[vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]“Can you tell me how to speed up slow maids? Speed cleaning is how I grow my cleaning business and maid service. I have a worker who comes to clean with me and clean my space and she’s super slow. Can you speed up slow maids or should I let her go?”
Angela Brown, The House Cleaning Guru says you can speed up slow maids. And she shares her pro cleaning tips in today’s house cleaner training.
Our Ask a House Cleaner sponsors for this show are Savvy Cleaner (maid service training.) HouseCleaning360 (list your cleaning business and find more clients.) My Cleaning Connection (a resource hub for this cleaning channel and others.) And Savvy Perks (employee benefits for maids and house cleaners.)
Listen: How to Speed Up Slow Maids
Watch: How to Speed Up Slow Maids
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.
Question: How to Speed Up Slow Maids
How do you speed up slow maids? Oh, that’s a good one, and we’re going to talk about that today.
This topic comes from a house cleaner who has a slow employee. Now, the employee, bless her heart, works hard. And she does a great job, but she’s super slow. And the employer wants to know “what on earth am I supposed to do? Do I let her go? Do I work with her? What do I do?”
Ever Wonder How to Speed Up Slow Maids?
All right, so the answer is we all don’t work at the same speed.
And we’re all motivated by different things. So, if you’re paying her by the hour, she feels no rush. She’s going to work for the same amount of time whether she cleans one house or three.
If you have an employee with no concept of time, it’s your job as an employer to reign that in.
Maids need to learn the concept of time. A cleaning business makes money based on how many houses you clean well in the course of a day.
Fast sloppy work takes longer because you have to go back and do it again. Or your customers fire you and you have to find new clients.
Lots of Industries Run on a Schedule
If you’re a typist, for example, you get to type so many words per minute. And you get paid based on how many words you type.
If you’re a manufacturer and you work in an assembly line, how many products you can assemble drive the bottom line.
In the house cleaning business, time is of the essence.
Send your employee back through training. Teach her again how to clean, and take her through the speed cleaning training.
Coffee is One Way to Speed Up Slow Maids
Some people believe in coffee, and so every day when they wake up they got to have their cup of coffee. Maybe this person is lacking the coffee.
Now, if you don’t believe in coffee, you may believe in exercise.
Maybe she’s lacking the endorphins that come with exercise.
You may want to add an extra half hour on to her day and include a power walk in there so she gets her blood flowing before she goes to clean a house.
What Are You Listening to?
Now, I don’t know if she’s listening to music. Some people are actually motivated by fast music, and they can work faster because they have fast music.
Some people get distracted by music. And they zone out and then it takes them forever to clean something.
You might look at what she’s listening to, and if she’s not listening to anything, you might consider something like Focus@Will.
Focus@Will is a series of scientifically proven music and drum beats. And you can choose to listen to sounds like running water, or beats, or music, or a variety of different things. They’re not songs. They are patterns of music that are dynamically designed to make you work slow, fast, or fastest.
Changing Your Rhythm is another way to Speed up Slow Maids
Of course, when I’m working, I put it on fastest beats. My heart matches the beat of the drums and in a few minutes, I’m blazing along without the caffeine.
I will turn that down on low, and I listen to that in the background when I’m doing tasks that need my speed. You might consider something like that. Focus@Will is a monthly subscription that you pay for. And I promise it is worth every penny.
You’ll totally get your money back, because it is, like I said, scientifically proven, and it’s amazing what it does for your brain.
A “To Do” Checklist with a Deadline can Speed Up Slow Maids
Maids who have no concept of time work well with a checklist and a deadline. In a bathroom, you can break it down
- Toilet = 1 min
- Vanity (Cluttered) = 3 min
- Vanity (uncluttered) = 1 min
- Bathroom mirrors – 1 min
- Sink = 1 min
- Tub = 2 min
- Shower = 4 min
- Floor (vacuuming) = 2 min
- Mopping – 3 min
Total Bathroom Time 18 min.
Assign a Team Leader or Mentor to Speed Up Slow Maids
Then put them with a team member or a mentor that can keep them on task until they finally get the hang of it.
Once they get the hang of it, you may be able to remove that to-do list. I still have employees to this day that have a to-do list with times attached.
And everyday part of my responsibility as the business owner is to make sure that they stay on task.
Because you might find best and the most loyal employees are the slowest. And we don’t want to let somebody go just because they’re slow. They still have families to feed. They have food they need to put on the table. Just because their skills don’t match other people’s skills, that doesn’t make them useless for your company. And so there may be tasks that you have that are not time sensitive, that if you could switch them to another task, that would also be to their advantage.
Change the Pay Structure to Speed Up Slow Maids
If you need them on the task they’re paid to do, then you may have to change their pay structure.
Instead of paying them by the hour, you pay them by the job. Performance pay will often speed up slow maids when they realize they are responsible for results, not busywork.
This way you have the freed-up resources to hire another person to fill in the gaps.
Because the growth of a cleaning business thrives on consistency, performance, and speed. So, it’s paramount that you learn how to speed up slow maids. Otherwise, you’re paying for them to waste time.
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Resources For This Episode
Speed Cleaning – https://amzn.to/2ILFgLz
Professional Speed Cleaning Apron with 7 Pockets, Glove Holder, Duster Holder, & 16oz Spray Bottle – Speeds Up Cleaning – https://amzn.to/2KYc4gW
Speed Cleaning 101: Cut Your Cleaning Time in Half! – https://amzn.to/2GTu2yQ
Speed Cleaning Red Juice All Purpose Concentrate with Mixing Spray Bottle – https://amzn.to/2J4TW89
Spotless While Balancing Life’s Other Challenges – https://amzn.to/2KUR0YW
Speed Cleaning and Organizing How I Went From Average Jane to Super Mom by Keeping My Home – https://amzn.to/2GTTKDs
Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff – https://amzn.to/2KX4DHb
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