Director of Environmental Services (EVS)

Plymouth Harbor on Sarasota Bay•Sarasota, FL

6d•Onsite

About The Position

The Director of Environmental Services provides strategic and operational leadership for housekeeping, laundry, sanitation, and environmental services throughout the Plymouth Harbor campus. This position is responsible for establishing and maintaining consistent standards of cleanliness, sanitation, infection prevention, safety, appearance, and service across Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care, Skilled Nursing, and campus common and support areas. Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, the Director provides campus-wide oversight of environmental services operations while ensuring that practices are appropriate to each level of care and comply with applicable federal, state, and local regulatory requirements. The Director leads environmental services through a hospitality-focused and resident-centered approach, balancing the expectations of a premier residential community with the regulatory and infection prevention requirements of licensed healthcare settings. This position is accountable for departmental leadership, staffing, training, quality assurance, regulatory compliance, budget management, purchasing, inventory, equipment, laundry operations, resident satisfaction, and continuous improvement.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, Hospitality Management, or a related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
Minimum of 5-7 years of progressive leadership experience in environmental services, housekeeping, or facilities management, preferably within a healthcare, senior living, or hospitality setting.
Demonstrated knowledge of federal, state (including AHCA and CMS), and local healthcare regulations and accreditation standards related to environmental services, infection prevention, and safety.
Proven experience in developing and managing departmental budgets, including operating and capital expenditures.
Strong understanding of housekeeping and laundry operations, including cleaning methodologies, equipment, supplies, and linen management.
Experience with infection prevention and control practices, including protocols for communicable diseases and outbreaks.
Proficiency in developing and implementing policies, procedures, and quality assurance programs.
Excellent leadership, team-building, and staff development skills.
Strong communication, interpersonal, and customer service skills, with the ability to interact effectively with residents, families, staff, and leadership.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and experience with environmental services management software.
Ability to analyze data, identify trends, and implement corrective actions.
Knowledge of safety regulations and best practices, including chemical handling and personal protective equipment (PPE).

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in a relevant field.
Certified Healthcare Environmental Services Professional (CHESP) or similar certification.
Experience with large-scale senior living campuses with multiple levels of care.
Experience in hospitality management.
Knowledge of emergency preparedness and disaster response planning.

