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Domestic Cleaner
Interviewing
- What to discuss at an interview
An interview takes anything between 5 and 30 minutes. It is an
opportunity for you to meet with your cleaner in order to show her where
everything is located around your home and also for you both to discuss
your priorities in terms of the tasks you expect her to achieve within
the hours she will be working for you.
- Cleaning priorities
No matter how obvious cleaning may seem, everyone has different
priorities and expectations and it is not fair to expect your cleaner to
anticipate your requirements without some direction on your part. In
particular she needs to know the order of work , i.e. which rooms and
which tasks are the most important to be performed each week and which
jobs are not essential for every visit
- Laundry
It is fine to ask
your cleaner to organise your laundry and change the bed linen
but I would recommend that you are very clear in your
instructions of what you expect to be washed and ironed. It is
advisable to separate dry-cleaning from machine-washed clothes to avoid
any potentially disastrous confusions.
- Ironing
Ironing a shirt may seem obvious but in fact there are many different
ways of ironing a shirt If you have a preference in terms of the creases
and folds on your sleeves, collars and cuffs then tell your cleaner so
that you will not be disappointed. Also ironing is made much more
difficult to achieve and time-consuming if your clothes or bone-dry and
you do not have a water spray. If you can get organised so that you do
your washing the day before the cleaner comes it will speed up the time
spent on ironing enormously.
- What to do with your rubbish
Please make sure your cleaner knows when and where she should be
depositing your rubbish. Most councils will issue fines if the
rubbish is placed in the wrong place at the wrong time.
- Cleaning supplies
The cleaner will be happy to advise you about
cleaning products
which
would be suitable for your home. She will also need to inform you when you
need to replenish your cleaning supplies.
- Alarms
Most cleaners are familiar with alarms. From a security point of view
you need to decide whether you are happy to give your cleaner your code
and then explain the procedure to her carefully.
- Keys
For most householders find that there is no other way of allowing the
cleaner into their home other than to give her a set of keys. The
cleaners well vetted by our agency for this reason and are instructed by
the agency to keep all keys separate from the addresses of clients. If
the idea of giving your cleaner keys is too worrying then we can arrange
for a cleaner to come at any time when you are able to let her in, this
could be early in the mornings, at the weekends or in the evenings.
- Communication
The agency will always be able to communicate any messages to your
cleaner but you may want to give a specific phone number to your cleaner
so that she is able to call you directly in case of any problems out of
office hours.
Cleaner
Problem Solving
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When should you decide to change your cleaner?
If you believe that she is cheating on the hours worked:
If you find that your cleaner is not staying for the full hours then you
should either revise the amount of hours agreed between you and the
cleaner or inform her of what extra tasks she should be accomplishing
once she has done the bulk of the cleaning and ironing.
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If you feel that her standard of work is
deteriorating:
Once you come home and start looking for what your cleaner has not done
rather that what she has done then it is time to take action and either
speak to her directly or contact the agency and we will talk to her on
your behalf. Often a cleaner does not realise that the standard of her
work has slipped and a discrete word from the agency will be enough to
re-establish the previous high standard of her work. Of course, should
this not happen or if you would rather not persist with your existing
cleaner then the agency will find you a replacement cleaner straight
away
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If she becomes unreliable:
The agency will always be able to find you a temporary replacement
should your cleaner be unable to come to you on any occasion. However,
if you feel that your cleaner is becoming generally unreliable in not
informing you or the agency if she has a problem with attendance at your
home then you should inform the agency straight away so that we can find
you someone else more consistent and respectful of your requirements.
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