Newsletter December 2021
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
We would like to wish all our employees a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Thank you for doing great work for Sólar over the years. We hope that you and your families have a wonderful time over the holidays and in the month of December.
Holidays in December
24th of December after 12:00
25th of December
26th of December
31st of December after 12:00
1st of January
Problems with floors
Winter is upon us and at this time of year we always receive more comments from customers regarding floor cleaning during winter. A common reason for floors not looking as clean is that the cleaning staff uses mops that are too wet, or adds too much soap in the water. Too wet mops increase the risk of people falling on slippery floors, and the floors look dirty if too much water is used. If too much soap is used the floor forms a cloudy exterior where the soap builds up. It can create a lot of work and effort to clean it up. Therefore it is important not to use too much water or soap during winter. Let your manager know if you think you need more mops during this time of year.
Icelandic Christmas tradition
The Icelandic Santa Claus
The Yule Lads
The Yule lads are brothers, who reside in the highlands but descend to the town, one by one, during the month of December. Legend has it that there are 13 lads in total. The first lad is supposed to come to town on December 12 while the last one arrives on December 24. After Christmas, they leave in the same order as they came.
Ogress Grýla
You can also expect the mother of the Yule lads – the ogress Grýla – to appear in Icelandic human settlements to hold the naughty children. She is a frightful character, which is believed to be partly a troll and partly an animal. She stuffs the kids into her bag and carries them to her mountain lair. She boils these children in her cauldron and makes a tasty meal of them. But she only captures kids who misbehave. Children who regret their behavior and are ready to repent are released.
The Christmas Cat
Grýla also has a monstrous cat as a pet, who is also present there among the humans on Christmas. Anyone who isn’t wearing new clothes on the day may find themselves at the mercy of the dreadful cat.
News from Sales Department
This November Helen Lilja Helgadóttir transferred to Sólar‘s sales department but has worked with us as a service manager since 2015. Her knowledge and experience will come in handy in continuing to work within Sólar, and we in the sales department welcome this great addition. In this picture you can see Rósa and Helen Lilja.
IF YOU MISSED THE NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER
Message from the Chief Executive Officer
This summer we reached a milestone when we moved into a magnificent new building. The building is in Hafnarfjörður, Dalshraun 6, and is customized for Sólar‘s operations with a total of 1000 m2 in size. We look forward to being able to show you the building at the next Christmas coffee.
The last year and a half has been very strange for us like everyone else. You have all done exceptionally well during this difficult time. There have often been very difficult situations and a lot of pressure from the customers. Covid is not finished yet but we all hope that this will soon be over.
We continue our digital journey with Sólar. We consider this to be one of our most important tasks. We have invested a lot of money over the past 10 years and today we are probably one of the leaders in the Nordic region in digital matters for cleaning companies. We have designed our own human resources system, time registration system, project system and sales system. The employee app is just a small part of our digital systems at Sólar but very important. In the coming months you will see various new things in the app which will definitely benefit you in your work.
Finally, we are turning 20 next year! A huge milestone for us that will be celebrated. We will let you know more soon but it will be a great celebration.
Sincerely,
Þórsteinn
Sólar‘s new office building in Hafnarfjörður
Monthly cleaning information
Drivers come to you with clean laundry according to the schedule. They bring a certain amount of mops, rags and dish towels each time. You need to make sure to always send all of the laundry back to the warehouse. Do not store anything on the cart or anywhere else. Everything has to be returned to the warehouse. Note that you also send clean laundry back. If this is not done a big problem will arise in the warehouse, and there will then be a lack of mops, rags, or dish towels.
If you think you are not getting enough mops or rags please contact your service manager and they will order more from the warehouse.
Finally, we would like to ask you to always sort mops, rags and dish towels in their own basket.
Correct sorting of mops, rags and dish towels
Finally! Moving in party and staff Christmas coffee
We have been waiting a long time to be able to invite you to see Sólar‘s new office building in Hafnarfjörður. We are going to invite you to a moving in party on December 14th which will also be our Christmas coffee event. On that day we will hand out Christmas presents to all employees, show you around the premises and offer delicious refreshments.
We will send you more information soon but we look forward to seeing you!
Staff trip in October
The Employee Association of Sólar organized a great trip in October. It was wonderful that everyone could choose what kind of trip they wanted to go on, and everyone could find something to their liking. The Employee Association aims to continue to offer staff trips in this way.
Two new managers in Sólar
We would like to welcome two new managers in Sólar. Natalia Sienda started in the beginning of September and she is taking over from Aneta Beata Wlodarczyk who is now a department manager in the Service department. Joanna Magdalena Banas has been working for Sólar for many years and was promoted to manager in October. We are very happy with our new team members.
