[Pristine Clean]

God! Does it not annoy you?

It annoys me. Took on a cleaner - giving them 18 + hours and gave them flexibility on what sites they like.

Been with us a week. Spent time showing the ways to clean, induction, uniform, keys, and all the things that are required. Seemed to be doing really well. End of the week. - Text message received, cant do it - husband got new promotion blah blah.

Why do they do it.

Got to go through all the interviews again and inductions. I would really like to hit something!

Dave

[Adam P]

i know how you feel. just had 2 go and now got to start it all over again. only thing that i can say good about it is at least they didn't stay and you end up with someone who can't be bothered.

[qginsburg]

What
A hassle and so inconsiderate ! its hard to get reliable people even in this so called recession.
Hang in there mate !

[Denise l]

Same here. Emailed me to say due to health problems hey couldnt stay. had to emal them back and call them an absolute time waster. Felt better then.

[Pristine Clean]

Does it not get you down.

I am absolutely fed up. Seems to be a regular thing.

I would not mind but its not as if we pay minimum wage or only have a few hours.

Yes I will keep hanging on in there for a while.

Glad to see it does not just happen to me.

Dave

[gordonswindows]

Sorry to hear your probes with staff and yes it can and does happen to us all

Dave you approach the running of your business in a very systematic manner and yet you put your faith in staff.

Any other problem you have encountered seems to be worked through and solved yet you tackle the problem off staff in a completely different way

Before you recruit design a system that finds you the right recruit. Dont hire them cos you like them don't move the boundarys to make the job fit the recruit and don't believe everything they say

When recruiting make sure your advert is designed around YOUR needs and don't stop interviewing until you find the right person. You never seem to settle for second best in any other part of your business so don't do it when recruiting

There are a great deal of good employees out there and it is just a matter of approaching the recruitment process as you do every other keep on looking until you find your diamond among the rest of the dross

Remember good employers recruit good staff

Cheers

Gordon

[Pristine Clean]

Thanks for the good advice Gordon.

Ill certainly take it on board.

I was a bit lenient as we had several sites that needed filling. I was giving them some flexibility on the idea if it suited them we might get off t a good start.

That's the first time I have tried being flexible - Not again

I have managed to find another person to fill the positions - Lets see how it goes.

Thanks

Dave

[The Great One]

Good employers also recruit bad staff.

[gordonswindows]

Not on purpose I hope !

[SharonM]

Hi Guys

I have just joined this forum, literally!  I have been running a (very) small cleaning business since 2004. I am having the same problem with time wasters now too.

I set up on my own as a new mum who wanted to do some evening cleaning so that I could be with my son during the day. My friend opened a childcare nursery and I took on the cleaning job on a self employed basis and started advertising for other contracts. I now have 3 offices and the nursery and about 15 houses for domestics. I have had 6 staff on the books. I kept it at this until my children started school, I now have 2 children and the youngest started in September.  I have been employing staff since 2005 which is when I handed the manual cleaning over to them and stopped cleaning myself and just did the admin from home. I have had the 6 cleaners since 2005 and 3 evening cleaners have now left since August last year because they wanted day jobs so they could be at home in the evenings, which is fair enough. 

I have been very lucky with keeping the same staff but since then I have found it really hard to get new cleaners.  I had one lady join in October and she is great and one of the domestic day cleaners is now working one of the evenings but I still need one to work five nights a week. I have had two people start, I've trained them and set everything up and both have left within two nights saying it's too much. It's only 3 hours per night for goodness sake.  What is wrong with people.  I thought times are hard so why is nobody applying for or wanting the job! 

Can I ask what everyone pay's per hour.  I am re-assessing in case I'm not offering enough but my rates are £6 per hour to start and once inducted and trained it increases to £6.30 and then I consider £6.50 after six months.  Is this too low?  I have looked at ad's on our local job centre web site and most seem to offer £6 per hour??

I was hoping to expand this year now that both children are at school as at the moment we only take work in the town where we are based which is small, I have kept it small because I wanted to spend time with my family.   Now I am ready to extend our area to next town which is where the big money is, but I don't feel happy to do this until our local town has a stable team!

Thanks for any advice.

[Pristine Clean]

It varies on the number of hours and how good the cleaner is.

We start at £6.00 then £6.25 - £6.50 then £7.50 - £8.00

The £6.25 and £6.50 mark is the average.

We have paid a lot higher and still find that they mess you around.

Everyone wants to work but not work for what they are being paid to do and the time they are being paid for.

Apparently there is a unique system for hiring the right people. Its a series of question - sort of like Anallise the answers in someway to find out if they are right for your organisation.

I have yet to find this system.... so if anyones knows please please for god sake help us all.

Dave

[greencleaning]

Let yourself adjust being an employer should be in the middle of all for all benefits will be with you.

[gordonswindows]

There is no magic procedure for employing staff and that is a big concession coming from me who has built their business on systems

If I had to give advice on how to employ the right people it would be to put yourself in their place as opposed to looking out from only your side of the desk

What I mean is you see an opportunity for someone to work and gain as much satisfaction as you do in doing the job well and then some

But you see it as your business as your success, you know you are building something good something that others will benefit from, you are climbing the slippy ladder of success

And the new employee sitting in awe staring up at you gets what? A wee part time cleaning job "until something better comes along" that pays little better than McDonalds or Asda checkout.

