Back to blog 04/18/2023

Adding Value to a More Diverse Supplier Base with Your Janitorial Service Partner

The Harvard Business Review states that supplier diversity widens the pool of potential suppliers and promotes competition in the supply base, which improves quality, drives down costs, and makes supply chains more resilient. With a deepening sense to be more inclusive and create an impact, a growing number of businesses is considering supplier diversity as a dynamic strategy forward and increasing their spend toward it. Along with various different ways to integrate Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) within a workplace, it is equally important to include similar initiatives in the external channels including the supply chain. However, it is important to understand that a diverse supplier base is not limited to the procurement of tangible products only. For instance, outsourced service partners such as janitorial companies also contribute value in the supplier diversity programs for their customers.

“Diverse suppliers can turn on a dime and are now considered for contracts that they would not have been otherwise due to the imperative for flexibility. They have proven themselves to be agile in terms of responsiveness,” Terrez Thompson, VP – Global Supply D&I, Coca Cola

A janitorial service partner, that is a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), has the potential to improve diversity spend for businesses while also operating with longstanding customer relations, fresh perspectives, and diverse experiences. However, businesses must not only prioritize their internal diversity objectives and should select a partner after assessing its service standards, productivity and efficiency, quality assurance program, employee training and development initiatives, and other key service-specific considerations. It should be unacceptable to meet a customer’s diversity spend goals at the expense of providing subpar or unsatisfactory service. MBE (Minority Business Enterprise) partnership after a thorough analysis with a janitorial services also makes it possible to understand how well the cultures and core values align which is necessary to set up a good scope of work while driving the D&I initiative forward in a meaningful way.

Diversified Maintenance provides the opportunity to enter a contract with a minority-owned janitorial service provider through its MBE partnership with Environmental Service Systems (ESS). With more than 20 years of their successful partnership, the Companies deliver high quality janitorial services with tailored solutions to satisfy the unique requirements for customers in a wide range of industries. Additionally, businesses meet their cleaning and maintenance requirements while increasing their diversity participation efforts. All Diversified Maintenance customers that require partnership with an MBE can not only enter a contract with ESS but also make financial transactions directly with ESS to easily track payments and achieve their diversity spend objectives. To learn more about an MBE partnership for janitorial services without compromise on quality and efficiency, send me a note at: Ed Turbeville eturbeville@diversifiedm.com