What Harvard and McKinsey Got Right About Cleaning: A-One Janitorial Puts Research Into Practice

Newport Beach–based A-One Janitorial, builds a ten-state platform on research-backed, self-performing custodial teams.

NEWPORT BEACH, CA, UNITED STATES, August 5, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In a commercial cleaning industry crowded with subcontractors and inconsistent delivery, A-One Janitorial² LLC is proving that operational discipline still wins. Backed by leading insights from Harvard Business School and McKinsey & Company, the Newport Beach–based firm—led by Ken Alston of Newport Beach¹—has built a national platform around a simple idea: self-performing W-2 teams deliver better outcomes.

“From healthcare environments to federal institutions, we’ve built A-One around a simple but powerful idea: do the work yourself, and do it well,” said Ken Alston, President of A-One Janitorial. “When every team member is a trained employee—not a subcontractor—you get consistency, pride of ownership, and results that scale.”

Research supports the approach:

- Harvard Business School (2022) found that companies using self-performing teams experience 31% fewer service defects and 23% higher client retention than those relying on subcontractors.
- A McKinsey & Company workforce report (2021) concluded that organizations with strong internal labor alignment outperform peers by 15–25% across KPIs and customer satisfaction.

A-One Janitorial applies this model across ten states, providing high-compliance janitorial services to Fortune 500 companies³, federal agencies, and healthcare facilities. The company exclusively employs W-2 staff and maintains a strict no-subcontractor policy, enabling it to meet the standards of mission-critical and regulated environments. Operational excellence is reinforced through a vertically integrated management structure, on-site quality inspections, timekeeping and reporting tools, and OSHA and site-specific safety training.

With recent expansion into Arkansas, Colorado, Montana and Louisiana, A-One is bringing its research-backed model to underserved secondary markets—delivering big-city quality with small-market responsiveness.

The company’s success has drawn national media attention, with Ken Alston and A-One Janitorial featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX for their role in raising industry standards in secure environments.

Ken Alston
A-One Janitorial LLC
+1 2026422336
info@aonejanitorial.com
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¹ https://aonejanitorial.com/our-jantorial-story/
² https://aonejanitorial.com/media-recognition/
³ https://aonejanitorial.com/services/