ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

ECJ editor Michelle Marshall speaks to Jim Melvin, group chief executive officer at The Exclusive Services Group in the UK, about his career in the industry spanning decades. Melvin is also past chairman of the British Cleaning Council (BCC) and past master of the Worshipful Company of Environmental Cleaners. And he was Leader of the Year in ECJ’s 2023 European Cleaning & Hygiene Awards.

Jim Melvin’s success as a leader stems from his clear passion for the industry and for the people working within it. Very much a team player, he is unassuming and modest about his many achievements. From the very start, he was determined to play a part in shaping the industry and how it is viewed by the outside world - that includes at government level. Melvin is a man who is prepared to stand up and take responsibility.

The story begins however, not in the world of cleaning but in football. In his youth Melvin played as a semi-professional and needed to earn some extra money. By chance he met the managing director of a cleaning business in the south of England who invited him to join the business as an area manager. “I had absolutely no experience of the industry,” Melvin explains,.

At the end of his playing career he completed all the relevant coaching qualifications and moved into that area of the sport full-time. He worked closely with Martin O’Neill (a well-known manager in English football) at Wycombe Wanderers and then Leicester City - enjoying a period of outstanding success. “The club achieved promotion, we had three winning visits to Wembley and various trophies - great times.”

This took Melvin out of the cleaning industry for a number of years. “I did stay in touch with many of the good friends I had made though, and when I decided to go back to a semi-professional coaching position I joined another cleaning business as operations director.”

When the football career finally came to an end, Melvin committed himself to the cleaning sector full-time and has worked in it ever since, in various senior positions at a number of companies based in the south of England. Today he is group chief executive of The Exclusive Services Group, a privately-owned business founded in 1976.

With an annual turnover of £33 million (€39 million) and 3,000 staff, Exclusive operates across the UK and Ireland. Key clients include Odeon, CBRE, Williams F1, Dunnes Stores, Boeringher and Koehler. “I’m very fortunate to be working with people who I have absolute trust in and who I know have absolute trust in me,” he says.

Making a difference

Melvin’s interest in the cleaning sector reached far beyond running his business: he wanted to make a difference to the bigger picture. “I had always been a representative within the Cleaning & Support Services Association (CSSA) for the companies I worked with and I was then invited to represent it on the British Cleaning Council (BCC).” He subsequently went on to become BCC deputy chairman, then chairman.

His chairmanship came towards the end of the Covid pandemic, a period when the organisation had been particularly proactive in promoting the professional cleaning sector and the people working within it. “At that time Paul Thrupp was chairman and we were chasing recognition, and campaigning for the Apprenticeship Levy,” he says.

The Level 2 Cleaning Hygiene Operative Apprenticeship was launched in the UK on January 1 this year. All sector employers with an annual wage bill of more than £3 million (€3.56 million) pay the Apprenticeship Levy and can use Levy payments to implement the Apprenticeship Standard in their businesses, as can smaller businesses that have been gifted Levy payments.

In many ways the years of the pandemic were positive ones for the sector, as the crucial role of cleaning operatives was deservedly in the spotlight for the first time. Has that heightened awareness resulted in permanent change in how the industry is perceived? Melvin doesn’t believe so.

“Yes we got the sound bites from Boris Johnson (then prime minister) and other politicians when they acknowledged the cleaners. But if there was a pandemic tomorrow, nothing’s changed,” he says. “Not even in the provision of PPE, for example. I’m currently trying to arrange meetings with the UK Health Security Agency to discuss the key challenges. The government would tell us everything has moved forward, but for our industry it has not.

“I’m fiercely passionate about the things I believe in, and I get really angry and frustrated when people close doors to us. So we need to keep on pushing. We’ve been setting up meetings with MPs and working to put key relationships in place – particularly with the forthcoming general election in mind.

“Cleaning operatives are frontline workers and must be recognised as such. They are the people who get the buildings ready for the key workers to go and work safely. There has been so much chasing and pestering of the people who can make a difference at government level – and sometimes with politics it’s like herding cats. But we won’t give up and we’ve made some inroads. If we’re going to be self-critical though, either individually or as an industry, we did also miss some opportunities.

“Hindsight’s a great thing, but perhaps we could have been more assertive. We had a point in time when the press and TV were interested so did we maximise that enough? We do have to remember though, we were fighting a pandemic as well and this was a situation that was entirely unforeseen.”

Having displayed such a willingness to lead in both his business and the UK cleaning sector in these recent challenging years, Melvin was a fitting winner of the Leader of the Year trophy in the 2023 European Cleaning & Hygiene Awards. He is predictably humble about his achievements. “While receiving that recognition was absolutely fantastic – I literally couldn’t believe it! – as you can see from my background, all my life I’ve been part of a team. That’s just ingrained in me.

Passion for change

“And so actually it’s a great opportunity for me to talk about the help and support I’ve had from some fantastic people. Because you can lead, but you lead nothing if you do not have great people behind you – you just make noise. Within my business, at CSSA and BCC
I have had wonderful colleagues and it’s important that’s acknowledged.”

I suggest to Melvin that he must possess qualities which inspire and enable the people around him to do the best job they can with him at the helm. “The reality for me, I think, is that a bit of desire and passion can get you to places where you never thought you’d go,” he replies. “And if you believe in something strongly enough, don’t be afraid to stick your head above the parapet and say it. So for me, particularly with the industry association roles I’ve held, it’s almost as straightforward as trying to knock down a few doors. The worst that can happen is
people tell you ‘no’.

“Or it’s about knocking on a few doors we’ve never knocked on before, because we were frightened that we would be sent away - and we should never be frightened of being sent away. Never. A bit of determination and some stubbornness go a long way,” he laughs.

“Because I think actually the industry as a whole can sometimes feel like it’s not deserving of recognition. We are not ‘just cleaners’, we are cleaning and hygiene operatives and we should not be grateful for every crumb of recognition.”

Melvin has long been frustrated by the lack of recognition for the industry he works in. “But the fact is that we are in a sector worth £59.8 billion, with one-and-a-half million employees – five per cent of the UK workforce. We have more than earned the right to respect and acknowledgement. All our people must not be frightened to stand up and say ‘we do a good job’.”

How does Melvin feel his time in football helped to form his leadership skills and prepare him for his future career? “The language in a dressing room is dramatically different to that in the corporate world but the messages are very much the same,” he replies. “About motivation, how to get better when we go wrong, recognising where we’re going wrong and what we can do about it.”

He goes on: “Coaching a football team also taught me about honesty, being direct and transparent. Not just that, also working within the confines of a budget – and the confines of what a person’s skills and abilities may be. All those things are incredibly relevant.”

What’s also clear is that Melvin is a real ‘details’ man. “Yes I really do like being in among it and I irritate the life out of people with my fixation on detail. If I’m honest, I’m a bit of a control freak! But I believe in leading from the front and making sure everybody knows what’s expected of them. And if you get something wrong, admit that and apologise for it.”

Having led businesses and also industry bodies, Melvin firmly believes the industry is stronger by coming together – presenting a united voice to the outside world. “That strength, that unity will help to get our sector to where it needs to be, and where it should be,” he concludes.