Is Your Part Time Employee “Your” Employee?

By:  Cathy Green

As a new maid service company, most likely your first employees will be hired as part timers as you build up a caseload.

Part time workers generally need a way to supplement their income. So, your company will not be their only means of employment.  You might be their second or even third job.  Or, they may have some venture of their own happening and are using your business as a way to supplement.

What you will run into with part time employees is that in many cases their “first love” will be either their other job or their other side venture.  If they are viewing your business as a way to compliment their #1 priority, you might have a problem brewing.

Be careful that you don’t have people under your employment who are treating your business like a “jump off”—that is, something that they can use until they can do something else.

When searching out potential employees, tell them that your goal is to start them off part time and have them build up to full time.  Ask them if that might work for them. Ask them where they see themselves a year from now…two years from now.

There ARE people out there who enjoy cleaning houses and who would like to make house cleaning a career choice. Your goal should be to find such people.  If companies can find maintenance workers and janitors and building services crews to clean their buildings and/or schools for an entire career, why can’t you find some some employees who would want to clean houses for a career?

Training takes months. I’m talking about professional training.  The goal is to train an employee to clean houses exceptionally well so that they can work for your company for many years.  It would not be to your advantage to put all that time and energy into training an employee, only to have that employee leave after a few months to do something else.

People will use you. Don’t allow that to happen. The probability of it happening is when you are dealing with part time employees.  It decreases when you get to the point where you can offer them full time jobs. Therefore, work to build up a caseload. As soon as you can, get someone in there full time.

Formulate the types of questions during the interview that will give you an idea of what this person’s plans are.  If their plans are to return to school, that is GREAT—-but don’t hire someone who is about to return to college because they will leave you.  If their plans are to go into the nursing field or some other field, and they actually tell you that, please don’t hire them. It’s terrific that they plan to persue their dreams, but not at your expense!

Once your company grows to the point where it’s a huge cleaning enterprise, you will have more freedom and flexibility. While you are small, however, your goal is to hire full time employees and part timers who, at a minimum, are serious about their job with you and who plan to stay with you for a while.

Gender differences in Cleaning Employees?

By:  Cathy Green

When I started my company back in 2007, I must admit that I was in search of women.  In my mind, people would feel more comfortable having a woman in their home regulary and I believed that a woman would do a more careful, thorough job overall.  Wow, was I wrong!

The reality [in my business] is that my male employees have been the saving grace in my establishment.  Looking back at my employee files, I have hired 8 women since 2007.  Two left because they were able to find full time positions (and they were honest with me from the beginning that they would stay on until their full time jobs cames through).  A third one lived too far away for it to make financial sense for her to stay on.  The other five?  I fired them.

Some of the problems I have had with women employees have been:

a.  Attitude – Nasty disposition in dealing with coworkers and with me

b.  Work ethic – Sneaking off of job prior to house being totally cleaned

c.  Calling in at last minute for even small things such as a half  inch of snow!

d.  Insubordination

e.  Not teachable

f.  Failure to take any personal responsibility for anything

Although at the beginning my goal was to have a predominently female staff, the opposite has become my truth.  Presently 100% of my employees are men.

I did not plan it that way but once the smoke had cleared, my male employees were left standing, and in effect, holding up the standard that I set for my company.

When I tell my male employees that I want something done in a particular way, there is no back talk.  They listen and trust my judgment.

When it snows a little and I call to see if they are okay, they report that they are en route to the client’s house.

If I have to reprimand, they take personal responsibility and accept it like an adult should.

Because I have a professional company, I am constantly perfecting the way things are done. They readily roll with the changes.

And I have no problem “popping in” on them and finding them where they should be, taking care of my clients.

Will I hire women in the future? Well I certainly will give anyone an opportunity. I don’t discriminate and never will.  But now I know what to do before even calling a woman in for an interview.  In fact, a woman called last week looking for a job.  I engaged her in conversation for about 5 minutes.  During that short period, she made it clear that she had her own way of cleaning and needed no direction.  She then admitted she was just looking for a quick job to hold her over until she got a job in another field.

