Hiring cleaning contractors is one thing, but keeping them around is a whole different game. If you’ve been in the cleaning business industry for quite some time now, you’ll relate to this –
You go through hundreds of applications and many interviews to select someone you think might be a good fit for your business. But after a few months (days or weeks even) of working, they leave.
So, the next time you make sure, you hire someone who’s looking for long-term working opportunities. But this time, they don’t meet your expectations, leaving you no choice but to fire them.
No matter what you do, you just can’t keep your employees.
It’s costly and time-consuming to hire people over and over again. Today, we’ll share how Maid to Glow retains its cleaning contractors and how you can do the same.
In this article, you’ll learn –
- The biggest reason that prevents you from retaining contractors
- How we make sure contractors never leave
- What cleaning contractors want the most
- How to create a win-win situation for you and your employees
- How to keep them motivated and happy
1. Fix your Hiring Process First
Mostly, the problem is not in your business itself. Neither is it in your employee management skills. More often than not, the problem roots in your hiring process.
If your hiring process is not optimized, you’ll attract workers that are not compatible with your business.
What do we mean by this?
If you want to hire a contractor who’s looking for long-term working opportunities, you should find that out by asking about it in the job application.
You can even ask about their past experience working with other businesses. By looking at their past work patterns, you can judge if they usually stick for a long time or do they jump from one company to another.
This is one example of how your hiring process can help you find better employees and contractors.
An optimized hiring process accounts for everything and weeds out people who don’t meet the job expectations and requirements. So, the ones you interview or hire will have aligned interests and goals.
Check out the complete guide on the hiring process we use in Maid to Glow.
Once you find the ideal cleaning contractor you’re looking for, you can implement the following employee-retention strategies to keep your employees from leaving.
2. Pay Based on Percentage
At Maid to Glow, we don’t pay our contractors based on hourly rates. Why? There are several reasons, mainly –
- There is no extra incentive for cleaners to give their best
- There is no extra incentive for cleaners to upsell more services
- Sometimes, the hourly rate doesn’t justify the work they do
Instead, we pay them on a percentage basis. What does that mean?
We’re paying them a percentage of what we charge our customers. This does a few things:
- It keeps them accountable since their pay is directly proportional to how good of a job they do.
- It encourages them to upsell more services on their own.
- It’s better and fairer for the contractors.
This model has worked really well for us. However, keep in mind that if you’re planning to pay on a percentage basis, you should have consistent work for your contractors, which brings us to the next point.
3. Provide Security
When we say security, we don’t mean insurance. One of the advantages of hiring contractors instead of employees is that you don’t have to provide insurance and other benefits.
When we say security, what we really mean is a consistent stream of income and working opportunities for your cleaning contractors.
One of the main struggles contractors face in their careers is that they can’t find a company or business that provides consistent work, forcing them to bounce jobs.
If you can solve that problem for them, they’ll stick with you forever until you give them a solid reason to leave. Most contractors will settle for slightly less wage if you can promise them consistent work, though we suggest you pay them a fair price.
4. Understand What They Want
As an employer, it’s important for you to have a conversation with your cleaning contractors every now and then, talking about their goals and what they want out of the job.
You know what you want. You want to grow and scale your business. But you can’t expect the same from your employees and contractors. They might want something different, and the reason they’re working with you is that it facilitates their goal.
As we discussed, maybe they don’t want to be the highest-paying cleaner. Maybe they want consistent work because they don’t like looking for new jobs every few months.
You have to talk to them, understand what they want, understand their struggles and try to create a win-win situation.
5. Occasional Rewards and Bonus
An old-school tactic, but still works to this day. Doing all that we discussed is great, but rewarding your contractors or employees with bonuses and surprise rewards for their hard work is a great way to retain employees.
These small gestures go a long way in building a relationship with your contractors, showing them that they mean more than just an employee to you.
Plus, rewarding them every now and then, not all the time, will motivate them to work harder. The unpredictability creates a psychological craving to seek that reward again and again.
Final Thoughts
No matter what you do, some contractors will leave nonetheless. Your job is not to focus on them. Your job is to focus on the ones that do want to stay and what you can do to retain them.
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