Tag Archives: domestic cleaner

Vetting my house cleaner

Leave a reply

passportThese days we have been flooded with news about the Home Office and employment rules regarding immigrants. It is always a tricky issue on the domestic cleaning sector and people are very concerned about their domestic cleaners and their right to work in this country.

Checking passports and documents is part of what you should do when having a domestic cleaner working for you. On the interview it is important to make the correct checks and the necessary photocopies to avoid any future problems.

This week at http://www.amycleaning.co.uk we have had calls from some clients asking about our vetting procedure. Luckily we are on the top in terms of vetting and checking documents for our domestic cleaners! Because we know the importance of vetting, we have make it our priority when interviewing applicants; and let me tell you, it works!

Would you like a quick tip? It is never too late to vet your cleaner, so do it as soon as possible. If you are not sure on how to do it, rely on the experience of a domestic cleaning agency, it will save you a lot of hassle.

House hold dangers

Leave a reply

We arrive every day home and we feel safe, without thinking that the majority of Health and Safety accidents happen in our own lovely shelter.

Check on this article some unknown dangers in your house and what to do about them.

Kitchen sponges: Let’s be honest, we do not sanitize our sponges every day after doing the washing up. Do you know that our kitchen sponge can have more bacteria than our floor or toilet bowl? Germs grow in humid areas, so what better than your sponge and cloths to start a living! At http://www.amycleaning.co.uk we advise domestic cleaners to sanitize sponges and cloths after every visit; but often that is just once per week. So you can always do your bit by cleaning the kitchen sponge after your evening washing up.

Dirty Air conducts: We usually remember to clean the bathroom and dust the furniture in our house, but always forget about the air conducts or air conditioning. These conducts hold a big amount of dust, mould and bacteria that can cause serious allergies if not cleaned and maintained regularly. Always check that the air conditioning is one of your domestic cleaner’s monthly task.

Mould: It is very easy to see bathrooms with moldy corners on the shower and we tend to get used to it. Mould, especially black mould, can be very dangerous for your health, causing serious health problems such as pneumonia. Tell your domestic cleaner to clean and disinfect the area; as well, check if there is any broken pipe that is causing the humidity problem.

Mice and cockroaches:All of us have suffered this problem before. These animals can carry with them diseases such as salmonella or E-coli. You need to prevent them from coming into your house: explain your domestic cleaner when, where and how to dispose the rubbish; do not leave food around the house; do not leave any pile of newspapers, boxes, etc; look for any hole that could be an entrance for these animals and seal them with kitchen foil (apparently it is the only material that mice do not eat!).

Air fresheners: They are perfect to cover up some nasty smells around your house, but they are thought to cause asthma and other health problems. Strange odors in your house? Open windows!

Carpets:A lot of new carpets emit what is called VOCs (volatile organic compounds) which can be dangerous to your health (breathing problems and allergies). What is more, chemicals used while cleaning, like air fresheners, will be collected in the carpet, creating a health hazard. When doing your weekly cleaning, or when your domestic cleaner is in, make sure the carpets are well hovered and no corner is missed.

Do you think you are in danger? Speak with your domestic cleaner and organize a battle against hazards in your home and you will see the difference!

Cleaners of the month (March)

Leave a reply

Last March, the new cleaners of the month were nominated at http://www.amycleaning.co.uk. This time is the turn of Dorina and Sarnai.

Dorina was nominated last month by several of our colleagues. Due to the high number of customers sending positive feedbacks about her job as well as her attitude we have decided that it is time to give her the recognition for her hard work.

Since Sarnai started working for us she has been amazing, with customers ordering regular cleanings after their one offs and praising her for the excellent service she provides.

It will always be great to work with you! Thank you for the hard work!

 

Cross cultural communication (2)

Leave a reply

On this post you will find some explanations about why your cleaner does not act and react on the same way as you do. Please, do not learn them by heart; as with all researches regarding culture and human behavior it is impossible to decipher the truth. Use them as a way to start knowing and understanding your cleaner with open mind.

1- Communication styles. Cultures use language on different ways. A yes in one part of the world can mean a no on the other side; this can create communication problems. Non verbal communication is also important. A gesture can be rude in one culture or a sign of friendship in another. For example, it may be that on the first meeting with your domestic cleaner you will consider appropriate to keep a physical distance between you two, but in some cultures, such as African or Hispanic, people tend to get closer from the beginning as a sign of friendliness and acceptance of the other.

2- Attitudes toward conflict. Some cultures consider conflict as something that has to be avoided; other cultures think that it is a positive thing. In a lot of European countries, conflict is consider embarrassing and needs to be tackle quietly, avoiding discussion. So, there are more possibilities of an east European domestic cleaner accepting quietly your concerns or complains regarding her work than someone from a Latin culture, who will try to speak with you to find a common solution. Again, this is a general idea and does not mean that there are cultures that will find conflict at any cost leaving their work on one side.

