How Much Should You Pay a Cleaning Employee?

How much should you pay a cleaning employee? All members of the cleaning staff have different levels of skill and experience.  The price you pay a cleaning employee is a house cleaning question that is asked all the time when cleaners build up their business.

Here are some tips to figuring out how much to pay a cleaning employee (a new hire vs. experienced maid.)

Listen: How Much Should You Pay a Cleaning Employee?

Watch: How Much Should You Pay a Cleaning Employee?

How much do you pay a cleaning employee? Many house cleaners wonder this, especially as their business grows and they hire more people.

They ask, “I’ve been in the house cleaning for about a year now but we’re getting bigger, we’re growing. We’re wondering, should we hire another individual? And if you do how much should you pay a new addition to your business?”

Well, you want to pay them enough to where their work is still making you money.

How Much You Pay a Cleaning Employee Depends on Where You Live 

How much you pay a cleaning employee depends on where you live and the going rate in your market. But it also depends on what the minimum wage in your market is, and then how much extra you’re willing to pay.

They are taking some of your responsibilities from you. So, as you outsource that’s got to be worth something to you. Don’t pay rock bottom prices because this is a valuable service to you.

You’re Hiring a Human

What you also need to take into consideration is that you’re hiring a human. This isn’t a robot, this is a human, this is not an automated process.

This person has feelings and emotions. They have good days and bad days. They might get sick, and they might have children, and they have a bunch of other things.

You have to factor those other things in and then make it worth their time so they want to show up to work for you every day.

More to Consider When You Pay an Employee

There is more to consider than just who you’re hiring. What are they making right now and what do they need to make? Maybe you think that paying them higher than everyone else will make them loyal to you. That it will make them have to show up to work every day.

This isn’t the case. You have to think about who the person is, and what they are worth to you. You also have to think, what do they have to make to survive.

Pay a Cleaning Employee Enough to Survive

People have a certain amount of money they need to survive and pay bills. So, if you pay them so much that they reach the amount by midweek, they won’t show up for the rest.

What you need to be aware of is you don’t want to overpay them because you want there to be an incentive for them to come to work.

Pay a Cleaning Employee Enough so It’s Worth it to Work

But you also want to pay them enough that it makes it worth their time coming to work so it’s this fine line. You can’t just throw out a number at you because the minimum wage is different all across the country. So are the living wages.

There’s no fair price to say it’s X amount of dollars. It’s something you’re going to have to sit down and you’re going to have to figure out how much you can pay. How much is fair, and how much is an incentive for them not to call out on me and that they will be reliable and consistent? Those are a couple of things to think about.

Health Care Packages for Cleaning Employees

You aren’t required by law to provide a health care package unless you have 50 or more employees. But it would be nice if you did. What you have to figure out is, is this important to this employee?

If you are only hiring one person you may not offer a benefits package to that one employee. But you may want to start thinking about when you get up to six employees. Then you can create a benefits package that pays for all their health care needs. Their doctor visits, dental, prescriptions, etc.

There are certain pieces that you can put together that’s not a full health benefits package. This will be an incentive for them to stay on with your company.

Savvy Perks is Perfect for Cleaning Employees

Savvy Perks is a company that has been created to bring independent business owners and employees a benefits package. Savvy Perks offers you employee pricing at over 250,000 companies across the United States. It is also available in some parts of Canada.

If it’s not available where you are, you can request that different organizations be part of that. Then the sales team will go to work and try to recruit those people to the network.

Savvy Perks gives you enormous savings and discounts on things that you buy all the time. Things like your tires and oil rotations for company vehicles. It also pays for a bunch of other things.

Let’s say that you wanted to take your employees out to lunch once a month. Now you’ve got employee pricing and discounts at all these different restaurants. It’s an amazing network that is amazing to be a part of and would help sweeten the pot in hiring employees.

Flex Days for Cleaning Employees

Then what you also have to consider is that there must be flex days. If a house cleaner doesn’t feel good, they need a mental health day. If they feel sick, or they can’t come in for whatever reason, you need to be understanding about that.

It’s easy to say, “Well, we have customers and you can’t afford to be sick.” As a business owner, you can’t afford to be sick and so nobody holds your company more responsible than you do.

You Can Be Flexible Paying Cleaning Employees

You can be more flexible for your employees because they are people. In order for people to keep coming back, you have to let them have a sick day. If they have a mental day and they’re just like, “Hey, I can’t deal with things today.”

“All right great, take the day off.” It’s not a paid day off but they’re taking the day off to clear their head or whatever they need. Then when they come back, they’re going to be in a better state of mind. They will be more willing to work with you because you worked with them.

Hire Two Employees Instead of Just One

There are a couple of things that you need to think about and it might mean that you hire two people instead of just one. This is so that you have a person to fill in when someone else is taking the day off.

It’s possible that you have four people to do the work of three. So, whoever falls out that day or whoever calls out has someone to cover them.

You have the equivalent of three, maybe three and a half payrolls but you get the work of three people. There are different ways to spin your business so that your business still operates on a small shoestring budget.

If you’re still starting out and you’re in year one, yes, you’re growing and expanding. But there’s still a lot of things that you need to take into consideration before you just give somebody a huge raise.

*** RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE ***

Employee Pay and Compensation in Organizations: Types, Advantages, and Disadvantages – https://amzn.to/2yrg7B3

The Enthusiastic Employee: How Companies Profit by Giving Workers What They Want – https://amzn.to/2tgHt7g

Compensating Your Employees Fairly: A Guide to Internal Pay Equity – https://amzn.to/2M66BW3

Pay for Profit: Designing an Organization-Wide Performance-Based Compensation System – https://amzn.to/2yAcbhN

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