【CASE 3】Uniservice Solutions LLC, a cleaning company responsible for office buildings and the new international airport

“A multi-layered education system inspires staff to be proud of their work.”

Active employment of persons with disabilities and single mothers

Clean floors without a speck of rubbish, wiped clean shelves and desks, spotlessly polished mirrors and washbasins, fresh flowers and plants―Well-cleaned offices, toilets, and well-maintained garden plants make a pleasant impression on visitors; employees feel refreshed and increase luck.

Uniservice Solutions LLC (hereafter USS) undertakes cleaning services in Ulaanbaatar, amidst a construction boom, for offices of United Nations agency, embassies of various countries, major banks, shopping centres and the brand-new international airport, which opened last year. Founded in 1999, USS has worked steadily to promote international standard cleaning services in Mongolia. The company has hosted experts from South Korea and joined the International Sanitary and Supply Association (ISSA, based in the USA), an international association of more than 9,000 building cleaning and maintenance-related companies.

USS is one of the subsidiaries of the MCS Group, which has 9,329 employees in total and operates a wide range of businesses, including energy, construction, mining, real estate, telecommunications and consumer goods, under the slogan “International Development for Mongolia”.

USS employs about 500 staff at its head office in Ulaanbaatar city and about 200 at its branch in South Gobi province. According to Undrakh, who is responsible for marketing and public relations at the head office, 90% of employees are women, and the company actively recruits single mothers with financial difficulties.

USS first employed a person with disabilities in 2005. A vocational training school affiliated with the National Rehabilitation Centre (corresponding to the current training centre for persons with disabilities under the General Authority for the Development of Persons with Disabilities) asked the MCS Group to recruit the graduate, which led to the first employment. At the same time, the Mongolian society was gaining momentum for employment of persons with disabilities and requests corporate social responsibility (CSR) for companies. Therefore, USS decided to accept the graduate as an intern working in the cooking space. Since then, the recruitment has gradually expanded its acceptance of persons with disabilities. Now, 29 staff members with hearing impairments and higher brain dysfunctions are working at the head office as cleaners and drivers.

The pleasure felt in “cleaning up”.

“When I walk down the street and see rubbish on the street, I just want to pick it up.” When Zolbayar (called Zoloo), who has been working here for ten years, says that,  warm smiles filled the room. “I love my job, and I want to work here forever,” says Zoloo; he has a speech impairment caused by cerebral palsy.

He was born in Darkhan, Darkhan-Uul province and lived with his parents and two sisters. However, since his father’s death when he was seven years old, he has reminded himself to support his family as the only male family member. He got a job as a vegetable grower at a local branch of an international organisation. To further his knowledge based on this working experience, he enrolled at the vocational training centre for persons with disabilities in Ulaanbaatar in 2010, where he studied floriculture. After graduating from the centre, Zoloo worked as an intern in an office building run by the MCS Group, tending to the garden, and was officially hired and assigned to USS in July 2012. 

Zoloo’s job is to clean the head office. Every morning, he gets up at 5:30 am, puts wood on the stove in winter and leaves the house at 6:45 am. He arrives at work at 7:30 am and sweeps around the building, discards cigarette butts in the smoking area, picks up rubbish in the parking lot and clears out the warehouse. He repeats the series of tasks many times during his working hours, but he says he never gets tired or bored with it. He feels satisfied when the dirty areas are cleaned up, and he is proud of the cleaning job and his colleagues doing such an invaluable job. “When it rains, I drain the rainwater; when it snows, I shovel the snow. I tend the lawns in summer and sweep the fallen leaves in autumn. It’s fascinating to work on different tasks in different seasons, isn’t it?” Zoloo smiles and seems to enjoy it.

He lives with his wife, an ex-classmate at the training centre, and their seven-year-old daughter. He returns home at 6.30 pm, chops wood, watches his daughter’s homework and goes to bed at 10 pm. He attributes such a regular and peaceful life to his mother.

