4 min read · Jan 30, 2021
I didn’t know about Managed by Q until I encountered it in a case study by MIT Sloan. The case study is thought-provoking and even though I’ve submitted my work, I had lingering thoughts about the company’s strategy and direction.
FYI: The link, at the point of writing, is broken and possibly will be fixed by the site.
TL:DR version: A reflection on how Managed by Q uses the Good Job concept as it’s differentiating business model and whether more start-ups/companies should consider using the Good Job concept.
Managed by Q, known in short as “Q” is an on-demand office cleaning and maintenance company that was founded in 2014. The case study was created in 2015, a period when Uber and other popular on-demand start-ups like Taskrabbit made the term “on-demand” very hot in the start-up environment.
The Good Jobs Strategy
Q’s co-founder and CEO Dan Teran found himself skewing towards the Good Jobs Strategy, which solely by its name means investing in your employees. This was counter-intuitive at the time when businesses were going for cost reduction via the gig economy.
Q differentiates itself with its high-quality services driven by the company’s culture called “Q standard”. While most on-demand start-ups use contractors to drive the core business (e.g. Uber hires a pool of contract drivers), Q employed cleaners as full-time roles with employee health and annual leaves benefits.
Cleaners are called “field operators” and they are hired through a rigorous hiring and training process to assimilate into Q’s culture which values transparency and outstanding customer service.
A dedicated workforce means higher productivity, lower turnover; hence reducing the cost of hiring. In the long run, the cost is lower compared to companies with a weak workforce and high turnover.
For further reading, you can refer to the original book called the Good Jobs Strategy by Zeynep Ton or this free book with a similar idea called More Good Jobs from App Sumo.
The role of technology comes in as a driver to the high-quality service provided by Q. All cleaning tasks are defined clearly through the Ipad. Each customer is given a customized dashboard with the tasks from the office manager. With the iPad, the customer can track or add tasks to the cleaning schedule. Vice versa, the field operator uses the iPad to take pictures of their completed task and feedback to the client. The iPad is a gateway to accountability and transparency in communications. Field operators are motivated to exceed expectations for a good rating and clients would get excellent servicing from Q.
In the case study, Q was at the point to grow. What is the next best step Q should take? Should Q expand to new locations or deepen its service offering?
I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer on what’s the next step or strategy to deploy. One thing certain is Q has built a differentiated business model via quality services and transparency through technology.
These are some local (Singapore) and international references off my head:
- Grab: Expanded to other countries before increasing its services
- Klook: an in-destination tour and activities marketplace that expanded after starting in Hong Kong & Macau. Has expanded to Singapore and increased its offering to include hotel stays.
- Crocs: expanded too fast with too many offerings. Had to cut down to bounce back.
It is inconclusive on which strategy is better and it really depends on the business, industry, and the economy.
So what can I conclude from this case study learning?
- As part of contributing goodness in this world, the Good Jobs Strategy makes a lot of sense but I understand it really depends on the business and its industry. Why not try for long time contractors who have performed consistently?
- To expand or offer more services: this is still a puzzling one. It seems like different businesses approach it differently.
Q was acquired by WeWork for $220 million in 2019 and sold to Eden for $25 million in 2020.
Unfortunately, we would not be able to see the progress of Q and how the Good Jobs Strategy as a strategy for a start-up could weather the economic impact from Covid-19.
The case study introduced me to the Good Jobs Strategy. It is not something new in established companies like Trader Joe’s and Costco (examples from the Good Jobs Strategy book) but new to start-ups. Managed by Q, a start-up in the janitorial industry managed to make a difference and differentiate its business model using this strategy. Whether to expand or deepen services as the next strategy, there’s no right or wrong answer, just how the strategy will be executed.
