Everyone in the home services industry can relate to how hard it is to hire and retain the people that keep the business running. Cleaning businesses frequently see high turnover rates, pouring more energy and capital into hiring than nurturing and keeping their skilled workers. Most cleaning businesses solve this by keeping the talent tap on full blast year around. The question becomes, how do we keep people sticking around for the long term? At Tidy Casa, we have over 50 cleaners actively working with us.
Some of which have been around since day one. Here are a few things Tidy Casa does to find and retain the right people. The truth is, it only takes a few less-than steller employees to get top talent looking elsewhere. Before discussing how to nurture great employees, there needs to be a company culture that supports top talent.
Avoiding these B-players is hard, given the home cleaning business attracts service-oriented good-natured people. We look for these qualities when hiring. After someone has been hired, listen to the employees on the ground. When a new cleaner joins the team, we pair them with our top talent. This helps build a sense of comradery and gives the business an opportunity for feedback on how the new cleaners perform in the real world.
Using this pairing method for only one or two cleanings quickly teaches which candidate is cut out for the job. If not, Tidy Casa will lose the foundation to keep our best people on board.
Be an Involved Leader. As leaders, we must lead from the front. Inspiring a team from the sidelines is impossible. When employees work overtime, they should look up and see their leader in the trenches, pushing the boundaries with them. That kind of leadership fosters loyalty and keeps employees wanting to continue to work hard and stick around. Even the perception that employees work more than the boss can make high performers want to walk.