Needless to say, I did not waste a stamp on her, much less an application.  My advice to new cleaning companies.  Keep an open mind. Don’t be afraid to hire men. Some things don’t come naturally to men — such as, fluffing pillows, and putting things back in a neat fashion.  So you know what?  You bring it to their attention and teach them. Trust me, they will learn. 

Wishing you the best in finding great employees. Your employees are the “face” of your business. They bring all your promises and statements about your business to the light.  Hire with caution!

Training the Cleaning Tech

By:  Cathy Green

This may sound like common sense, but I would advise you to train your employees.  Never assume that they know how to clean appropriately or at a professional level.

Case in point, I personally showed a new employee how to safely clean a mantle above a fireplace.  I show him two methods:  (a)  Lift object, clean/dust, replace object;  (b)  Remove every object to a safe place, clean, put objects back.

In spite of that, I was surprised to learn that he used neither method recently, resulting in him knocking an item off of a client’s mantle and breaking it.

I told him that since it was an affordable item, I would not go through my insurance company to replace it. Instead, he had to pay for half, which he did.  I wanted to do it that way to teach him a valuable lesson.

Remind your employees that in their own homes they are free to do whatever they please. But in a client’s home they MUST follow the methods established by you and your company. Otherwise, you will have serious problems on your hands.

Your Employees are the “Face” of Your Company

 

 By:  Cathy Green

Not only are your employees the “face” of your company, but they are the ones who bring your promises to light.

In your advertising, you are making promises. Guess who will fulfill those promises?  Your employees.  And if they are not fulfilling those promises, you will lose clients.  In short, your clients want their homes cleaned from top to bottom—and they want their homes cleaned exceptionally well every time.

I could summarize by saying that your employees are your business. With that in mind, you will need to choose and train them well.

Also, if you have an employee who is not falling in line, you will need to terminate that employee, regardless of how much you like the employee or how much you desire to help the employee.

I don’t enjoy firing people. I really don’t. Times are hard and people need a job. Also, firing an employee means that you have to start all over again in choosing a new employee and you have to break the news to clients that their house cleaner will not be coming any more to clean their home. If the client really liked the employee, that’s not good news for them to have to take in.

In spite of the setbacks, the truth of the matter is, there may very well come a time in which you will need to dismiss an employee. And I would advise you to continue dismissing employees until you find the ones who are coming into line with what you desire for your business.

Just recently I attempted to fire an employee. She talked me into keeping her and vowed to make the necessary changes. Things were going great—for about a month.

However, she went to a client’s home and I called her. I was shocked that she was already finished. Because she was cleaning the home alone, I knew that it would take 3 hours to clean it alone.   She was there only 1.5 hours.

So I did something she did not expect. I went to the home and inspected it. What I discovered is that she had cleaned the bathrooms and kitchen, but nothing else. She did not dust, wipe off, clean glass. Nothing. Furniture was loaded with dust. Light fixtures dirty.

Long story short, I fired her and I’m glad I did because she had been given chances. The fact that she was still sneaking around trying to be “slick” means that she had no intentions of changing. And I could not trust her. Simple as that.

You will lose both money and clients if you continue holding on to employees who you know are not living up to the standards set by your company.

Always remember that clients are in search of superior services because they are paying hard earned money to have their homes cleaned well. Your employees have the duty of working well and not rushing out of homes.

In fact, I purposely only have my employees clean 2 homes per day. I do that because I want them to take their time in each home and do an outstanding job—every time! It cannot be “hit or miss”.

When I discovered that my employee had only spent about 1.5 hours in the house, I realized that she not only was cheating my client but she was cheating me. Therefore, I docked her pay and fired her.

If you plan to stay in business, hire well, train well. And when an employee tries to buck your authority or slip out of houses, leaving them only half cleaned, FIRE and do so as often as you need to!

Are Your Employees Flying Yet?

 

 By:  Cathy Green

   In the cleaning industry, allowing an employee to fly means that you no longer feel the need to go behind him/her to check his/her work.

