Spring Break
Custodial company faces conflict in first year at OSU
Former employee Picray claims he was wrongly fired, excluded from campus as alumnus
Makenna Bishop
Issue date: 5/28/09 Section: News
By Makenna Bishop
The Daily Barometer
In July 2008, the university made a shift to a new custodial service group. Previously, OSU had a contract with Aramark, which is an international company.
When Aramark's contract ended, GCA Service Group took over the custodial responsibilities on campus. GCA was founded in 2003 by a group of entrepreneurs and private equity firms that said they had a vision to become a premier national provider of facilities management.
GCA is a national service group that employs more than 20,000 people nationwide and operates in 35 different states.
Campus cleanliness is rarely overlooked, and it is part of a major factor that enhances a campus aesthetics. According to the GCA website, 62 percent of enrolling freshmen cite the appearance of the campus as the most important criterion in their final selection.
Corrine Lea, a senior in zoology, said that the appearance of campus cleanliness is extremely important, as is sanitation.
"Students live on this campus and think of it as their home," Lea said. "It's really important that it's kept clean."
Mark McCambridge, vice president of finance and administration, oversees the contracts of university services, including GCA.
"From the university's standpoint, GCA is relatively new to us," McCambridge said. "The company came highly regarded by other big companies and institutions across the state."
McCambridge said he thinks that GCA operates highly on the productivity metrics of all of the hired employees.
As with many new companies and contracts, the first year is the most difficult. GCA has experienced a few problems throughout its first few terms on the OSU campus.
McCambridge said he thought that GCA hired the majority of the previous Aramark employees after the switch, which he thinks could have led to some of the problems.
He said that any time the work culture changes, new challenges are presented. Each company may have different levels of accountability and expectations, which can result in the employees of the previous service group experiencing something similar to culture shock. Some do not handle the change as well as others.
The Daily Barometer
In July 2008, the university made a shift to a new custodial service group. Previously, OSU had a contract with Aramark, which is an international company.
When Aramark's contract ended, GCA Service Group took over the custodial responsibilities on campus. GCA was founded in 2003 by a group of entrepreneurs and private equity firms that said they had a vision to become a premier national provider of facilities management.
GCA is a national service group that employs more than 20,000 people nationwide and operates in 35 different states.
Campus cleanliness is rarely overlooked, and it is part of a major factor that enhances a campus aesthetics. According to the GCA website, 62 percent of enrolling freshmen cite the appearance of the campus as the most important criterion in their final selection.
Corrine Lea, a senior in zoology, said that the appearance of campus cleanliness is extremely important, as is sanitation.
"Students live on this campus and think of it as their home," Lea said. "It's really important that it's kept clean."
Mark McCambridge, vice president of finance and administration, oversees the contracts of university services, including GCA.
"From the university's standpoint, GCA is relatively new to us," McCambridge said. "The company came highly regarded by other big companies and institutions across the state."
McCambridge said he thinks that GCA operates highly on the productivity metrics of all of the hired employees.
As with many new companies and contracts, the first year is the most difficult. GCA has experienced a few problems throughout its first few terms on the OSU campus.
McCambridge said he thought that GCA hired the majority of the previous Aramark employees after the switch, which he thinks could have led to some of the problems.
He said that any time the work culture changes, new challenges are presented. Each company may have different levels of accountability and expectations, which can result in the employees of the previous service group experiencing something similar to culture shock. Some do not handle the change as well as others.
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