His mother tried getting Zoloo out and interacting with others as much as possible from an early age. He was responsible for taking his sisters to and from school. Moreover, his mother asked him to run errands for families, but he sometimes came home without buying something because he could not tell the shopkeeper the item he wanted to buy. On such occasions, his mother would write down the items on a piece of paper, hand them to Zoloo and tell him to return to the shop. He was, on some occasions, attacked with heartless words when he went out and often returned home in tears. However, each time such a situation occurred, his mother kept encouraging him, saying that if someone bullies him for three days, they might change their mind by the fourth day, or they might be bored after a week, so they will not say anything after a month.

When he turned 16 and was issued an identification card and began receiving a pension for persons with disabilities, his mother told Zoloo that from now on, he would be responsible for his finances. He said: “Sometimes I thought she should have been kinder to me, but in hindsight, her strictness was out of love for me because she wanted me to be able to live independently in the future. I am happy now.” Zoloo had been beaming throughout, said this with a serious face at this moment.

Job matching to ensure retention in the workplace

Ariunjargal from the Customer Service Department praises Zoloo as “a perfect and wonderful subordinate”. Currently, the department employs 75 staff, three of whom, including Zoloo, are persons with disabilities.

The customer service department, which dispatches teams of employees to clients who outsource cleaning services, is the “face” of USS. The members’ work performance and personality can directly influence the company’s overall reputation and trust. Thus, it is vital that the company strategically considers whom to dispatch and where.

Ariunjargal, who had worked for another cleaning company before joining USS in 2020, is keenly aware of the importance of having staff who can carry out year-round cleaning in Mongolia, where the temperatures can vary widely, and winters can be harsh. She trusts Zoloo, who always seems to enjoy his work. Zoloo’s willingness to take the initiative and take pleasure in cleaning up has positively impacted the other employees. Zoloo recently replaced an absent colleague, and his work was impressive, which led to the customer company’s request for another cleaner.

Many companies in Mongolia believe that persons with disabilities do not stay long after being employed. However, Ariunjargal says: “Especially in the cleaning industry, many people quit after a short period regardless of the existence of disabilities. Hiring persons with disabilities after proper job matching and having them work for a long time, as Zoloo does, is highly beneficial for the company”.

Battsetseg, who has been with the company for 11 years, is in charge of occupational safety for the entire workplace, reminding and checking the safety awareness of all employees every day before the start of work. She has closely followed Zoloo’s personality, which combines a kind and cheerful attitude towards everyone with dependability that allows him to take on tasks as his own and to resolve difficulties on his own when confronted with them. The attitude of Zoloo, to have fun at all times, hasn’t changed since he joined the company,” says Battsetseg. When she continues, “If I had to mention one thing that has changed, he got married,” the room was once again filled with warm laughter.

Fade out while being considerate of staff

The Customer Service Department focuses on the human resource development of team leaders and managers supervising each section. Through a multi-layered training system in which this mid-level personnel pass on their skills and knowledge to their staff, they share their technical know-how, their attitude and pride in cleaning together.

Senior manager Khandmaa is one such mid-level staff member. Khandmaa regularly visits the companies that outsource the cleaning to check on the members’ work. When recruits are assigned, she teaches them the work procedures over three days to a week, initially cleaning with them on-site, regardless of whether they are with disabilities. Once the new employee gets familiar with the work, she gradually reduces her involvement and allows them to work independently. She says it is vital to listen carefully to each employee’s concerns, frustrations and family circumstances and gradually fade them out after considering the appropriate job description. Her job philosophy and role embody and implement those of the job coaches that will be developed in Mongolia in the future.

Undrakh, who has been working for USS for 12 years confides that “unfortunately, we are still unable to employ persons with intellectual and psychiatric disabilities.” However, she is keen to continue actively employing persons with disabilities as long as her clients understand and accept it.

USS has always looked to the international community to incorporate advanced initiatives, such as disinfection methods and cleaning practices, by actively participating in international conferences held in the USA and South Korea. The company’s human resources development system is highly associated with the job coaches that the Mongolian Government will train in the future. The impact of the company working with the Mongolian Government to further develop this system and spread a new cleaning culture in Mongolian society should be significant.

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