Millennium New Zealand – Class-leading cleaning and security

July 22, 2021

Millennium New Zealand

Class-leading cleaning and security

Business View Oceania interviews Jared O’Neill, National Operations Manager at Millennium New Zealand, for our focus on New Zealand Facilities Management

The Millennium New Zealand team is on a mission for creating safe, clean and memorable facilities throughout the country. Formed in 2015 from Australian parent company Millennium Services Group, Millennium New Zealand is proud to provide top quality cleaning, security and integrated services for businesses across New Zealand. With a strong focus on retail spaces, the company supports 217 separate locations spread across over 50 towns and cities. Headquartered in Auckland with branch offices in Christchurch and Wellington, Millennium New Zealand uses core values of loyalty, innovation and transparency to their advantage in a highly competitive industry, and as a result has experienced consistent growth since their introduction into the New Zealand market.

A publicly listed company based in Australia, Millennium provides services under three main sectors. The company’s first sector is high-quality cleaning for retail spaces, commercial properties, government buildings and education facilities. This includes general cleaning, retail and food court specialisations, sanitisation cleaning including both surface and fogging systems, commercial and corporate cleaning, and window, specialist and forensic cleaning services.

Millennium also provides security in the form of incident reporting, concierge and customer service, static guarding and mobile patrols, asset surveillance, loss prevention, access control, control room monitoring, event security, crowd control, car park management and close personal protection. Millennium’s other services include general maintenance, pest control, waste services management, landscaping, grounds maintenance and handyman services. The company also boasts tailored support services for events, emergencies such as storms and/or flooding, and other situations that may require a rapid, efficient response. Finally, the company offers integrated facilities management services, taking responsibility for delivering multiple property services for clients. Millennium New Zealand has their focus set on cleaning facilities and add-on cleaning services at this time, with plans for the future to continue developing expanded services.

Jared O’Neill, National Operations Manager

Jared O’Neill, National Operations Manager at Millennium New Zealand, provides his unique insight into their overall mission, continued evolution, core values and operations throughout the country. He explains that Millennium New Zealand is committed to providing services of the highest quality to every client, every time, and that this approach has assisted the company in marketing and overall growth. He explains, “In the context of internationally, we are still in a very small market. Every site needs to be a reference site, because when you are a small to medium sized organisation like ourselves, (in the NZ market) you compete with companies three or four times the size. At the moment, we are solely based around the opportunity to deliver a good service to our clients.”

A core part of Millennium New Zealand’s work culture is dedication to the careful consideration of all staff needs. As well as encouraging long-term employment in an industry that usually has a high turnover in staff populations, Millennium New Zealand is committed to hiring and supporting employees with varying backgrounds, requirements and skills. “We employ all people, and we like to see what they can do,” says O’Neill. “That includes people that are returning to work or people that have learning difficulties. We look at how we can get people back into the workforce through entry level cleaning positions. Often, it’s about how you respond to the challenges that come from a varied workforce that creates a unique personality for the business and overall operating model.”

Millennium New Zealand also rewards their employees for quality work – mutual respect and gratitude for workers is an integral part of company culture. O’Neill shares, “We are very keen to recognise our people. We have monthly and annual awards that we send out to recognise our staff. As a business, we really are at the forefront of trying to say thank you to our people on a regular basis, in the best possible way.”

The COVID-19 pandemic during 2020 brought major changes to the operations of Millennium New Zealand, as has been the case for many facilities management companies across the globe, but it also provided some unique and surprising advantages. When asked about the impact of COVID-19 on the shape of the business, O’Neill says that the pandemic has actually presented them with some opportunities.

He explains, “COVID-19 has given the business a chance to prove our value to worried clients, and has also increased feelings of self-worth within our staff. Cleaning has been around for hundreds of years, but all of a sudden, people actually see who the cleaners are and recognise the work that they are doing. For our cleaning staff individually, this has created an environment where they are seen as champions of the workplace – they are respected, they are no longer just the cleaner. I’ve been in the industry for twenty years now, and especially over the last twelve months, there has been a lot more acknowledgement and appreciation of the site-based staff than I’ve ever seen before.”

In addition to changes in public attitude towards cleaning staff, the pandemic has pushed Millennium New Zealand to extend their understanding of detailed sanitization and the skills required to effectively distribute related services to clients across both North and South islands. Advances in the use of communication systems such as Teams and Skype and the implementation of widespread decontamination training for staff are also measures that the company has put in place in response to the COVID-19 virus. O’Neill also notes that clients are now more interested in hiring for high-quality results, rather than the cheapest price.

A significant challenge introduced by the pandemic has been the workload for Human Resources and Communications departments, in order to make sure that all staff feel supported within their working environment. As to how Millennium New Zealand combatted these challenges, O’Neill cites fast and measured responses to staff needs, backed by consistent communication and resource management.

Millennium New Zealand acknowledges the need for sustainability in facilities management, and is committed to making sure their products, recycling systems and supply chains are as environmentally friendly as possible.

Looking to the future and company plans for the next three to five years, O’Neill identifies expansion as Millennium New Zealand’s main goal. “We live in an industry where we operate by contract. You work for a period of time within a certain organisation, and you are always looking forward to the opportunity to extend it. We see a trend towards the industry over the next five years moving away from older style, large institution cleaning organisations to more mid-range systems. So, there is certainly an opportunity there for the likes of Millennium New Zealand.”

Millennium New Zealand will continue to deliver innovative and class-leading cleaning and security services throughout New Zealand. They are proud to provide these services through an engaged motivated team who cares and appreciates client interests, supported by strong systems and support structures, and driven by a can-do culture.