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Do we really look down on cleaners?

The Hungarian Central Statistical Office examined 173 occupations in terms of social prestige and according to the answers of the respondents cleaning ranks among the ten lowest-prestige jobs, coming ahead of only road sweepers, leaflet distributors and unskilled workers. In order to make a difference, Hungary’s biggest facility management company, B+N Referencia Zrt. has launched a social sensitivity campaign.

Everybody cleans their home, and yet, society fail to appreciate those who do it professionally, learn about chemicals and operate complex machinery. If ever, during this epidemic it’s worth thinking over our attitude to them.

‘Since last year we have been planning to launch a social sensitivity campaign to make the public aware of the socially indispensable, yet almost invisible, work of cleaners’, said Ferenc Kis-Szölgyémi, CEO of B+N Referencia Zrt., Hungary’s biggest cleaning and facility management company. The groundwork had been laid for long months but by the time we were ready, COVID-19 had reached the country. ‘The 45 thousand cleaners in the county have always deserved our heartfelt appreciation, but in these times they deserve it a 100 times more. We employ 4100 cleaners who are doing a great job cleaning transportation vehicles, hospitals and office buildings. The majority of our society take cleanliness for granted but do not appreciate the people who make it happen. With our campaign “Look round and see” we are standing up for them.

Thank you and let all of us thank them!

‘We believe cleaners deserve a lot more than that’, says Erika Kókai, Marketing Director of B+N. ‘We believe people are indifferent because nobody has shown a good example by appreciating the work cleaners do for us. It is our responsibility to do something about the prestige of this work because if everything stays the same, soon nobody is going to be left to clean the country’.

Source: nlc.hu