My last post about how much to pay your cleaning staff was extremely popular and I got a few follow up questions that I wanted to cover.
How do you reward people who have worked for you for a long time?
I’m actually very averse to paying people more money just because they’ve been here longer than someone else. I’d rather that the person who has been here one year but who is a go-getter and always asking for more work to make more money than a mediocre cleaner who’s been with my company for three years.
Don’t reward the longevity just with money. We actually have an awards ceremony where we give out a watch for people who have been with us for three years, with earrings and other jewelry that they can pick from for other anniversaries. They also get $100 extra on their first anniversary (but this maxes out at $250—I’ve got a business to run!) Having a cake to celebrate the day is also a good way to make them feel special.
I prefer to promote quality, attitude, and responsibility. Those of your staff who have been around for awhile, offer them an additional opportunity. Ask if they’d like to earn more money as a trainer or as a house checker or as a team lead.
How does commission work for big jobs such as first time cleans, move-outs, or spring cleaning? How do you keep your team moving on these big jobs?
This is a great question, because it does seem like everyone slows down when it comes to bigger jobs. This means that we don’t pay them by the hour for these bigger jobs. Let’s say that we have a 9 hour job for a $300 house and 3 people are assigned to the house. If all of them work the same amount of time, getting to the job at the beginning and all leaving together, this works best. Then you can take the $300 and divide by the 3 people working it, so it’s a $100 house for each of them. Then you pay them their commission on that $100 house. Let’s say Sally has a 42% commission rate, so she gets $42 and you keep $42. Sally worked alongside Martina, who earns a 44% commission ($44 for her, $56 for you). And Maria earns 46% commission, so she takes home $46 for the house while you get $54.
This is just a sample of the kind of help I can offer in my Cleaning Business Fundamentals course. My course is a no-holds-barred program to teach you how to get out of the field and what the right way is to add customers and staff quickly.
