Custodial supervisors oversee custodial tasks at businesses, schools, hotels, medical facilities, government offices and private residences. They create schedules, assign work responsibilities and evaluate work performance to ensure custodians and housekeepers get the work done and clients are satisfied with their service. Some custodial supervisors perform cleaning and sanitation tasks themselves, but most spend a majority of their time instructing, training and managing their subordinates.

Supervisory Expertise

Custodial supervisors educate and train their subordinates to perform cleaning and sanitation tasks, such as vacuuming, floor buffing, bathroom sanitation, window washing, dusting and supply replenishment. Some also assign outdoor tasks, such as treating snow- or ice-covered walkways or trash-dumping procedures. One of a custodial supervisors primary goals is to provide sufficient explanation, instruction and training for custodians working under him. His objective is to evaluate and oversee subordinate custodians and ensure their work meets client expectations. He might demonstrate cleaning practices, explain application tips for new cleaning products or create individualized checklists for each custodian.

Effective Communication Skills

Effective communication is the key to positive customer relations. Custodial supervisors are first in the chain of command when it comes to discussing custodial needs, cleaning requests, and specific job responsibilities with clients and employers. An important objective for custodial supervisors is to create and maintain healthy, long-lasting relationships with their employers and keep the lines of communication open. Clients might want custodians to use specific products, clean and sanitize areas in certain ways or prepare rooms for special events. Custodial supervisors must use their strong interpersonal skills to discuss hiring needs, inventory, cleaning methods and seasonal demands with their bosses. Friendly, professional employee-employer relations are a primary goal.

Management Strengths

An important objective for a custodial supervisor is to create healthy work-oriented relationships with her subordinates so she can coordinate daily and weekly assignments, prepare work schedules and employ an efficient workforce. To eliminate unnecessary payroll costs, she must budget the time it takes to complete cleaning tasks with the appropriate amount of labor. For example, she might hire some custodians to work full-day shifts and others to work part time, once offices, medical facilities or schools close for the day. Time management, labor force assessments and effective leadership are primary goals.

Specialty Areas

Some businesses and organizations have specific sanitation requirements to meet health codes or waste disposal requirements, so a custodial supervisor's objective is to stay current on those regulations and fulfill them. For example, hospital custodians and some factory custodians must dispose of hazardous waste or toxins in special containers or use compacting or incineration methods to eliminate refuse. Custodial teams at schools and medical facilities must ensure public areas are properly cleaned and sanitized to reduce the spread of communicable diseases. A custodial supervisor must set goals to follow all state-mandated cleaning, sanitizing and waste-disposal requirements.