My business turned a year old in December 2008. It was built on a solidly firm foundation and survived the recession with flying colors. We only lost one client to the recession. I found a great accountant who also acts as a business consultant.  ADP does my payroll.

Most important, however, is that after spending the first few months in this business firing employee after employee, I now have three good ones.

Initially I checked in on EVERY first time cleaning. I wanted to personally inspect every nook and cranny of the homes to ensure they were cleaned to my specifications.

I was not really concerned about the ongoing cleanings as much. But the first time cleanings set the standard and really allowed the potential client to determine whether or not to hire my company for regular service.

About 2 or 3 months ago something interesting happened. I found myself in a situation where I had to reschedule a first time cleaning. The client was really disappointed. She had read great things about my company [Yipeeeee!] and wanted to try it out for herself.

I was able to reschedule but there was a glitch. I knew that it would be impossible for me to be there. I had something else scheduled and would not be able to check my employees’ work.

It was at that point that I realized that it was time to allow my employees to fly.  At some point they need to be trusted.

Two of them went to the woman’s home and spent close to four hours cleaning it from top to bottom.

That evening the woman called me, totally excited. The cleaning techs had far exceeded her expectations and she indicated that even her son [who never comments on anything] commented on how great the house looked and smelled.

Now I know that I can fully trust my employees to do what they need to do outside of my presence.  My job as owner is to teach my employees the importance of giving clients far above their money’s worth and then some!

Once it is instilled in them that there is a chain reaction—meaning, their performance in homes determine the health of my business—and that the health of my business impacts their paycheck and job security—the only thing I can do after I drill that into them is step back and run my business.

I’ve learned that I cannot (and should not) inspect every home after a first time cleaning.  My job is to market my company, grow the business and allow my employees to fly.   Simple as that!

Question:  Are you now allowing your employees  to fly?  If not, you are crippling them.  Let them go.  Allow them to fly.  And if they fall, re-teach and re-preach.  But let them fly!

Your Clients Are Golden

By:  Cathy Green

  Treat each client as a nugget of gold, as that is what they are. Each client represents money and success to you. They are the reason you exist.

And because of how important clients are, make it your business to care about the type of service they are receiving.

I meet with my employees regularly regarding my clients. I visit client homes to see for myself what type of service they are receiving.

Recently I stopped by the home of a client and saw some things that disturbed me. It was obvious to me that a surface level cleaning had been taking place. However, I’m not interested in surface level cleanings. I want to know about the “deep” cleaning!

I checked the basebards, window ledges, door ledges. I lifted objects in the kitchen to search out crumbs, etc. And what I saw was a situation where a home was being cleaned, but not at a deep level. For me, that is not acceptable.

Meeting with my employees afterwards, I told them that my expectation is that they clean homes just as well when I’m not around as they do when I’m around.

I reiterated to them the fact that inferior service puts the company in danger of losing clients, losing money, losing our reputation. And in short, I’m not having it!

Establish a standard in your company. Set your expectations and tell your employees what you demand happen. You are not paying them to give “okay” services. No, you are paying them to clean homes to full capacity and beyond.

My company is different from most in that not only do I pay higher than local companies (including the franchises) but I only allow my employees to clean two homes per day. So they have no excuse for giving less than superior service. None.

If you don’t make your expectations clear, employees will smile at you while taking full advantage of you. And if you tolerate it, you will be the one who loses.

Handling Employee Disagreements

By:  Cathy Green

 From time to time your employees may have blow ups or disagreements. And as the owner of a company, you will need to deal with those issues.

It is important to resolve issues immediately because your employees will need to work together from time to time and you definitely don’t want them arguing in anyone’s home and you don’t want tension in the air.

Even if you favor one employee over the other, be certain to hear both sides of the story with an open mind. Don’t make any moves or decisions until after you have heard from both sides. Try not to take sides. Remember that you are the mediator, supervisor and business owner. Your employees need to feel that you gave them an equal opportunity to air out their grievances. The employee needs to know that you care and are fair.

