Our alumna Viivi Vartia-Koivisto: The cleaning sector deserves more recognition

What would public spaces look like if they were not cleaned at all? Would the rubbish be bursting? Would the soles of your shoes stick to the sticky floor?

- Few people realise how important cleaning is for the well-being, health and safety of each and every one of us. I want to do my part to help raise the profile of the sector," says Viivi Vartia-Koivisto, a cleaning services designer. 

Vartia-Koivisto works at Servi, a food and cleaning services company in Sastamala, where she is responsible for designing cleaning services for the city's public spaces. In total, there are just over 100 000 square metres to be kept clean.

- It is my job to define what is done, how it is done, when it is done and with what," she sums up. 

In practice, Vartia-Koivisto decides, for example, how often public toilets are washed or what detergents are used. She draws up work instructions for cleaning different types of premises, prepares the purchase of cleaning equipment and materials and monitors the time and materials used.

- I feel that my work is meaningful and effective. My decisions have an impact not only on the employees, but also on the children in the nursery or the state of the premises. It is motivating to see that things can be developed. 

Wine tasting after your morning workout 

It's no coincidence that Viivi Vartia-Koivisto chose to work in the cleaning industry. Her mother and both her godmothers work in the same field, and she herself started her summer job as a cleaner.

- I have always liked cleaning. Even when I was little, I made sure that Fridays were cleaning days at home," she says with a smile.

Vartia-Koivisto first applied and got into TAMK to study civil engineering, but in the end the field didn't feel like her own. She then decided to study service business, from which she graduated in 2015 with a degree in hospitality management.

- The hospitality management degree included both cooking and cleaning, both of which I liked. It gave me work-related skills, but also knowledge usable in my home and everyday life.

A fun memory from my studies is the wine tasting course that took place on Friday mornings. During the course, students prepared a three-course meal, choosing wines to match the dishes.

However, Vartia-Koivisto, an active hockey player, was allowed to be absent from school during the morning training sessions.

- I always came to the course when the food was almost ready. It was a relaxing way to work out first and then come back to eat and taste the wines. That was the highlight of Friday!

Later, Vartia-Koivisto also completed a master’s degree in hospitality management at TAMK. There she learned how to use tools such as knowledge management, which she now applies in her work at Servi.

Publicity has taken some time to get used to

In her work, Vartia-Koivisto tries to ensure that similar types of premises are always cleaned in the same way. The guidelines depend on the use of the premises: for example, day-care centres require a slightly different standard of cleanliness than schools or hospitals.

Another important objective is to work in a responsible way, respecting the environment and the workers.

- For example, we have reduced our use of rubbish bags and chemicals. We use more than 300 000 bin liners a year, so it makes a big difference whether we empty the bins every day, even if there’s just few pieces of hand towel lying in there.

Employee appreciation is reflected in the flexibility that employers show, for example in the use of family leave. Vartia-Koivisto herself returned to work at the end of October, when her youngest son was four months old. Since then, she and her husband have alternated between working and taking parental leave two or three days a week.

For Vartia-Koivisto, the most important thing in her working life is that she likes her job. She doesn't necessarily need fancy titles.

But she did get one last autumn, when she was chosen by the Cleaning Industry Association as Cleaning Industry Designer of the Year 2024 at the Cleaning Industry Stars Awards.

- I really appreciate the recognition, but the publicity it brings has taken some getting used to. I'm no longer just a bystander who listens to others, but people want to hear what I think, she says.