As a young boy, Hansel Loo once wrinkled his nose as he walked by a neighbourhood rubbish point, complaining about the smell. His father, then the chief of his own cleaning company, promptly told the boy off, saying in Mandarin: “Without this rubbish, you wouldn’t even be here!”
Memories of his father’s strict parenting style have stayed with Loo, who followed in his father’s footsteps and is today the founder and vice-president of Maint-Kleen, his own cleaning solutions company.
“My dad set up his company himself. I wanted to do the same, to be like my father. He’s very strict, but maybe that made me more independent,” says Loo in an interview with The Edge Singapore.
As a teenager, Loo spent years working at fast food joints. At age 14, Loo’s mother had told him to look for work in a bid to keep him from mixing with bad company. “I worked at many fast food restaurants: McDonald’s, KFC, Delifrance and, the most interesting one, Domino’s Pizza,” says Loo.
“On the first day of work, my supervisor brought me on their [delivery] rounds on a motorcycle. I fell and tore my pants at the knee. I think he took pity on me and said, ‘Don’t be a delivery rider; come into the kitchen and help me.’”
After completing his studies at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), Loo began working at his father’s company in various roles, all before he enlisted for national service. When he returned to his father’s company, however, Loo soon realised he wanted to strike it out on his own.
With a sum of money from his father, Loo started Maint-Kleen with just 10 cleaners. After a year, Loo returned his father twice the initial investment, a testament to Loo’s own career.
According to Loo, his father betrayed no emotion — as most stoic Chinese fathers would. However, Loo is sure that his father was happy to see him succeed. “He is the sort of strong, traditional Asian parent but inside, I think he was happy. His friends told me, ‘Wow, your father is very proud of you.’”
Manpower shortages
Today, 18 years later, Loo counts ITE College East, Mustafa Centre and a couple of residential projects and town councils among his clients at Maint-Kleen.
From the initial 10, he now hires around 500 cleaners, deployed across the island.
When Covid-19 hit, Loo faced an unprecedented issue: up to a fifth of his cleaning staff, mostly employees based in Malaysia, were affected by Singapore’s border closure.
Despite this new challenge, Loo says Maint-Kleen remains flexible. Citing a Chinese idiom, Loo reminds business owners that “you must adapt to your situation, not the other way around”.
“There is a lack of workers. But no choice, we still have to work. We worked to engage [new workers], to advertise more, to get our cleaners to source for people looking for work,” says Loo.
There were also new regulations to ensure the health and safety of the remaining workers based here. Loo has engaged drivers to ferry Maint-Kleen’s workers to and from their dormitories, as they are not allowed to take public transport.
While measures like these have driven up costs by about 10%, Loo says he is not letting go of his staff, even those stuck outside the country.
According to Loo, his cleaning staff earn between $1,500 and $2,200. “I always tell my staff, ‘I want you to be loyal. Hardworking, sure, but you give me 80% to 90% is enough,’” says Loo.
Essential workers
Even though his company employs hundreds, Loo enjoys a close relationship with his employees, especially the elderly workers. “Some of the cleaners have known me for many years; some even make food for me. They call me and say, ‘I got lor ark (braised duck) for you — come over.’”
Having spent more than two decades in the industry, Loo says he is sympathetic towards cleaners for having to deal with others’ attitudes towards them.
“When things go missing, even a slipper, the first thing people think of is to blame the cleaners. Sometimes I get summoned [to sites]: ‘Tell your boss to come down’ — then I have to go [there and defend my employees],” he says.
Nevertheless, Loo thinks the sector could do with new blood. “The cleaning industry welcomes young professionals but you have to face all kinds of people. It’s hard work; all kinds of problems pop up,” says Loo.
His father, now 64, retired for a short while before returning to the industry as a consultant. With cleaning services proving more than essential during Covid-19, Loo hopes the public can be more understanding towards cleaning staff.
As some venues are still closed or operating at lower capacity, the number of cleaning staff have been reduced, although they now have to shoulder even more duties. “Just give your cleaners a smile,” says Loo.