I am no snob and yes I am proud of being a "cleaner" but really as an empyer we are actually business people, self employed whatever you want to call it, but your employee they get to tell their kids they are a cleaner they get to put on their
passport occupation "part time cleaner" and you want them to give you everything and more like you do

Do they drive a fancy new car,do they spend their working day in a suit do they get to make decisions on what they will or won't do no no no and no

It is hard being an employer but if you are able to put yourself in the employees
shoes it doesn't just become that bit clearer it also helps you make the right decisions more often

Gordon

[Pristine Clean]

There is no magic procedure for employing staff and that is a big concession coming from me who has built their business on systems

If I had to give advice on how to employ the right people it would be to put yourself in their place as opposed to looking out from only your side of the desk

What I mean is you see an opportunity for someone to work and gain as much satisfaction as you do in doing the job well and then some

But you see it as your business as your success, you know you are building something good something that others will benefit from, you are climbing the slippy ladder of success

And the new employee sitting in awe staring up at you gets what? A wee part time cleaning job "until something better comes along" that pays little better than McDonalds or Asda checkout.

I am no snob and yes I am proud of being a "cleaner" but really as an empyer we are actually business people, self employed whatever you want to call it, but your employee they get to tell their kids they are a cleaner they get to put on their
passport occupation "part time cleaner" and you want them to give you everything and more like you do

Do they drive a fancy new car,do they spend their working day in a suit do they get to make decisions on what they will or won't do no no no and no

It is hard being an employer but if you are able to put yourself in the employees
shoes it doesn't just become that bit clearer it also helps you make the right decisions more often

Gordon

Never a true a word spoken.

Thats exactly how I look at it. I know where you are coming from.

I use to be a Part time cleaner so understand that side

Dave

[martin19842]

dave

i think you might have a virus on one of your pc;s got an email from your aol account this morning sent  to a whole load of what appears to be your distribution list,

were you aware of this ?

regards

martin

[Pristine Clean]

dave

i think you might have a virus on one of your pc;s got an email from your aol account this morning sent  to a whole load of what appears to be your distribution list,

were you aware of this ?

regards

martin

Hi Martin,


Are you sure

I do not have an AOL Account and never have had one. I have run a full virus scan regularly and have firewalls from the routers as well as the server and PC's

Dave

[pristineclean]

dave

i think you might have a virus on one of your pc;s got an email from your aol account this morning sent  to a whole load of what appears to be your distribution list,

were you aware of this ?

regards

martin

  I think that's me - my old computer with my old e mail address is now the plaything of my wife - thanks for letting me know..

[Denise l]

There is no magic procedure for employing staff and that is a big concession coming from me who has built their business on systems

If I had to give advice on how to employ the right people it would be to put yourself in their place as opposed to looking out from only your side of the desk

What I mean is you see an opportunity for someone to work and gain as much satisfaction as you do in doing the job well and then some

But you see it as your business as your success, you know you are building something good something that others will benefit from, you are climbing the slippy ladder of success

And the new employee sitting in awe staring up at you gets what? A wee part time cleaning job "until something better comes along" that pays little better than McDonalds or Asda checkout.

I am no snob and yes I am proud of being a "cleaner" but really as an empyer we are actually business people, self employed whatever you want to call it, but your employee they get to tell their kids they are a cleaner they get to put on their
passport occupation "part time cleaner" and you want them to give you everything and more like you do

Do they drive a fancy new car,do they spend their working day in a suit do they get to make decisions on what they will or won't do no no no and no

It is hard being an employer but if you are able to put yourself in the employees
shoes it doesn't just become that bit clearer it also helps you make the right decisions more often

Gordon

Never a true a word spoken.

Thats exactly how I look at it. I know where you are coming from.

I use to be a Part time cleaner so understand that side

Dave

I tend to call them a cleaning technician and pay them a salary for the job(same thing a hourly rate) but it makes them feel better about themselves.

[Bedfordshire Oven Cleaning]

Hi,
I'm an area manager covering the whole of East Anglia, and even though I am currently advertising at £7.25 per hour full time 40+ hrs a week, plus a van, fuel card, and phone, I am having still getting people who dont actually want to work.
I advertise it as quite hard work, yet they seem amazed when they get a dirty house to clean! I run 6 vans, and 1 of them I just cant seem to staff right. They come and go, I inevitably end up like today cleaning and setting the van up ready for my next team of 2 starting on Wednesday.
I have my long term guys (my proper cleaners!), but many new employees seem to have little or no interest, no pride in their work, and a very poor work ethic.
Just my opinion.
P.S this is not and ad for my jobs, I have bags of applicants, just really hard to tell good from the not bothered. As usual the person who starts work for you bears no resemblance to the person you interviewed!!

[Rob125]

Can i ask what kind of cleaning you do march77? - isnt 7.25 + extras quite high - even for London rates. Also what company that has 6 vans covering East Anglia??
Surely its better to start them off at 6.50 or so and then after 3 months (if there good) raise it to 7.25 (presuming this allowed in employment law??) as a lot of people might be opportunists in going for the job purely because of high salary.
(I am in London and dont do cleaning as of yet but have a general interest in it), cheers,
Rob