Men’s Wellbeing in the Cleaning Industry

International Men’s Day gives us space to talk honestly about men’s wellbeing in the workplace, at home and in the communities we’re part of.

At NJC, it’s also a moment to pause and look at how the men in our business are really doing. Many of our colleagues are frontline cleaners, supervisors, managers and leaders working across our cleaning and facilities management services. Many are also dads, sons, partners, brothers and friends, juggling shifts, family life and the pressure to “hold it all together”.

As a female-founded business, it matters to us that we shine a light on men’s experiences in the industry too, especially around mental health, identity and feeling supported at work.

This year, we marked International Men’s Day with a special episode of the Not Just Cleaning podcast, which explores people, wellbeing and culture within the cleaning industry. Our People & Culture Director, Kieran Soar, sat down with Co-CEO Reuben Heppelthwaite and Operations Director Peter Joyce to talk about men’s wellbeing and the realities they see at home, on site and across NJC.

How NJC supports wellbeing at work

International Men’s Day sits within a wider People & Culture approach at NJC, supporting employee wellbeing across our cleaning and facilities management teams. We care about the wellbeing of all our colleagues, whatever their gender or role. Days like this are a useful prompt to check how we’re doing and whether people know what support is there for them, including the men who don’t always find it easy to ask.

Support available includes:

• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) through Health Assured, free and confidential for all NJC employees, offering counselling, mental health support, and legal and financial advice.
• Mental Health First Aiders trained colleagues across the business who can listen, provide reassurance and signpost to further support.
• Flexible working where possible especially around school runs, caring responsibilities and key life events, balancing client needs with people’s lives.
• Supportive leadership senior leaders talking openly about challenges, including their own experiences of therapy and mental health, and encouraging others to do the same.
• Manager training helping managers notice when something might be wrong, and feel confident checking in properly, rather than stopping at “You ok?”.

None of this replaces professional help where it’s needed, but it does make it easier for colleagues to take that first step and know they won’t be judged for doing so.

Why days like this matter in NJC

Gender equality is essential to us at NJC. We aim to offer the same opportunities and care to all our colleagues, no matter how they identify. At the same time, we can see that many of the men in our business face particular pressures.

A large portion of our workforce is male, especially in cleaning and operational roles. Many work unsocial hours, hold more than one job, or care for family members alongside their shifts. It’s easy for that load to be missed if we only look at rotas, tasks and KPIs.

International Men’s Day helped us bring some of these realities into focus, including:

• higher rates of suicide for men, especially under 45
• a reluctance to ask for help because of pride, shame or fear of not being taken seriously
• the impact of social media and “ideal man” narratives on younger men and boys
• domestic abuse where men are victims but feel unable to speak out
• the expectation to provide financially while also being more present at home

For us as an employer, the message is simple: many men in our teams carry a lot, quietly. Making room to talk about that is part of our duty of care.

People, wellbeing and the service we deliver

NJC is a people business. The way our colleagues feel will always show up in the work in both the good ways and in the difficult ones.

If the people looking after your buildings are exhausted, worried or struggling in silence, over time that will affect:

• how stable teams are
• how consistently standards are maintained
• how quickly problems are raised and resolved
• how confident people feel to flag an issue before it becomes a bigger problem

When colleagues feel supported, seen and able to speak up, everything else becomes easier. It’s better for them, for our customers and for the relationships between everyone involved.

Supporting men’s wellbeing, and everyone’s wellbeing, is part of how we deliver reliable, high-quality cleaning and facilities management services, not an add-on that sits to one side.

Talking about masculinity at work

As part of our International Men’s Day work, we also spent time talking about masculinity and how it shows up in everyday life.

At NJC, we see the value in many traits people often associate with “being a good man”: reliability, graft, looking after your family, contributing to your community. We also see how important it is to pair those qualities with openness – being able to say “I’m not OK” without feeling that it cancels out strength or dependability.

For us, that reinforces a few core beliefs:

• healthy masculinity looks like care, responsibility and honesty and not control, aggression or silence
• older generations have a role in setting a better example, at home, at work and in our industry
• workplaces can either reinforce old stereotypes or help create space for something healthier

We want NJC to be somewhere men can bring the best of who they are to work, without feeling they have to hide the parts that are struggling.

Talking before crisis, not after

One of the most important ideas behind our International Men’s Day activity is how far a simple, genuine conversation can go.

Most of us have had the quick “I’m fine” exchange. It’s easy. It’s also where a lot of things get left.

Across NJC, we’re encouraging colleagues and managers to go a step further by:

• noticing when someone is quieter than usual, or just not themselves
• asking again, and giving people time to answer
• making it clear that it’s OK to say “actually, things are hard at the moment”

We don’t expect anyone to have all the answers. But we do believe:

• you don’t have to wait for a crisis to ask for help
• one honest conversation at the right time can change the direction of someone’s life
• support can come from many places including friends, family, workplace schemes or professionals

As a family-run business, this is part of what “people first” means in practice.

Life–work balance and men in the workplace

Alongside the emotional side of wellbeing, there’s the practical reality of how work and home fit together.

In our industry, many roles are time- and task-dependent. Buildings need to be cleaned at certain times; some shifts can’t simply be moved. Within that, we’re looking for ways to make life–work balance more realistic – for men and for everyone else.

That includes:

• looking carefully at rota and shift patterns and where there is room to adapt
• taking flexible working requests seriously and exploring “how could this work?”
• encouraging men to be open about family commitments – for example, blocking out time for school runs or sports days where possible

We know we can’t change national paternity policy on our own. But we can listen, be honest about constraints, and work creatively where there is room. That’s part of being a responsible employer in a sector that relies so heavily on its people.

This approach reflects our commitment to being a responsible employer within the UK cleaning industry.

Keeping the conversation going

International Men’s Day happens once a year. The issues it highlights are present every day.

At NJC, our focus now is on:

• keeping these conversations alive in teams, one-to-ones and leadership discussions
• making sure colleagues know what support is available and how to access it
• normalising men talking about their mental health, stress and relationships
• building an environment where asking for help feels like strength, not failure

For our customers, it means working with a partner that understands the link between people’s wellbeing and the quality of service delivered on site, and treats that link as part of core business, not a side project.

Watch the episode

Thank you to Reuben Heppelthwaite, Kieran Soar and Peter Joyce for speaking so openly, and to everyone across NJC who continues to look out for one another – on site, in offices and behind the scenes.

You can watch or listen to the full International Men’s Day Not Just Cleaning podcast episode with Reuben, Peter and Kieran on YouTube.

If the conversation raises thoughts or experiences you’d like to share, we’d be glad to hear from you. The more we talk, the more we can support one another.

Let’s keep looking out for our colleagues, friends and families – on International Men’s Day and every day.