For Marsden Services, their “Super Bowl” of cleaning is quite literally the Super Bowl.
The company has been awarded the contract for the 2021 Super Bowl, and CEO Guy Mingo couldn’t be more excited.
“This will be the fifth Super Bowl event we’ve been a part of,” he said, “and it just gets better every year. I’m so proud of my team for the great work they’ve done in the past. I know that it was their talent and skill that demonstrated Marsden was capable to taking on this event once again. We’ve established a great relationship with the third-party vendor who coordinates this event on behalf of the NFL, and that was a key component in this bidding process. We’ve built a lot of trust over the years and they know us to be professional, dedicated, quality-driven, and safety-focused.”
So, what specifically are the pluses and special qualities the vendor and the NFL have seen in Marsden that again won the firm the Big Game? According to Mingo, two stand out: one, Marsden’s knowledge and expertise in this area; and, two, its commitment to caring about people. “We know from experience that in a stadium environment, flexibility, and communication are of paramount importance,” he explained further. “There is so much going on and so many things that can change suddenly, so it is absolutely imperative that our teams are ready to pivot at any second. We go through extensive training and preparedness drills with our teams so that they can respond immediately when something changes, and we have additional supervisors onsite to ensure everything goes smoothly.”
Because this is the company’s fifth Super Bowl, Mingo and his colleagues have established communication channels with the third-party vendor that will allow for seamless last-minute adjustments. In the end, though, Mingo says it all comes down to caring about people, whether it’s the players, the fans, the stadium staff, or Marsden’s own team members. “We want everyone to enjoy this event and share in the excitement of being part of the Super Bowl,” he stated. “We have a pre-shift safety meeting every shift, and we are adamant about maintaining safe practices with a zero-tolerance policy for negligent behavior.”
Of course, this Super Bowl will be different from all previous ones Marsden has worked because of the COVID-19 crisis. The pandemic is affecting all facets of Marsden’s plans and service offerings for this assignment. “Marsden has a sophisticated disinfecting program that we have been deploying throughout the pandemic to help keep our clients and their employees safe,” according to Mingo. “We will be implementing this program at the Super Bowl, as well, which includes touchpoint disinfection with EPA-registered disinfectants and electrostatic spraying. We will have dedicated disinfection teams onsite, who will continuously be disinfecting the environment and using detailed checklists to ensure every area has been properly cleaned. All of our staff at the event will complete a health screening prior to each shift and will wear a mask while onsite and maintain social distancing.”
The Super Bowl already presents unique challenges both in terms of the environment and managing the event. As an outdoor event, for example, there is always the threat of inclement weather and that poses its own concerns. Also, a stadium is a very large, complex setting that requires different types of services in different areas.
Mingo reports, “It’s also a high traffic environment and the pace is very fast. We often have a short window of time in which to service an area, and there may be people in that area. It requires a very professional and competent team to manage the dynamic needs of a stadium. When it comes to managing the event, an extensive plan is needed before we even set foot in the facility. The Super Bowl isn’t a one-day event for us. The onsite work typically lasts about 30 days from load in to load out. Before that, there are two to three months of preparation on our end to complete checklists, coordinate assignments, get everyone the correct credentials, order supplies, determine equipment needs, and create staff schedules.”
He added, “Coordinating staff is its own challenge because staffing needs vary by the day. Some days we will have as few as five people onsite, others it will be as high as 90. We have as many as 18 supervisors onsite at times, and coordinating that many people and that many different job assignments is a detailed process.”
That begs the question: How does Marsden Services select the staff members to work this prestigious assignment? This is, as one might imagine, a highly desirable job assignment and very rewarding for the individuals who get to be a part of it.
“We select staff members for this event carefully based on skill, availability, and geographic feasibility,” Mingo replied. “Management for this event begins with our Director of Hospitality and Events and team members from our hospitality and event division. These individuals will travel to be onsite for the event, but we find local talent to supply the remaining staffing needs. When the city is chosen to host the event, we work with our local office to see if any of our existing staff has the experience, interest, and availability to be diverted from their normal workload to be part of this project. We then hire for the remaining staffing needs. We only choose individuals we can trust will maintain the highest level of quality, safety, and customer service.”
Mingo remains highly involved himself. From the get-go, he participates in the overall strategy development for the event. “But when it comes to Game Day,” he said, “I have complete confidence in my team. The staff at this event have been working it for weeks and preparing for it for months. So I get to be in a supportive role and watch them do what they do best. I help to ensure our team members are comfortable onsite, that they are not overwhelmed, and that they have all they need to be successful. I’ll also help to ensure the quality of work, that everyone knows their assignments, and I serve as a backup for the leaders and supervisors.”
He continued, “We always have a great time with this event. There’s a lot of excitement beforehand and a sense of achievement afterward. There is a lot of planning and hard work that goes into an event like this and our teams get to feel very proud that they were part of the Super Bowl experience and that they helped to make it a memorable event for everyone involved.”
So, is this indeed “The Super Bowl of building services contracting assignments?” Mingo concluded, “Being chosen for a major national event shows that our teams have proven themselves to be exceptional, and we are proud of that achievement. I think that for a football player, being in the Super Bowl means you have proven yourself to be the best in your field. For us, proving that we are the best in our field goes beyond one assignment or one type of environment. We have to prove ourselves every day, every shift, in every facility we service. We have to be the best at what we do in every environment we enter because our customers rely on us to keep their facilities and occupants safe and healthy. So I don’t know if there is an ‘ultimate assignment.’ Every client is important to us and deserves our highest level of care.”