Burn out is very common symptom in this type of job due to the very physical nature of the job. That can easily affect the quality of work. In my many discussions with both customers and others in the cleaning industry there is also another symptom that we have jokingly referred to as “building blindness”, this results as a symptom of doing the same thing over and over.
What I recommend to help to alieve the quality, boredom and the fatigue is to:
1) Work with teams of cleaners instead of individuals, at least this way there are 2 sets of eyes to catch missed items and to ease the burden of work.
a) Too, I would recommend working with cleaners who own their own and work their own businesses as they have a more vested interest in making the business work and succeed.
b) If working with a larger company try requesting that one of the most experienced team leaders to be assigned your home as they likely have a proven track record of satisfied customers
2) Seek out those who only plan to work part time (up to 5 hours daily) as the exhaustion level peaks at that point and any home cleaned after that time rarely gets quality work on an consistent basis
a) Schedule your job for Monday mid morning (to allow muscles to warm back up after the weekend) thru Wednesday for the best quality. Thursdays and Fridays are often peak times with very full schedules and often the cleaner is forced to work more quickly just to get thru the schedule, leaving them no extra time to do the little things that can make a big difference in how your home/ office looks
b) If possible ask for a morning cleaning time rather than an afternoon. Energy levels are better. Plus in the afternoon both the mid day meal (or lack of) and the heat can also affect energy levels
c) Please (I say this from first hand experience) keep the temp of your home comfortable for the person working. Often in the winter we would be sweating our behinds off while our customer’s kids are running around with just underwear and the furnace is blasting! If however the family could have dressed more warmly and the furnace turned down 10 or more degrees then all could be comfortable.
3) Try to insist that your cleaner is regularly given time off to rest (holidays and at least 1 week vacation per year with no work)
4) Pop for the occasional Deeper cleaning to be done. Few customers understand that the cleanings done after the first are generally considered “maintainance” cleanings by the cleaning person/ crew/ company. When I was growing up my mother regularly (every 3 months or so) moved all of the furniture out and cleaned under, over, and around LOL…. she took the area rugs out and cleaned every square inch of the floor, etc….. This is what most companies do the first time in then it never happens again since no one asks for it. I suggest to all of my customers that we do at least a once a year “spring” or “deep” clean as it is only with this type of cleaning that everything is truly caught.
a) If this does not appeal to you or your cleaner, than ask that one room per cleaning gets deep cleaned on a rotational basis, and ask for that to be incorporated into the cost of each cleaning.
If any and all this does not improve your situation than I highly recommend that you move on to another cleaner/ company. Not everyone matches, but your cleaning soul mate is out there somewhere
I hope that helps
Theresa
Maid to Order House cleaning