Be certain to get both parties together. Hear both sides. Try to get them to listen to each other and to apologize, if necessary.

Re-state your expectations and company policies. In my company, the goal is peace. My company values are based on biblical principles (the fruit of the spirit) and the fruit of the spirit are all positive. That would be love, joy, peace, longsuffering, and so on and so forth. The opposite would be outbursts of rage, backbiting, gossip, etc.

It is good to have something in place to go to, so be certain to have your company’s values written out. Mine are from the bible. You can make yours up. From time to time, employees need reminders of your expectations. Remember, the second you start hiring employees, there will be employee issues.  Be prepared.

Below is an outstanding video on the topic of mediation of conflicts:

PRESS HERE

The Employee From Hell

By:  Cathy Green

    Back in April of ’08 I had an employee whom I now refer to as “The Employee From Hell”.  I hired her on March 24, 2008 and fired her on April 12, 2008. That means she lasted about five weeks.

Her  ”honeymoon” period lasted about a week. After that, the grown woman, whom I’ll refer to as Trouble, could not behave herself.

Issue #1 – Constantly on the cell phone. I warned her that the company’s policy is that cell phones are to remain on vibrate and to only take calls that amount to an emergency. She ignored me, continuing with the cell phone.

Issue #2 – Constant conversations with anyone within earshot—and when no one was there, she would talk to herself. I remember telling her that she is not in client homes to have conversations with them She is there to clean. And if a client struck up a conversation, she was welcome to answer the questions and move on….but not to start talking. She was there to work. Period. In spite of that, I sent her into a home where she ran her mouth nonstop and the client cancelled service. I should have fired her on the spot but the quality of her work caused me to keep her. She truly was a good cleaner.

Issue #3 – She kept trying to insist that I not take taxes out of her check and demanded that I issue her a “1099″. I explained to her over and over again that she is not a “contractor” and therefore I would not issue any 1099′s to her. I explained that she is an employee. That did not stop her from whining about taxes coming out of her check.

Issue #4 – It started coming to a head in early April, 2008. She showed up 2 hours late for a job. Fortunately she did not slow anything down because my other empoyee was there and did just fine. I was silly enough not to dock her pay! She had a trillion excuses as to why she did not make it on time.

The night before I fired her, she called my home, screaming in my ears. She was upset that taxes were coming out of her check. I told her to go work elsewhere if she wanted to be a contractor but working for me, taxes would be taken out.

Issue #5 – There was a cancer patient who was about to come home. Her family hired my company to get the home as clean as possible prior to her arrival. That meant using only sterile objects, where possible. I remember telling “Trouble” not to bring in her duster, as dusters are famous for holding dust, dirt. The patient’s sister told me that she caught Trouble trying to take the duster into her home.

That told me a great deal about Trouble’s character. She was so selfish that she was willing to take a dusty duster into the home of a woman who was deathly ill. She could have used a brand new duster but she was determined to do things her own way.

She showed up late to the woman’s house. And because of how sensitive the issue was, I went to the house to ensure the cleaning techs were following the strict rules of the family.

What I found was her running her mouth on the cell phone (in between cleanings). And then she did it. She informed everyone that she needed to go to her car right quick. She came back about 30 – 35 minutes later.

I fired her on the spot (NEVER fire an employee on the spot, folks!)  She had a melt down in the woman’s house. Screamed, cried, raged, ranted. Acted a pure fool.

That day she called my cell phone at least 10 times. She called and my husband spoke with her that night. The next day she left me more messages. My husband talked to her the next night. She told him he was arrogant. He told her she was “manic” and needed to take her medicine.

It was a mess, to say the least.

In hindsight, I am happy that “Trouble” came into my life and into my business. It was after my interactions with her that I was able to update my employee manual and bone up on the company’s employee policies. I really should have fired her much earlier. No way should she have lasted in my company for five weeks..

