Hiring cleaners: 8 questions you must ask before employing them

A company is group of people who have different roles and tasks, but all work towards the same mission.

A mission that:

• gives each individual a greater purpose.
• is larger than each person.
• inspires.
• creates loyalty in staff and customers.

A company that does not have a unifying mission will have staff that go to work to “earn money” only.

In this case, staff turnover will be higher, and motivation will be lower.

What to look out for:

• Does the company mission align with your values?
• Does it inspire you?

You’ve paid good money to hiring cleaners.

And so you deserve to get your money’s worth.

Like any other commodity, you would expect a replacement if the product was faulty.

The aim of this question is to see whether they stand by their quality.

All good businesses will put their customers first.

It is important to ask this question before your cleaner actually starts. By doing this, you’ll strengthen the relationship with your cleaner.

What to look out for:

• Will they return to clean if they have missed an area?
• Do they offer Money Back Guarantee?

You want to know where their staff came from.

Why is that important?

When you buy a chicken meat, wouldn’t you like to know where the chicken came from? Whether it was free-range or caged? What the chicken ate?

Similarly, a business needs to be thorough with their hiring as you are with your food. A business that does not qualify its employees is a business that you should be wary of.

You would like to know a little bit about the background of the person you are allowing inside your home.

You certainly want to know how the cleaning business go about hiring cleaners as staff.

What to look out for:

• Do they have a copy of their staff’s driver’s licence?
• Are their staff working legally in Australia on a valid VISA?
• Have you given them something to work for? Eg. A vision for the company

You want to know the people that you are inviting into your home for the first time knows exactly what they need to do.

Obviously, it would be great if they would do a fantastic job in cleaning your home. But at the very least, they don’t do permanent damage your property.

Businesses that put emphasis on training their staff will ensure greater consistency.

As you can guess, it is hard to learn how to clean by reading or listening to lectures. You need to get your hands dirty.

What to look out for:

• What sort of initial training did they go through?
• Were they given a checklist?
• Were they shown how to clean?
• How were they tested?
• How long did it take for them to work independently?

You want to dig deeper into what kind of cleaning experience they may have.

They could have previous experience in the following:

• Commercial cleaner operating heavy machinery in an office
• Window cleaner dangling outside on the 2nd storey
• A carpet cleaner with extensive knowledge of carpets.

But that isn’t what you’re after.

You’re looking at hiring cleaners with domestic cleaning experience. You need someone who would spend the extra minute to dust behind photo stands. Not someone who is an expert with a machine that they’re never going to use at your home.

What to look out for:

• How many existing customers are these cleaners servicing?
• How long have these cleaners been working for?
• Do they bring their own products and equipment?

Public Liability Insurance helps the cleaning service pay if a cleaner causes injury to you or damages your property. 

Public Liability is like third party car insurance, but for a business. It will help pay for repairs if the cleaner damages your property.

Imagine a scenario where a cleaner accidentally causes a fire in the kitchen to burn your house down. This may bankrupt the small business owner.

You will not like either of those scenarios.

However, if they have insurance, this is much less likely to happen.

At least you’ll be compensated for your losses.

What to look out for:

• Is the insurance certificate is up to date?
• Put the expiry date as a reminder in your diary to check again once it is up.
• Is the total coverage (Usually $5 million or higher) greater than the value of your home?

Work Cover insurance protects the employee if they become injured.

For businesses paying more than $7,500 to their employees as wages, this is compulsory.

Although it doesn’t affect your or your home, you want to be hiring a manager who is abiding by the law, and looking after their employees.

What you should hope to hear:

“Of course! We value our employees just as important as our customers.”

You can never be 100% sure what people will do.

But you want to know that the cleaner you’ve hired has no criminal history.

You can do this by requesting for a police check.

A Police Check provides information on the cleaner’s previous criminal history.

Every cleaner should have an up to date police check. This ensures that they are professional and committed to their service.

The police check certificate is an investment. Cleaners that are unwilling to buy a police check are unlikely to stay around for long.

What to look out for:

• Ensure you inspect the Police Check of the cleaner that is coming to your house. and not just the manager that is coming to your house for a quote.
• Please be wary of cleaners who say their previous one has expired, and that they are getting a new one. Certifications do not expire. They only show a person’s record up to the date of certification.
• We recommend you requesting for an updated certificate if it is at least 3 years old.