Janitor

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For the Scrubs character, see Janitor (Scrubs)

A janitor is a person who takes care of a building, such as a school, office building, or apartment block. Janitors are responsible primarily for cleaning, and often (though not always) some maintenance and security.

1 Titles
2 Occupational tasks
3 Outsourcing
4 Median salaries per employer type (US)
5 See also

[edit] Titles

Janitor is derived from the Latin word Janus meaning "doorkeeper" (see also building superintendent). A female janitor was formerly called a janitress. (The title custodian is sometimes given to janitors merely as a term of higher respect, however, generally speaking, custodians tend to have higher salaries, and more responsibilities. They may also be required to receive training and licensing in various fields [e.g., Hazmat, CPR, Boiler Operations, etc.], depending on their employer and the specific nature of their job. In these respects a custodian may be considered to be different from a janitor.) In some settings janitors are called housekeepers or housekeeping staff and in others they are referred to as maintenance or maintenance staff. Institutions have also come up with a number of politically correct alternative job titles, including:

Porter
Custodial technician
Sanitation supervisor
Domestic engineer
Guest Service Associate (G.S.A.)
Environmental Services Associate
Care taker
Industrial Floor Maintenance Sanitation Engineer (Rite Care tm)
The Crew
General cleaner
Physical Plant & Planning

A janitor working

[edit] Occupational tasks

Typical janitorial work often consists of the following tasks:

Cleaning bathrooms
- Sinks
- Toilets
- Urinals
Cleaning floors
Emptying trash and recycling bin
Cleaning carpeting
Cleaning stainless steel and other special surfaces
Stripping and waxing floors
Locking and unlocking buildings at the beginning and end of the day

[edit] Outsourcing

Cleaning is one of the most commonly outsourced services. Some of the reasons for this include:

Basic cleaning tasks are standardised, with little variation among different enterprises.
The nature of the job and required standard of performance can be clearly defined and specified in a contract, unlike more technical or professional jobs for which such specification is harder to develop.
Many organizations which predominantly employ higher paid workers feel uncomfortable dealing with labour relations with low paid employees; by outsourcing, these labour relations issues are transferred to a contractor whose staff are comfortable and experienced in dealing with these issues, and their approach can benefit from economies of scale.
If a cleaner is unavailable due to sickness or leave, a contractor which employs many cleaners can easily assign a substitute. A small organisation which employs one or a few cleaners directly will have much more trouble with this.