10 employees offered job with contract company, other spots with Y

By CAROL STUART
Brentwood Home Page
The Maryland Farms YMCA got rid of its building services department on Friday, contracting instead with an outside firm to provide cleaning services.

All 10 part-time employees, who worked up to 30 hours a week, were offered jobs with the cleaning company, the nearby Brentwood Y or another Maryland Farms Y department, or could take a severance from the Y, according to Bob Knestrick, Group Vice President.

“We really worked hard to make sure our employees were taken care of,” Knestrick said. “We have a relationship with them and care for them.”

All 10 were offered a higher wage and more hours by Executive Cleaning in individual meetings at a on-site meeting room, immediately following one-on-ones with the YMCA on Friday.

“It was a cost-saving move. The economy's been tough on everybody,” Knestrick said. “Membership has been flat the last four years. Ever since the middle of 2008, memberships have not grown in revenue so we're looking at ways to save money.

“Also we're not experts in cleaning at the Y; that's not our core business. They are experts in cleaning.”

Knestrick said in the 4-5 days since the outsourced cleaning staff took over, the Maryland Farms Y had “seen a nice improvement.”

The Downtown YMCA on Church Street in Nashville had contracted with Executive Cleaning and had “wonderful success,” according to Knestrick. However, the decision was made at the local Y facility level and wasn’t currently in group-wide plans for the 20-plus facilities in YMCA of Middle Tennessee, he said.

Knestrick said two members had decided to transfer to the tennis department at Maryland Farms Y, and another moved to the building services staff at the Brentwood Y in part for the YMCA membership benefit so he could still work out.

At least one employee decided to retire, one or two may decide to do something different, and some accepted the offer to work for Executive Cleaning.

One such employee was a gentleman the YMCA discovered sleeping in his car in the parking lot every night, and when a female staffer prayed and decided to approach him she learned the man had lost his job. The Maryland Farms Y allowed him to take a shower, interviewed him and ended up hiring him, and now he will work 66 hours weekly for Executive Cleaning at the site as opposed to the previous 30 for the YMCA, Knestrick said.

“We were concerned and didn’t want him to lose his job,” he said. Not only was the employee able to get more hours, but he also is making $2.50 an hour more and may be able to furnish the apartment he now has, Knestrick added.

Executive Cleaning also does background checks on its employees, and had trained its cleaning staff at the Downtown YMCA to help keep watch in the locker room for members’ belongings or any inappropriate behavior, Knestrick said.

“The YMCA worked with the staff to help with policing the area, and they've actually done a great job making it a safer environment,” he said. “There will be more people in our building dedicated to cleaning so you'll see them more.”

The cleaning firm cleans other buildings as well as schools throughout Nashville, and Knestrick said the company may be able to provide the service at a lower rate due to efficiency as a large company.

“We're all about creating community and making sure people are healthy,” Knestrick said. “We want to be good community partners. We're here for the purose of serving the community, and we take any kind of change seriously. We tried really hard to do what was best for our employees.”