University custodial employees valued for hard work, contributions

Texas State University custodial employees are a positive and valued force across campus. Not only do they perform the hard work of keeping buildings clean and useable, but they often become fixtures in the lives of students, faculty and staff.

When Texas State began the transition to contracted custodial services in 2012 to better meet the needs of the growing campus, the decision was made that the transition would be accomplished through normal retirements and attrition. Existing custodial staff would remain university employees. Texas State remains committed to that policy – no university custodial employees have lost, or will lose, their jobs due to Texas State’s contracts for custodial services.

"We value the expertise and experience of our custodial employees. There are no plans to lay off any of our custodial staff," said Gordon Green, director of Facilities Management.

As Texas State grows, some operational changes have been made that impact university custodial employee schedules and building assignments. An example is the elimination of the 2:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift due to retirements and voluntary employee departures. As a result, this left high use facilities like McCoy Hall with no custodial coverage during late afternoon and evening classes. To correct this issue, the university elected to use the contract custodial team at McCoy and reassign the McCoy university custodial staff to increase the level of support at other buildings on campus.

"After carefully weighing all the pros and cons of each option, we decided to bring in our contract partner at night," Green said. "Even in this instance, we worked to preserve each position. That is a policy we are committed to."

Last week, the Texas State community celebrated International Housekeeping Week to recognize the work and contributions of university custodial employees on campus.

“The appreciation of our custodial employees goes beyond one week a year,” said Green. “I invite everyone on campus to show our appreciation for the difficult work that all our custodial workers do on campus. Their work is critical to our university being the kind of place where we all want to come to work, learn and live.”