Beginning A Career As A Professional House Cleaner

The cleaning industry attracts employees from a diverse array of backgrounds. Some people come through our doors with expert cleaning skills and little education or life experience. Others come with great work ethic and no experience of what it means to be a professional cleaner, aside from the picture in the job post and a vague concept of a “maid” provided by stereotypical Hollywood portrayals. Some employees are seeking a career they can commit to and grow in. Others are looking for a place where they can experience support and belonging while they work to move on to the next stage in their journey. All are welcome at Clean & Simple. All we ask is that they are ready to work hard. Each person who walks through the doors of Clean & Simple is given an opportunity. An opportunity to build a schedule that works for their lives. An opportunity to meet a variety of people and work in some spectacular homes (and some not so clean homes!). Professional cleaning can be overwhelming for anyone new to the industry. So can starting a new job with a new company. That’s why we start each employee in a comprehensive, fully paid training program, regardless of their experience level. Our training program is based on mentorship and employee advocacy. Each new employee is a member of the team, with something to contribute right off the bat—even if they’ve never cleaned professionally before. Everyone is starting from the same place as far as learning the Clean & Simple method and style. This article is meant to give you an idea of what your first few weeks at Clean & Simple look like. The Clean & Simple Family The term “work family” has received some negative press in recent years. However, to us at Clean & Simple, work family just means two things: 1) that management’s number one role is supporting our employees and enabling each employee’s success and 2) that work can and should be fun! Does this mean you’ll have fun at your cleaning job every second of every day? Of course not. However, that doesn’t mean you won’t have fun a lot of the time. First, you get to spend each day traveling to different places and seeing different homes and people. You’ll meet all sorts of different pets. If you’re an animal lover, it is a special treat to be greeted by a customer’s enthusiastic dogs, or to play with a cat who is fascinated by your dusting cloth. Many of our cleaners develop meaningful relationships with their long-term customers and become an important part of that customer’s week or month. Each day brings a new adventure—you’re not just sitting behind a desk making phone calls or staring at a screen. You get to be active and dynamic while creating a wonderful professional cleaning experience for the clients whose homes you service. Second, you’ll build professional and friendly relationships with wonderful coworkers. While some of our cleaners work primarily or exclusively solo, many jobs require a team effort. Working in a team makes the day go by even faster. While you won’t spend much time chatting with your coworker while on the job, our cleaners still enjoy the opportunity to interact with another cleaner throughout their day. An old trainer of mine would keep things interesting by initiating mini floor-cleaning competitions, in which we would start at opposites ends of the room and see who could reach the middle first, without missing any stray debris on the way (I always lost, but it was also always a good time, especially when I was lagging towards the end of a long day). Finally, management at Clean & Simple amplifies the fun with regular quarterly competitions, light-hearted weekly meetings, end of month parties, and lots of opportunities to win prizes outside of the merit-based bonus structure. At weekly meetings and end of month parties we select employees who have gone above and beyond in some way that week or month (helping a coworker, receiving glowing praise from a customer, giving a new employee a hand) and they get a chance to spin a wheel to win a prize. We frequently provide a free breakfast or other treats at end of month parties, and frequently play games and icebreakers to give everyone a chance to relax and interact with each other. We also love to provide optional out of work activities for employees to participate in, such as bowling nights, picnics in the summer, and holiday parties. “Clean & Simple is family” means management and your coworkers have your back. It means this is a place where you will be supported as you learn and grow. And it means that work is what we make of it—and we choose to make it something we enjoy. Starting your journey with Clean & Simple Cleaning We want to start off new employees, no matter their experience level, on the best foot possible. This requires an intensive, nearly three-week training period. During a new technician’s training, you will receive close one-on-one attention both from office staff guiding you through policies and procedures, as well as one or more of our friendly trainers who will work with you in the field and show you the ropes of professional cleaning. Office orientation Your onboarding journey with our company begins with an orientation. Orientations usually take 2-4 hours. You are introduced to the basics of professional cleaning through industry training videos. You will also receive a one-on-one explanation of policies and procedures and some basic guidelines to what to expect from the job from a dedicated office staff member. Orientation is the foundational moment of a new employee’s experience, and everything you learn from that point forward will be built on this foundation. This is a great time to ask questions about the job, company culture, and expectations of employees. We’re a small company with a small office staff, which gives us an opportunity to form personal relationships with each of our cleaning technicians. No anonymous corporate bosses at Clean & Simple. You’ll meet the whole company within a few weeks of starting. Training in the field The bulk of the training process is hands-on training in the field with one of our experienced trainers. Our trainers are specially chosen for their experience, skill, and dedication. In-field, supervised training usually takes place over a two-week period, though in some cases new technicians find they benefit from additional time in training. Intensive training is so important because professional cleaning is challenging—this is no cakewalk!

Getting prepared for a physically demanding job We’re transparent about the work we do. We’re not looking to paint a pretty picture. Cleaning professionally is labor-intensive. Professional cleaning is hard work! It’s not like cleaning your own home—there are rigorous quality standards to maintain, and our technicians often tackle 3-4 different jobs every day. We want you to be mentally prepared to tackle your training period like you might train for a marathon. You’re getting your body in shape to handle a physically demanding and repetitive task. The first week is truly a test. It’s like going to the gym without having worked out in a year and getting on the treadmill to try to sprint out a 5K or 10K and not lose your breath! It takes time in training to learn the job and the routines while adapting to the fitness level of cleaning over eight thousand square feet of houses on any given route. One of the most important parts of the first week of your training is giving you the tools to build up your cleaning “muscles” so that you can work safely and efficiently later.