First-Line Supervisors of Housekeeping and Janitorial Workers
Directly supervise and coordinate work activities of cleaning personnel in hotels, hospitals, offices, and other establishments.
Most important skills
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Speaking
- Monitoring
- Coordination
- Time Management
- Active Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Learning Strategies
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Administration and Management
- Education and Training
- Public Safety and Security
- Personnel and Human Resources
- Administrative
- Production and Processing
What the work involves
- Direct activities for stopping the spread of infections in facilities, such as hospitals.
- Inspect work performed to ensure that it meets specifications and established standards.
- Plan and prepare employee work schedules.
- Perform or assist with cleaning duties as necessary.
- Investigate complaints about service and equipment, and take corrective action.
- Coordinate activities with other departments to ensure that services are provided in an efficient and timely manner.
- Inspect and evaluate the physical condition of facilities to determine the type of work required.
- Select the most suitable cleaning materials for different types of linens, furniture, flooring, and surfaces.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Enterprising, Conventional, Realistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (43.3% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (35.6%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months (28.1%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for First-Line Supervisors of Housekeeping and Janitorial Workers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Moderate | Higher on contact with others than 55% of occupations compared | 65% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Low | Lower on dealing with the public than 63% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 83% of occupations compared | 65% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 84% of occupations compared | 51% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 85% of occupations compared | 58% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 73% of occupations compared | 29% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 72% of occupations compared | 37% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Moderate | Lower on consequence of error than 56% of occupations compared | 51% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: low
- Consequence of error: moderate
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 3.33%
- Contact with others about half the time: 13.61%
- Contact with others most of the time: 17.84%
- Constant contact with others: 65.21%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 40.05%
- Fairly important: 4.49%
- Important: 4.73%
- Very important: 8.81%
- Extremely important: 41.92%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2020
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 3.33%
- Very important: 31.58%
- Extremely important: 65.09%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2020
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Limited freedom: 19.12%
- Some freedom: 51.38%
- A lot of freedom: 13.81%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2020
Time pressure
- Never: 2.15%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 5.89%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 3.82%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 30.29%
- Every day: 57.84%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2020
Conflict situations
- Never: 21.78%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 3.31%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 27.72%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 28.89%
- Every day: 18.29%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 29.8%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 36.73%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 9.72%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 10.25%
- Every day: 13.5%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2020
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 11.43%
- Fairly serious: 50.65%
- Serious: 5.01%
- Very serious: 5.18%
- Extremely serious: 27.73%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2020
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O*NET-SOC 37-1011.00 · SOC 37-1011 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8