In the operation of the laundry shops, laundry accidents are an important cause for customer complaints and compensation for losses. An analysis of these accidents shows that some are due to employees’ negligence or management loopholes, while others are directly related to the insufficient professional skills of the employees. The insufficient skills may lead to the employees not being able to precisely identify the risk, correctly do the task, or effectively communicate so as to trigger the problems that were supposed to be avoided.
Common Accidents Caused by Employees’ Insufficient Skills
- The improper operation or wrong identification of the fabrics
The employees cannot master the characteristics of all kinds of fabrics (wool shrinks, silk is delicate, the coating should avoid dry cleaning) and the meaning of washing labels. Dry-cleaning clothes that cannot be dry-cleaned or putting clothes that cannot be dried by the dryer into the dryer will lead to severe shrinkage, deformation, stiffness, or even dissolution.
- Complicated Fabrics or Accessories
Modern clothes usually adopt many fabrics (wool matches silk decorations, cotton mixes linen) or special accessories (such as artificial leather patches, beading, coated printing). If the employees don’t have enough skills, they may overlook some parts of the decoration or fabric that cannot be dry-cleaned or washed with water (even if the main wash label allows it). So, it results in the dissolution, detachment, and coating peeling of accessories. Or, the employees fail to notice in time that the color fastness of the accessories is poor, causing color bleeding or severe fading after washing.
- Wrong wash label
Sometimes, the wash labels provided by the clothes producer are wrong. (The flocking fabric marked “Dry cleaning only” had its flocking fall off after dry cleaning) If the employees completely rely on the labels and have no professional skills themselves, it will cause accidents.
- Poor Stain identification and pre-treatment ability
The employers cannot precisely identify the types of stains (animal/vegetable oil, wax, mineral oil, paint, ink, bloodstains, protein stains, tannin stains…) and choose the wrong stain remover or method, making the stains harder to remove.
โซลูชั่น
Laundry shops must systematically improve the employees’ professional quality.
- Professional skill training
Laundry shops should regularly hold professional training, like fabric science, laundry chemistry, stain science, wash label interpretation, and so on, for employees at different positions.
The training for the employees can not be limited to the normal training. The training should be put into daily life. Do regular skill training monthly or do a centralized training yearly to continuously exchange experience with peers and know the latest trend of clothes to update their own knowledge base.
- Optimize Operation Process and Review Mechanism
Make the standard operation process for each position. The precautions and key points related to the process of clothes collection and inspection at the front desk should be placed in a place where employees can easily see them. The stain removal process should be posted at the stain removal counter for the convenience of the stain removal staff to check. If a washing accident occurs, it can be traced back to the link where the problem happened, so as to prevent such accidents from happening again in future work.
- Improve the risk communication ability
The position of collecting and inspecting clothes at the front desk is very important. It is not only the face of the laundry shop but also an important communication link. The employees in this position should both have a good image and master the professional knowledge about fabrics and stain identification. The employees at the front desk should be trained to professionally, clearly, and honestly tell the customers about the potential risk of the clothes (stubborn stains, delicate fabrics, misleading wash labels), the expected effects, and potential restrictions. The written confirmation between customers and the shop should be done. The laundry shops should provide the employees with standard communication scripts.
- Regularly review and build a knowledge base
Every position should have its own handbook, including the working procedures of every position and key points. The employees should also record the problems they face in the actual situation and the precautions to gradually form a more systematic and more complete working content.
The laundry shops should also regularly hold review meetings to analyze and handle laundry accidents. Also, doing a simple training on the solutions to these problems can improve the employees’ skills. In addition, laundry shops should reward the employees who have given effective suggestions.
Conclusion
If the laundry shops want to reduce the laundry accidents caused by employees’ insufficient skills, the core is to make professional skills training a long-term and continuous task. By systematic training, standardized process, effective communication, and the knowledge, improving the employees’ professional identification and operating level can reduce the accident rate and improve the customer satisfaction rate and the reputation of the shops.