Responsibilities

Provide leadership and operational oversight for all housekeeping, environmental services, and laundry functions across the Plymouth Harbor campus.
Establish consistent campus-wide standards, policies, procedures, cleaning frequencies, inspection processes, and service expectations while recognizing the different operational and regulatory requirements of Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care, and Skilled Nursing.
Develop and maintain appropriate staffing models, assignments, schedules, workflows, and productivity expectations to meet campus needs.
Maintain a visible presence throughout the campus and routinely inspect resident areas, healthcare areas, common spaces, offices, public areas, laundry operations, and other assigned spaces.
Develop measurable performance standards and hold team members and department leadership accountable for quality, responsiveness, productivity, professionalism, and resident service.
Respond promptly to resident, family, employee, and leadership concerns related to housekeeping, laundry, sanitation, and environmental conditions.
Partner with campus leadership to anticipate environmental services needs associated with occupancy changes, renovations, special events, resident transitions, outbreaks, emergencies, and other operational needs.
Participate in campus projects and operational initiatives as assigned by the Chief Operating Officer.
Maintain environmental services and laundry operations in compliance with all applicable federal, State of Florida, local, and healthcare regulatory requirements.
Maintain particular oversight of regulatory requirements applicable to Assisted Living, Memory Care, and Skilled Nursing operations, including applicable AHCA and CMS requirements and standards.
Ensure environmental services policies, procedures, documentation, and actual practices remain survey-ready at all times.
Maintain appropriate procedures for cleaning and disinfection, handling of soiled materials, linen processing, chemical use and storage, waste handling, personal protective equipment, and other environmental safety practices.
Collaborate closely with Nursing, Infection Prevention, Safety Services, Facilities, and healthcare leadership regarding infection prevention and environmental sanitation practices.
Develop and maintain enhanced cleaning and disinfection protocols for communicable illness, outbreaks, isolation precautions, and other infection prevention circumstances.
Participate in regulatory surveys, inspections, audits, plans of correction, and follow-up activities applicable to environmental services and laundry.
Conduct routine environmental rounds and audits within licensed healthcare areas and promptly address identified deficiencies.
Maintain required records, logs, policies, Safety Data Sheets, training documentation, inspection records, and other regulatory documentation.
Establish cleaning standards and frequencies appropriate for resident apartments, resident rooms, healthcare areas, common areas, offices, public spaces, restrooms, and campus support areas.
Ensure consistent execution of daily, routine, periodic, deep-cleaning, and project-cleaning schedules.
Develop standards for apartment and room turnovers and coordinate environmental services activities associated with admissions, discharges, moves, transfers, renovations, and occupancy changes.
Implement a formal quality assurance inspection program and monitor results and trends.
Establish expectations for cleaning methods, products, equipment, chemical dilution, cross-contamination prevention, and safe work practices.
Evaluate emerging environmental services technology, equipment, cleaning systems, and products that may improve quality, safety, productivity, or resident experience.
Ensure housekeeping practices reflect Plymouth Harbor's standards for both hospitality and healthcare excellence.
Provide operational and regulatory oversight of campus laundry and linen services.
Ensure appropriate separation, collection, transportation, processing, storage, and distribution of clean and soiled linens.
Ensure healthcare laundry processes comply with applicable infection prevention and regulatory requirements.
Maintain appropriate procedures for handling contaminated or potentially infectious linens.
Monitor linen utilization, par levels, loss, replacement, quality, and costs.
Evaluate laundry workflows, equipment utilization, staffing, and productivity and identify opportunities for operational improvement.
Coordinate preventative maintenance and replacement planning for laundry equipment in partnership with Facilities.
Maintain appropriate documentation and quality controls associated with laundry operations.
Establish a service culture that recognizes environmental services team members as an important part of the resident experience.
Ensure employees demonstrate professionalism, courtesy, discretion, respect, and sensitivity when working in resident homes and healthcare environments.
Develop mechanisms for receiving, tracking, responding to, and identifying trends in resident concerns and service requests.
Personally follow up on significant environmental services concerns when appropriate.
Partner with resident-facing departments and leadership to continuously improve satisfaction with housekeeping and laundry services.
Ensure team members understand and respect resident preferences, privacy, belongings, and individual living environments.
Recruit, select, orient, train, develop, coach, and evaluate environmental services leadership and team members.
Develop clear supervisory structures and accountability within housekeeping and laundry operations.
Establish comprehensive onboarding and competency-based training for environmental services employees.
Ensure employees receive ongoing education related to infection prevention, chemical safety, equipment use, resident rights, dementia awareness, workplace safety, regulatory requirements, and Plymouth Harbor service standards.
Conduct regular department meetings, leadership meetings, rounding, coaching, and performance reviews.
Identify and develop high-performing team members for advancement and succession opportunities.
Promote teamwork, communication, professionalism, accountability, and employee engagement.
Address performance concerns promptly and consistently in collaboration with Human Resources.
Develop and manage the Environmental Services operating and capital budgets.
Monitor labor, overtime, supplies, chemicals, linen, equipment, and other departmental expenses.
Review departmental financial performance and identify opportunities to improve efficiency without compromising quality, safety, regulatory compliance, or resident experience.
Maintain appropriate inventory and par levels for housekeeping and laundry supplies.
Evaluate vendors, products, contracts, and pricing to support quality and cost-effective purchasing.
Ensure adequate equipment is available, properly maintained, safely operated, and replaced according to an established lifecycle plan.
Review and approve departmental purchases and invoices in accordance with organizational policies.
Develop recommendations for capital equipment and environmental services infrastructure needs.
Establish environmental services key performance indicators and routinely report performance to the Chief Operating Officer.
Utilize inspections, resident feedback, work orders, staffing information, supply utilization, financial data, and other operational metrics to identify trends and opportunities.
Develop corrective action plans when performance does not meet established standards.
Conduct routine campus-wide environmental rounds and document findings and follow-up.
Benchmark environmental services practices against high-performing senior living, healthcare, and hospitality organizations.
Identify opportunities to standardize processes, reduce waste, improve productivity, strengthen infection prevention, and enhance the resident experience.
Collaborate with the Chief Operating Officer, Skilled Nursing Administration and Nursing Leadership, Assisted Living and Memory Care Leadership, Infection Prevention, Facilities, Safety Services, Dining Services, Resident Services, Human Resources, Wellness and Programming, and other departments as operational needs require.
Communicate environmental concerns, maintenance needs, resident concerns, safety issues, and operational risks promptly to the appropriate department or member of leadership and ensure appropriate follow-through.
Participate in Plymouth Harbor's emergency preparedness and hurricane response planning.
Develop environmental services staffing and operational plans for emergencies, evacuations, shelter-in-place situations, utility interruptions, infectious disease outbreaks, and other campus emergencies.
Ensure adequate emergency inventories of critical housekeeping, sanitation, laundry, and infection prevention supplies.
Participate in emergency response activities as assigned by the Chief Operating Officer.