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Before
You Hire a Housekeeper
Before you hire a housekeeper you need to
decide:
- If you prefer one housekeeper or a team of
housekeepers to clean your home
- What you want to accomplish by hiring a
housekeeper
- Your budget for cleaning
- Learn about your responsibilities under state
and federal law. For related links, please read
Household
Employees Have Rights Too!
Interviewing
Here are some of the best questions to ask when
hiring a housekeeper:
- Ask for references. Then follow through and check the references.
Even if
your best friend has employed the housekeeper for over a year, request
additional references. You must be diligent about who you hire because you're
inviting a stranger into your
home.
- Go with your gut instinct. Don't settle.
If you're unsure about hiring a person, respect your intuition and continue
interviewing candidates.
- Ask for their social security number and driver's license
- Ask for them to provide the results of a
current tuberculosis (TB) test. This is available through county health
for a nominal fee.
- Ask for documentation establishing that the
person is legally permitted to work in the USA.
- Ask about any criminal history.
- Ask for character references, not just work
references.
- Ask them to talk about themselves. What
are their hobbies, educational background, etc?
- Begin with a trial period - 2 or 3 cleaning periods
to make sure that this is a compatible relationship.
- Ask the interviewees hypothetical questions about how they would clean a specific room.
Don't be afraid to ask them to demonstrate their cleaning ability before
hiring them.
- Ask what they like about cleaning - why
did they chose this as a profession. Avoid candidates who view
cleaning as a job between jobs, they don't care about quality.
- Ask them what they can't stand to do in cleaning. Do
they hate to clean windows? It's important to know ahead of time.
Where
Can You Find A Quality Housekeeper?
After making the decision to hire a housekeeper or
a team of housekeepers, the next step is to start looking. But where
should you look? Here are some of our favorite places to find a qualified
housekeeper:
- Employment office or bulletin board at your
local junior college or university.
- Ask for recommendations at your church, temple,
or mosque.
- Check out bulletin boards at a senior citizen
center.
- Ask trusted friends for their recommendations
- Finally, check the newspaper and the phone
book.
You've Hired A Housekeeper - Now
What?
- Monitor your housekeeper's work and provide
positive feedback.
- Keep the lines of communication open.
- Create an outline of everything they are required to do, and go over the
outline so you both understand the requirements.
- Set limits - where they aren't supposed to go and make sure they
understand.
- If you have a special item you don't want
broken or damaged, then remove it from the area to be cleaned.
- Tell your housekeeper about areas to
"watch out" for in your home. For example, the mini blinds that
can only be opened very slowly or they break.
- Never tolerate theft.
- Be kind and respectful.
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