I would say that 99% of my regular clients are at work or elsewhere when my employees are in their homes cleaning. However, from time to time, we pick up “occasional” or “one time only” clients who generally are at home when employees are cleaning their homes. Sometimes they will indicate that communication was a challenge because the crew in their home spoke broken English.
Yes, I hear the concern regarding communication and for those of you who are considering hiring us for cleaning services, I’ll say the following:
There is something that most clients are not aware of. There are not many people who aspire to clean homes for a living (unfortunately) and the English speakers who apply to work with us typically want to work with us just long enough to find a different job type. Some will even boldly tell me at the interview that they would like to clean houses “until I can find something better”.
What that translates to is that they will leave within a month or two (or I’ll have to let them go) because their heart is not in it and their work will consequently be sub par. Anyone who views house cleaning as a job beneath them will not take care of my clients’ homes and people pay good money to have their homes cleaned. Some clients sacrifice because they cannot truly afford the service. No way would I send someone into their home who really does not want the job.
The reason that 99% of cleaning companies are using employees who speak broken English is because we would not have a company otherwise. My employees [at the date on which I wrote this article] speak broken English, but at the interview they happily tell me “I LOVE to clean houses” and they are being honest because it shows in their superior work, week after week. When I pop in unexpectedly to a home, I walk in and see them smiling from ear to ear, loving what they do. That’s important to me. They take pride in their work and beam when I tell them about their great ratings from clients.
There is another issue that is real and which I need to address. Many….actually, most of the English speakers who apply to work in my company have hard criminal records. Those records range from breaking and entering, theft, carjacking, assault with a deadly weapon, attack on a police officer, and so on and so forth.
Question. Would you want such a person handling the keys to your home and walking around your sanctuary? I have to protect my clients and therefore, I will not hire a known rapist, pedophile or someone who has a record for armed robbery. Likewise, I will not hire someone who has done time for animal cruelty. The majority of my clients have animals and people who mistreat innocent animals are also the types who would mistreat children. Who would want such dangerous people walking around their homes with a mop?
My cleaning techs speak broken English, but they have clean records. They will not steal from you and they will not kick your dog when your back is turned. My cleaning techs speak broken English, but they will take a filthy house and transform it to a sparkling abode! They have zero problems communicating with the houses they clean!
Call UpperCrust Maids. The owners speak perfect English and you can communicate with us with no problems. We in turn will get any messages you have to our employees.
Our motto is, “We major in clean”. And that’s true. My employees don’t major in English. They major in clean—and after all, that’s why you are hiring us!
I disagree with your article. There are plenty of americans with no criminal background and no bad credit who would work for a cleaning company in a minute. It’s just that now, with the influx of the immigrants who have come into this country within the past ten years, You have a different excuse. Thanks to people like you, I realize that the best and only way to work doing commerial or any other type of cleaning is to start your own business.
It is true there are millions of American people in fact European immigrants as well that are hard workers, very responsible, but guess what they will not work for a minimum wage. I work for a cleaning company in HR and I am talking based on facts.
Dwayne, thanks for taking the time to read my article and to respond. I have had this cleaning company since 2008 and so everything I wrote is from personal experience.
Have I ever had an American working for me? Of course I have. But finding an American English speaking person who desires to clean homes for a living is like finding a needle in a haystack. The few who do apply generally have criminal backgrounds and I am not willing to hire a known, convicted thief.
You mentioned in your response “commercial” cleaning. My article was not about commercial cleaning, which is different. My article was specifically about house cleaning.