Hiring a Cleaning Tech, Part One

Let's talk about the cleaning biz. I have a couple of bones to pick here, and I think my lovely readers will be interested in my rantings. As always, comments are more than welcome.

First and foremost here, guys. If you don't trust this person, why, why, WHY are you letting them in your house? It doesn't matter why you don't trust them - if you don't, just keep looking. It's okay. They're going to be touching all your stuff on a regular basis; you should feel comfortable with them doing so. If you don't feel like they're being honest with you about something (legal stuff, availability, the legitimacy of their business or citizenship status), then how are you going to do business with them over the course of the next few months or years?

And let me chase a certain rabbit particular to my industry for a second here: I am absolutely, positively, without a doubt, NOT one of those wacky deport-everyone-who-looks-different types. I think that particular system is broken in a bad way, and needs to be fixed. But while I write my Congressman and wait for that to happen (Oh, the geologic pace of American politics), I'm forced to look at the situation as it is. If a company is hiring people under the table, A) they're unfairly undercutting my prices, which are quite reasonable in the first place, and B) they're doing that by cheating their employees.

There's a reason I went into business for myself - a LOT of cleaning companies treat their employees like ass. If someone shows up and says, "Hey, you can pay me well under minimum wage, if you just don't ask too many questions and pay me cash," the unscrupulous amongst my colleagues will jump at this chance. Woohoo, cheap labor! But can you see the problem here? As a business owner, you know this person's in the country illegally, and you know they really, desperately need the money. If you're a good person, you help them get citizenship and pay them a decent wage; maybe throw some benefits in there for good measure so their kids don't die of preventable childhood illnesses.

BUT, if you're a money-grubbing jackass, you realize that you have complete and total control over this person now. At this point, you have all you need to turn them over to INS if they don't do what you say. You wanna cut their pay? What are they going to say to you about it? It's not like they're in a position to bargain for better working conditions.

This sort of thing happens more often than you'd think, and it's some of the shittiest, most unethical business practices I've ever seen. They're taking someone who wants to work, who is trying to provide for their family by doing manual labor, and they're taking advantage of their poverty and their desperation and their understandable ignorance of a confusing and broken system. Why would you treat another person this way? They come to you looking for work, afraid of being arrested but needing to eat and buy their kids a pair of shoes, and you cheat them? How do these business owners sleep at night? Maybe they rationalize it by saying, 'Well, some pay is better than no pay for them, right?' And then they light up a fat cigar and look over their stock portfolios that have grown fatter on the extra profit they've accrued by not having pay employment taxes on half their workers. Way to be altruistic, guys.

And what do these cleaning techs do? They may or may not speak the language, they're getting paid peanuts, and they're in your house. Do you really think that twenty on your dresser is not tempting? Yes, some of the techs are just dishonest and pad their pockets by stealing from their clients, and those guys should be summarily fired. But I firmly believe that there are those out there who steal because they can't afford to both pay rent AND buy groceries that month.

Wanna know a good way of deterring this sort of thing? For one, know the cleaning service you're hiring. Research them, Google them, contact the Better Business Bureau or the Chamber of Commerce about them, and make sure their hiring practices are sound. Make sure they treat their techs well.

Another good way of doing this is to request the same tech each time they send someone to clean for you. Smaller companies try to do this automatically, but the bigger ones may just send whoever's available. Try to avoid this, as it puts a lot of different people in your house over the months, and the Law of Averages says there's a better chance of one of them being a little shady. Also, this means you can get to know your tech - their name, if they have family, if they're working through school, whatever. It's easier on both sides if there's at least a little bit of dialogue there. Even just a friendly, 'Good morning, Nancy! How was your weekend?' can remind your tech that they're cleaning for a person, not just a building. And if you care, then they're likely to care as well.

But really, the best way to keep your cleaning tech honest? Tip Them.

No, I'm serious. Be there when they show up to clean, and give him or her a twenty to thank them for their effort. Don't leave it out, as that sets a bad precedent, and a lot of techs aren't allowed to take tips unless the homeowner personally hands it to them. I know it's a bit of a stretch, because you're already paying the company all that money just to come out, but remember that around 80% of that couple-hundred a month you send the office, just stays in the office. It goes to the owners and managers and admins and bills and overhead, and whatever's left over goes to your tech. Same as the waitstaff in a restaurant; you know they get paid around $3 an hour to run their butts off bringing you food, so you tip them. Or you should. People don't realize this, but it's a similar situation with your cleaning tech. They may get more like $7 or $8 an hour, but trust me, the people in the air-conditioned office are making more like twice that. And your tech is the one sweating over your grimy floors. Shouldn't he or she be the one getting some gratuity here?

Aside from the fact that they deserve it, if your tech is grateful to you for being awesome enough to tip them, they're far less likely to want to take your stuff. Same thing as tipping the valet to not ding your car when he parks it. You know he's going to be more careful, because hey, dude just gave me twenty bucks! Alright! I will work harder for him now, even if I don't consciously realize it.

Since I'm a one-woman cleaning operation, the tipping thing isn't as big of a deal with me. But I know a lot of my readers live in other areas and therefore cannot hire me. So I want to educate you guys on how to hire a cleaning tech - because you are hiring them. They're your employee. You have to think like a manager when you're dealing with them, or else they're just going to do whatever they feel like doing and call it good. If a manager gives her employees clear directions and goals, she gets the most productivity out of her team. Same with cleaning. If you just expect them to show up and automatically know that that one really high shelf drives you crazy if it's not dusted, you're going to be disappointed and upset, and it's going to be your fault. It's your house. You set the expectations. If you don't, then you're just going to have to take what they give you, and that makes nobody happy.

A byproduct of actually managing your cleaning tech with clear communication, positive feedback, and suggestions for improvement, is that your tech will feel better about working for you. You're not some faceless jackass with a way-too-fancy house. All of a sudden, your tech knows you, knows how you like things done, and is happier to do that work because he or she knows how to make you happy and keep you on as a client. Don't you hate it when your boss says, 'Oh, just figure it out?' Wouldn't you rather have a deadline, a priority list, a goal for your workday? Well, so would we. It's far more satisfying that way. I'm not saying nitpick them to death - that usually ends poorly - I'm just saying you should communicate with the people working for you. Let them know what you need, want, and expect. And thank them for their hard work. They're making your life easier, after all.

Next time I get around to posting, I'll talk about what you should expect when you're hiring a cleaning tech or service. And since it's a two-way street, the post after that will be about what they expect from you. Get ready to have your mind thoroughly blown; I can easily say that a lot of you will not have heard this stuff before.

Happy Monday!