“HELP! My boss is slowing me down. Since COVID-19 my boss is out in the field. I want to clean faster but the jobs are taking too long.”
How do I say “my boss is taking too long in her cleaning?”
“Should I talk to my boss?”
Listen: My Boss is Slowing Me Down
Watch: My Boss is Slowing Me Down
Hey there, I’m Angela Brown, and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question, and I get to help you find an answer. You can find this and 400 other answered questions in this series on our YouTube channel.
My Boss is Slowing Me Down
“My boss is slowing me down. Should we talk?” Here is a very interesting question that goes like this. “My name is Melissa. I currently work for a house cleaning company where it’s the owner and currently myself.
That being the case, she’s been cleaning alongside me more often now that she’s low on cleaners. I find that she’s always on her phone. She doesn’t do her part of the cleaning, and when I’m finished with what I’m cleaning, I have to turn around and start helping with her side of cleaning.
My question is, should I say something? Also, she’s changing the times on the houses so that I’m not even being paid for the full time that I’m there. We’re taking so much longer with her as my partner that I’m not being paid as much as I should.”
Understand Both Points of View
So, you need to understand the pain that your boss is in, where right now she’s very short-staffed during this pandemic. However, she should also understand the pain that you are in. Where you’re working with your boss and she’s slowing you down, she’s talking on the phone and she’s not living up to the standards that you guys worked from.
It’s most likely that she’s rusty on the house cleaning. If she doesn’t clean on a regular basis she may need a boost in her skills. But she probably doesn’t have the luxury of sending herself back through training.
Communication is Key Right Now
All right, that said, communication is going to be key right now. Because right now she’s scrambling to keep business going so she can keep paychecks coming in, so she can keep food on your table.
And so, if you go back to her and you say, “Hey, you’re going too slow,” you’re going to upset her or offend her and she might say, “Take the next couple of weeks off.”
Communication is key, and so you have to think of a way inside your head where you can be diplomatic. Now, diplomacy is part of every business transaction. Because every time somebody opens their mouth and they say something, you have your own filter that you’re running it through.
Use Your Filter When You Talk to Your Boss
You have to use your mental filter. So, you hear the words and you’re like, “Well, that was a dumb thing to say,” or, “I can’t believe that my boss is being so slow.” We have these judgments that are internal judgments that go through our own thoughts.
So when you are in front of your boss and she’s taking an extra amount of time, it’s important that you have a conversation with diplomacy. Diplomacy means this: “I got to be very careful about what I say and I have to say it in a way that is not offensive, that’s not going to get me fired from my job.”
So, what that means is you say, “Hey, listen, can I talk to you on the way home today after we’re done cleaning the house? Because I know we have to hurry because time is of the essence and these jobs are taking much longer than they’re supposed to take.”
This is a Private Conversation Between You and Your Boss
Okay, so now you’ve planted a seed. Now on the way home today, and if you’re driving together if not, you need to get together at the end of the day after the job is over. Do not do this at a customer’s house where a customer might be within earshot.
This is a private conversation between you and your boss. You should communicate face to face. This is not through text, though. Then what you’re going to say to her is this.
“Hey listen, I noticed that since COVID-19 we’re doing a lot of more disinfecting properties than we were before. And the jobs are taking us a whole lot longer to clean. I wanted to know what your approach was and what we can do as a team to be faster.” And then let her give you the answers, and if for some reason she says, “Well, I don’t know what we could do that’s any faster,” you might want to have some suggestions of your own.
Have Some Suggestions for How to Go Faster
One of the suggestions that you might have is that “Hey, can we split up and go to different jobs? I’ll do this job, you do that job and we’re both paid on the jobs that we do,” instead of being paid on a rate where it’s taking you much longer.
And then you can bring up those scenarios and bring them up in a way that’s helpful, and what this means is don’t ever come like, “Hey, I have a problem,” unless you also bring a solution. So, when you bring a solution, that’s where the diplomacy comes in.
Where you say, “I heard what you said and I’d like to make a suggestion if that’s okay. I was thinking about it and I was thinking if we did it this way, would this solve this problem?” And you ask it as a question so that they can say, “Well yeah, that might solve it as a problem.”
Don’t Accuse Your Boss
Where if you’re making a statement, you’re saying, “Well, you do this and you do that. Why are you taking so long and why are you on the phone?” Those are accusations and it puts them on the defensive.
And so now she’s going to come back with all the reasons why she’s in the right and you’re in the wrong. The diplomacy is in every conversation, and it’s going to be useful for all conversations. You can also use diplomacy with your spouse, with your kids, with your parents. With everyone!
So, try to hear first what they’re saying, and then if you’re going to bring a problem, also bring a solution and hear what they have to say first. Ask a question and see what their answers are. “Well, how do we resolve this? This is not, “You need to fix this because this is your problem.” It’s we. We are a team. How do we fix this?
You are a Team with Your Boss
Once you say we as a team, now you’re both in this together. And then once you start bringing solutions, “How about if we did this? Would it work if we did this?” And ask it as a question so that she can respond and say, “Yes it will,” or “No, it won’t,” or, “Here are the reasons why.”
There are bosses that have very strategic reasons for why they do what they do, and you don’t know what your boss is up against. You don’t know why she’s on the phone, or why she’s taking longer. There are so many unknowns that you don’t know, but you do know about diplomacy in conversation, and if you’ll do it face to face, here’s what happens.
This will stop you from being misunderstood, because if I show up and I say, “Hey, I want to work faster. That way I can get paid the pay that I was getting paid before, and I know that since the jobs are taking a little bit longer, my pay is not what it used to be. How can we fix that?”
Show That You Want to Help Your Boss
If she sees your face, she sees that you’re not being mean and accusing and you’re not blaming her. Then what happens is then she’s more willing to try to help you. So, it’s your facial gestures, it’s your eye contact, it’s your sincerity, and your willingness to try to work through the situation that makes it work.
There are some weird situations that you’ll find yourself in as house cleaners. Every time there’s a weird situation and you want to run the other way, this is a chance to stop. To reground yourself and to come back to the table with some solutions.
Say, “Hey, this is so weird and I’m super uncomfortable about even bringing it up, but I want to bring it up so that we can come to some agreements. What do you think we should do about this?” And then you ask those questions and then they go, “Oh, she’s trying to work through this. She needs my help,” and now she’s in a position to help you.
Resources
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Communication Skills: A Practical Guide to Improving Your Social Intelligence – https://amzn.to/2zhJk2d
4 Essential Keys to Effective Communication in Love, Life, Work–Anywhere – https://amzn.to/2wYB4Dy
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