[Jenny1]

Hi,

I'm just looking for a bit of advice.  I took on a cleaner a couple of months ago.  On her first day a client complained saying that she'd left the job early and had done a poor job.  I told her about this and she said that she must have just missed them and started making excuses etc.

I then gave her some more training but her attitude is bad and she doesn't seem to want to learn.  I know that she's still continuing to leave jobs early and have had more complaints about this and her quality of work.  Some of my clients do seem happy with her but I'm getting concerned about her performance.

I've also asked her to return equipment and payments at the end of her working day.  She says that she will come back with them later on as she wants to pick her children up from school but on quite a few occasions hasn't and ignored my phone calls asking her to.  I'm trying to offer her some flexibility by allowing her to do this but am getting annoyed now.

I'm not sure what to do as she is unwilling to learn so I don't see how she can improve.  She seems to want to finish by 3pm so if I give her three 2 hour jobs with a 9am start she will inevitably cut them all short.  She is still in her probationary period so I was wondering if anybody else has been in a similar situation and how you solved it? 

Thanks.

[trevor perry]

get shut whilst she is in probationary period as after that it can be hard work going through warnings etc

[e newlands]

loose her now
waste of space

[kelley]

yep i'd ditch her. imagine how bad she is going to be when shes not in her probation period and as we all know you dont get many chances with customers.

[martin19842]

hi there

you can train people that dont do a good job, but are enthusuatic, you will find it very difficult to train someone with a bad attitude, as there is a lack of respect, and the employee thinks that you should be lucky that they are here to do any work.

so if i were you i would ring some of the others that applied for the job in the first place.

regards

martin

[Jenny1]

Thanks for your advice.  I've decided to get rid of her tomorrow.

[Nick W]

Employees have less rights in the 1st year of employment. However, they can still take you to a tribunal for unfair dismissal or constructive dismissal. The former would only apply if it were smth v serious indeed such as racism and the latter is v hard to prove.

I would recommend to cover yourself you give a verbal then written warning before terminating his or her employment. That way in the (unlikely) event you do get sued, you have an audit trail that will cover you.

I only mention this since with the growth of no win no fee solicitors people are more inclined to litigation these days....

[e newlands]

its hard trying to find good staff workers etc
reliable trustworthy people a few and far between
ive had a fella working for me almost full time for 3 years not the best in the world but earnt me a few quid over the years
let me down on a few occasions but ive always given him the benefit give him another chance etc
this week his let me down  every day went missing in action for 6 hours  yesterday and never completed a job today and resurfaced at 1 o clock was walking down the road unemployed at 1-05
you cant trust anyone