Selecting employees is harder than you think. The best way is to get a referral from a cleaner we trust. Then we put them through the ringer.
Only about half of the employees we hire as Trainees come out on the other side, after two weeks as Cleaning Associates. Generally they just self-select. As long as each keeps a good attitude, we continue to work with them. Poor quality or slow cleaning can be fixed, as long as the attitude and effort are to our standards.
New Employees study and take exams. They pass them, or take a rest at home. This study material focuses on green cleaning for your home, and emphasizes company methods and policies. Every section of the exam focuses on policies to protect your home and belongings. Until they become Cleaning Associates, Trainees can only clean with Training Managers.
For Trainees, clean is defined for them very specifically and consistently by our Quality Control Manager and Training Managers. Their initial performance is evaluated on willingness to work hard, attitude, and learning curve. “Go back” is a term they hear often when they first start, but improve they must, but it’s not enough. The only way they advance is to improve with a smile.
Once a new cleaner has completed their exams, we issue her knee pads, because that is how most of a Trainee’s first weeks are spent, washing floors on hands and knees. The first room they clean will be a bathroom, because in the beginning, that is where their talents can be honed and tested the best.
At 5280 House Cleaning, house cleaning truly is a career, and we treat it as such. We train, we invest, and when we find the perfect one, we will retain. How? That’s a whole other topic: Living Wages!
After all, isn’t that what you hire a professional home cleaning service to do?