3- Approaches to completing tasks. Asian and Latin cultures tend to consider more important to develop relationships at the beginning on a new job, leaving the completion of the task for the end. European Anglo-Saxon cultures tend to concentrate on the task first. An Asian or Hispanic domestic cleaner would tend to speak with you more often, not because they do not want to do the job, but because they consider essential to get to know you better. This does not mean that domestic cleaners from different cultural backgrounds are more or less keen to do their job or value relationships more or less; it just means that they do their tasks differently.

 4- Attitudes toward disclosure. In some cultures, they consider that being honest about your own feelings or thoughts is not appropriate. Keep this in mind when you are talking with your domestic cleaner regarding a complaint or any other issue of her work; be aware that your domestic cleaner may not be comfortable revealing some information and a question that is so common or natural for you may not be for her.

Hope this helps a little bit on your way to understanding your domestic cleaner. Do not use these cultural differences to create prejudices but to create a better relationship with her.

Keep checking the blog for some tips on how to positively develop your cross-cultural communications with your domestic cleaner!

How dirty is your computer keyboard?

Leave a reply

I have recently red some researches regarding the effects of dirty keyboards and telephones and I got quite surprised!

Do you know that your computer keyboard can contain more than 3000 different kinds of germs? Do you know that listeria or salmonella can sit on your keyboard, mouse or telephone for up to 24 hours? This will, in theory, make your electronic appliances even dirtier than your toilet bowl!

These findings are quite alarming, but still people do not really see the cleaning of their keyboards as a priority.

However, having your phone or keyboard or electrical appliances regularly cleaned could have important advantages. A proper clean will limit the spread of infection as well as extend the appliances lifetime.

So, next time you organize the deep clean of your fridge or oven with your domestic cleaner, do not forget about the deep clean of your computer and telephone!

Cross cultural communication (1)

Leave a reply

Knowledge is the key for an effective cross cultural communication with your domestic cleaner.

How many times did you have issues with your domestic cleaner because she did not react on the way you expected? Do not worry! It is not the end of the world! It does not mean that your cleaner does not listen to you! It is just Culture.

In the UK there are a lot of domestic cleaners from all over the world, from East Europe to South America. At http://www.amycleaning.co.uk there has been a lot of issues regarding cross cultural communication. Recently, a customer called us concerned about her new domestic cleaner. She considered her too loud and invasive while on the first meeting. When talking with the cleaner, from a Mediterranean origin, she was confused; she did not understand what went wrong!

Communication between people of different cultures can cause anxiety. Yes, it is your cleaner, but most of the times you do not know a lot about her; sometimes you cannot even locate her country on the map! This “knowing nothing” cause a lot of uncertainty, thus making you scared and destroying the bases of your relationship.

Therefore, to avoid uncertainty and problems with your domestic cleaner you will need to know what the differences are between your culture and hers.

Culture differences can be found on:

1- Communication styles (how people talk and interact with others).

2- Attitudes toward conflict (how people resolve problems).

3- Approaches to completing tasks.

4- Attitudes toward disclosure (how people express opinions).

Would you like to know more? On the next post I will explain a little bit about each of them. Don’t miss it! It may give you the answer you were waiting for!

The benefits of the economic crisis

Leave a reply

Everyday we are bombarded with news regarding the economic crisis and the deteriorated labour market. Thousands of people are loosing their jobs regularly, increasing the percentage of job seekers and thus, debilitating the once strong welfare system.

As everything in life, there is always people that loose and people that gain from a crisis.

At http://www.amycleaning.co.uk we have seen a huge increase on the number of applicants looking for a domestic job. While this could be overwhelming, it can strongly benefit the business.

For instance, the percentage of experienced applicants is very high. This means that during the recruitment process we can put more emphasis not only on tangible skills (e.g. domestic cleaning experience) but also intangible qualities (e.g. willingness to work hard, flexibility with travelling or loyalty). So we are taking on board the best of the best.

The quality of the domestic cleaners working with us has always been very high. But at this moment of economic crisis their quality of work and customer care is even higher, hence the high number of positive feed backs we are receiving from our customers.

Non-Verbal communication (2): Listen with your eyes

Leave a reply

On the first part of these articles regarding Non Verbal Communication we spoke about the first impression when you meet your domestic cleaner for the first time. On this article, let us explain you what happen when you are interviewing your potential cleaner.

