The Impact of Colorado’s Minimum Wage Increase and Janitorial Cleaning Contracts

Colorado voters passed a new law that will raise minimum wage to $12.00 per hour by 2020. Starting January 1, 2017, the new minimum wage will be $9.30 per hour. This is an increase of about 12% over 2016. It will then be going up $.90 per hour until 2020 when it will be $12.00 per hour. What does this mean for customers of janitorial cleaning companies? Summit Service Group Inc. has always paid wages above minimum wages in-order to hire and retain the best employees possible. However; the minimum wage increase puts upward pressure on our wages. It is important for us to maintain a higher wage than the minimum wage to keep our employees as it can be tempting for them to take an easier job in retail or restaurants.

When you are looking at the janitorial cleaning for your building, keep this in mind and ask what your cleaning company is paying their workers, because if they are paying minimum wage, they will probably have both a higher turnover rate, plus they will have a harder time even getting people to work their jobs for that. You should also expect yearly increases for your janitorial cleaning contracts.