for the morale of the custodians too. A couple of times a year, do something “fun” such as buying them pizza for lunch or hosting a game of pool.
• Custodians are people but too many times they are seen as tools; treat them as people, not utensils.

Lead On!

Steve

Create spreadsheets (part 2 of 2)

• Create whatever spreadsheets help you. Below is a list of some that many administrators find useful:
  • Room setups – this spreadsheet should list all rooms in rows, and the columns should have titles for the weekly or monthly regular meetings, the normal setup style, how long it takes to do the regular setup and teardown, and other info.
  • Room cleaning – this spreadsheet will list all rooms in the entire facility and how long it takes to clean each room on a weekly basis (vacuum, empty trash, wash boards, etc.) and then how long it takes to give the room a deeper cleaning of the room on a quarterly or semi-annual basis (thorough floor cleaning, washing windows, etc.).
  • Vendors – this lists all the companies that provide services and products for the building and grounds. It also lists what each company does, the contact people, their phone numbers, emails, and other ways to reach key people.
  • Floor plans – make several copies of your floor plans and then on each copy, mark the location of the following items:
    • Fire
      • Main Fire Panel
      • Fire Pull Stations
      • Visual Alarms (strobe lights)
      • Smoke Detectors
      • Heat Detectors
      • Fire Extinguisher locations
      • Riser closet (for sprinkler system)
      • External pressure pump for sprinkler system)
    • Water cutoff valves and what they cut off
    • Electrical
      • Electrical panels
      • Main breakers
    • Security
      • Camera recording computer
      • Camera locations
      • Motion detector sensors
      • Angle and distance of motion sensor throws
    • HVAC
      • Equipment locations
      • Thermostat locations
      • Equipment make, model, description, and condition
    • Other lists
      • Key log
      • Capital Needs List
      • Normal HVAC Schedule
      • List of roof replacements
      • List of areas & rooms painted and when
      • List of areas & rooms with new flooring and when
    • Give copies of these electronic files to key people. Update these files as often as information changes. These are “living” docs and should not be shelved; use them regularly.

Lead On!

Steve

Create spreadsheets (part 1 of 2)

• Make a series of continually updated documents which contain a wealth of information and which are tools for the administrator, administrative assistants, and custodians.
• The cleaning and room setup and teardown spreadsheets will list the amount of time it takes to do a specific task.
  • This information can be used to determine how many custodians you need on a regular basis. I suggest planning to use about 85-90% of a custodian’s time for the regular items and leave about 10-15% for special setups or unforeseen events.
  • This data can be used in performance evaluations of the custodians.
  • This data is also helpful in explaining to committees why the church needs the number of custodians it does.

Lead On!

Steve

Establish online room requests

• Work with your website guru to develop a registration page for room requests.
• Everyone (staff person, member, outsider, etc.) must complete a room request online to ask for a room.
• Upon hitting “submit,” emails are generated and sent to the appropriate staff person(s) and back to the person making the request.
• This system creates an electronic paper trail, and it also creates a document which can be used in doing the room setup.

Lead On!

Steve

Make custodians responsible for specific areas (this is only if you have more than one custodian in your church)

• There is a debate about whether custodians are responsible for the entire building or specific areas. They actually are responsible for both.
• Custodians should be responsible for specific areas for cleanliness and room setups and tear-downs. As a matter of week-to-week practice, custodians should focus on their part of the building for regular activities.
• Custodians should be available and willing to help each other in major setups and tear-downs which are beyond their specific area of responsibility but are part of the entire building.
• Custodians should help each other with major cleaning projects and still have time to take care of their particular part of the facilities.

Lead On!

Steve

Have weekly walk-arounds

• The administrator and custodian(s) should walk around the facilities regularly. Walking around is a great way to see what needs doing, and it lets the staff know you don’t live in your office.
• Showing things to a custodian helps him or her know what you’re seeing and what they need to do about the item in question.
• Keep a list (mental or in writing) of things you noted on the walk-around and follow-up on them at the next walk-around.

Lead On!

Steve

Meetings

• Keep the custodians informed. After all, they are some of the most visible members of a church staff and can answer questions about meeting locations. Helping in this way will help the ministers and administrative assistants who would otherwise have to answer these questions.
• Meet with the custodial staff at least every other week to go over the upcoming calendar regarding out-of-the-ordinary events.
• Use the meeting time to set high expectations for all areas they are responsible for. If you set low expectations, people will live down to them.

Lead On!

Steve