There has been a unanimous agreement between different psychologists regarding the perception of a person’s message. Basically, professionals consider that 55% of what we perceive when someone is talking to us is visual (that is body language), 38% is vocal (that is how the person sounds) and 7% is verbal (that is what the speaker is actually saying).

Everyone can do the maths on this matter: what someone is saying is not as important as how they say it. Do you remember that situation when you asked a friend that was crying if everything was ok and they just said “fine”? You didn’t believe them, did you? So keep reading and you will find some very useful tips on how to listen to your domestic cleaner and how much you can believe what she says!

There are some basic aspects of body language that you will need to check when interviewing your potential domestic cleaner:

·         Eye contact: Maintaining good eye contact shows respect and interest. If your future cleaner is looking at you without a blink or not at all, then you have something to worry about.

·         Arms: Extrovert people tend to use their arms very often, contrary to shy people. That is fine; the only thing you will need to check is if the potential cleaner has her arms crossed on her chest or has her hands on her hips as it is a very defensive and aggressive posture.

·         Legs: We know that we tend to move our legs a lot when nervous, and most probably your new domestic cleaner will be like a jelly on her first day, so be kind on this one. Anyway, if she is sitting with her legs crossed or her foot is kicking slightly, in general terms it will mean that she is bored.

·         Hands: They can say a lot, but again, there are many different gestures and culture differences may change meanings drastically. Generally, someone with their palms up is seen as open, friendly and sincere.  Someone tapping their fingers will most probably be impatient. And someone biting their nails will imply insecurity or nervousness.

·         Distance from others: Too close to you and you will see your cleaner as pushy; too far and you will consider her not to be interested. As with the hand gestures culture difference play a big part on this. Generally Latin cleaners will tend to get closer to you and Asian cleaners will tend to maintain a larger space between you.

Other gestures that you may have seen:

·         If your potential cleaner puts her hand on the cheek, most probably she will be evaluating something or thinking about something.

·         If she touches or rubs her nose, the meaning is clear: rejection, doubt or lying.

·         Is she fondling her hair? It usually is a lack of self-confidence or insecurity.

·         If she quickly tilts her head that means interest in what you are saying.

 There are thousands of different gestures that will tell you a lot about your domestic cleaner. You will not be an expert on the field on your first interview, but do not give up and keep trying!

Non-Verbal communication (1): The first impressions

Leave a reply

It has been said by some professionals that it usually takes about two minutes to create an opinion on someone. Others rebate this by saying 30 seconds. Actually, there are others saying that you only need 2 seconds to get an opinion on someone! You know now that, what it takes you to open your front door to meet your new cleaner would be more than enough to decide if you really like her or not.

As psychologists say, we humans are confronted on a daily basis with complicated situations, or maybe we are forced to decode important information quite quickly. On these cases, without even knowing it, we tend to our beliefs, values and attitudes to make a decision or create an opinion on the matter.

It is part of our nature. I suppose it is our animal instinct; we need to protect ourselves. But this natural reaction can have big implications on the way we communicate or relate to others. Imagine your first meeting: You open the door to your new long waited domestic cleaner and… you don’t like her, you just don’t like her! But still you need to give her a chance, let her in, do the interview and hopefully change your mind about her. There is only one problem: it is extremely difficult to change your feelings once you already made up your mind about your domestic cleaner.

These unconscious judgments that we make can be very tricky. On one hand, this “ability” (let’s call it this way) can bring on us our worst prejudices which will stop us from interviewing our prospective domestic cleaner appropriately. On the other hand, it can save our lives.

Now that you have this information, use it to your advantage! We know that there will be situations where our most hidden part of our minds will work by itself to create a general idea of our new cleaner when we meet her for the first time. At http://www.amycleaning.co.uk we consider important to try and force yourself not to react instinctively by creating a structured interview, writing down your possible questions in advance. It will help you a lot to get a better idea about the experience, skills and attitude of the domestic cleaner.

I know I need a domestic cleaner when…

Leave a reply

– I cannot think of cleaning the bathroom when I wake up on a Saturday morning.

-I do not know the difference between a polisher and a hair spray.

-My job and work projects are “eating” most of my time away.

-I have spare time to go shopping, to do some sports, to walk the dog… but not to clean the house!

-My back is aching so much that I have no strength to hold the hoover properly (I call it health problems!).

-I can consider myself a great professional… but, honestly, a really bad cleaner.

-I stand in front of the dirty oven and there are voices inside my head telling me to run away as quickly as possible.

-I spent the whole weekend doing an “after-party cleaning” while taking paracetamol every two hours to stop my hang-over getting worst.

-I realize that the dust in the sofa is not part of a new trendy decoration.

-I cannot see the difference between a white tile and a black tile.

-after 6 months and 17569 sneezes I convinced myself that I do not have flu but dust allergy.