My advice to you is as follows. I don’t care how well an employee cleans a house. Fire that employee if you find the employee bucking you, ignoring your policies and being disrespectful. Trust me, there is slim chance that the person will change.

After I fired “Trouble”, I remember going to the house that she had cleaned the day before her firing to personally check on her work. Sure enough, even though she could clean, she DID NOT do a good job in that house. She had also shown up late to that particular house, and apparently left early.

 My guess is that her goal was to continue showing up late to houses as a way to try to force my hand and make me stop taking taxes out of her check.  Warped reasoning which soon got her fired.

I would have been nuts to keep her on my payroll. She obviously was out of her mind.

Today I would never tolerate the nonsense I put up with from Trouble. But my business was an infant then. I was just happy to have a few employees who were great at cleaning houses.

After firing Trouble, I fired at least six more employees over the next few months. I learned from my experience with her that until I found the right “fit”, I would not settle for a bad fit. Simple as that.

Don’t settle. Hire and fire as necessary. Otherwise, you will have serious issues on your hands.

Establishing a Pleasant Business Culture and Work Environment

 

 By:  Cathy Green

  One of the fun, empowering things about owning your own maid service business is that you have the opportunity to establish the environment for your company.

In my company’s handbook, employees find the following:

Company Values

Our company’s values and work environment are based on the scriptures from Galatians 5:22 and Ephesians 5:22:   But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, and truth.

UpperCrust Maids, LLC does not allow the following, which is found in 2 Corinthians 12:20: Jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbiting, whispering and conceit. Those are the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit.

During New Employee Orientation, we go through the entire employee handbook. We share with employess our mission statement, vision statement and values. That’s how we set the tone for the company.

The company is small right now. However, as it grows and as I take on new employees, the need will come to reinforce and remind employees of their expectation to get in line with our values while they are on duty and on the clock.

Certain things I cannot tolerate. I will not tolerate an environment in my company where there is offensive language, backbiting and bad mouthing of one employee towards another. I’m simply not willing to tolerate it. Anyone who cannot get with the program is more than welcome to go work somewhere else.

A couple of weeks ago one of my employees said, “I love working for you”. And just yesterday another one said, “I’m not going anywhere. I plan to stay right here…”  Wow, that really warmed my heart.

The reasons they are so satisfied are:

a. I pay them well. I don’t want them viewing this as a “jump off” job. I want them to view this as a real job and a real company that they can grow in and have longevity in. If I pay them a fast-food wage, they will not take this job seriously. But because I pay them well, they work hard and take pride in their work. And the business grows, with satisfied clients.

b. My husband and I set the standard by treating our employees with the utmost respect. We abide by the value system we have created. And therefore, it makes it easier for our employees to abide by that same system.

c. At the beginning of the business, we had a high turn over rate—not because people were leaving, but because I fired them. Two left to find full time employment (as we started off offering only a part time job) and all the others were fired by me. Why did I fire up to seven (7) employees? They were not coming in line with the value system I established and I was not going to tolerate any run-away trains. Their work ethic, etc. was totally outside of the range of what I was willing to put up with. So I fired them. Most did not last a good month. And my goal was to continue firing employees until I found the right ones. I now have three who I am thrilled with. And as we grow, I’ll find more who “fit” with us. But there must be a fit or they must go.

The wrong employees—regardless of how well they clean, will set your business up to rot from the inside out. A nasty employee who keeps a lot of strife going, who tries to buck your authority as the owner, and who bad-mouths coworkers, clients and the owners are a bad seed. If that seed is not removed, it will infect all that it touches.

Such people will convince the other workers that there is a problem when in fact there isn’t one. They will brainwash the other employees and have them plotting against your company and planning to leave.

When determining the type of culture I would establish for UpperCrust Maids, LLC, I went straight to the bible: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, and truth .

Those are the type of characteristics that I will tolerate. I want my employees to feel loved and at total peace when they come to work for me. I want them to look forward to coming to work, as opposed to dreading it due to a rude or destructive coworker.

As business owners, we are in a unique position to set the standard and if we don’t we can blame no one but ourselves.