If you are, have or have had a housekeeper, I could really do with some advice

[BoogleMcGroogle]

Good morning. I have a Zoom meeting tomorrow with an agency we are hoping can provide us with a regular housekeeper once lockdown begins to ease (it's DIY here at the moment, which is fine). The reason that we are looking for a housekeeper (rather than a regular cleaner) is that my business has taken a hammering over the past few months and I will need to work very hard to get it back on track again, as well as looking after kids etc. And I want to make sure we all stay mentally healthy and happy. We have a large(ish) period 5 bedroom house. When we first moved in September I tried to independently recruit someone, but sadly it's not really worked out (she leaves early, needs constant direction etc.) and she's not coming in at the moment because of lockdown. We need someone who can work professionally independently in the hours allocated. I don't need someone to run the house independently, but they do need to be able to work out what needs to be done, and to take the initiative with ongoing jobs, laundry etc. in the hours available. We are a friendly family and I think it could be a good role for someone. We've successfully employed cleaners and nannies before, so understand our responsibilities. We will pay the right person well (anything to save my business!). Here are my questions:

How many hours would be reasonable for cleaning a five bedroom house, some laundry and ironing, as well as doing more ongoing jobs (e.g. windows, upholstery)?
What sort of jobs could we be asking a housekeeper to do, on top of weekly cleaning?
What questions should we ask the agency about their role?
What things do we need to ask the potential candidates?
Any ideas for making the relationship work better this time?
What might be candidates be looking for in us?

Any thoughts would be really helpful. I really want to make this work this time, for both sides.

You'll find stuff to fill any amount of hours. My cousin's friend is a housekeeper FT. She does the housework (6 bed house) and laundry but also does quite a lot of shopping and errands (go to post office, drop stuff over to kids friend's houses that they accidentally left etc). Walks the dog sometimes. She also does meal prep (chopping, peeling, marinating etc) and once spent a week going through board games making sure all the pieces were in the right boxes and also super random stuff like buy beans and re-stuff all the beanbags in then house. Also, minor gardening like dead heading and weed spraying the drive etc.

However, I get the impression that she's quite diverse compared to the average housekeeper.

Thank you! Our last cleaner, was just like that, she managed to find lots of other jobs to fill her allocated hours if she'd finished cleaning. She's sometimes launder the cushion covers etc. Sadly our present cleaner (it seems) just goes home after a quick nip round with the hoover (so if it's a three hour session, she'll sometimes head off after 2, and I don't really have time to monitor what she's doing).

We don't need someone to walk the dog, but that has reminded me that we need someone who doesn't mind dogs, and will perhaps let him out for a quick wee.

Simple.
You give them a rota of what you would do, if you were there. Chore by chore. Be very precise.

Split it into daily/weekly tasks and deep clean tasks. If all the daily and weekly tasks are done then use whatever spare time on the deep clean tasks e.g. cleaning all the skirting boards, washing cushion covers, checking bedlinen is in matching sets, rotating summer/winter wardrobes, polish silver picture frames, sort out kitchen cupboards, sort out xmas and birthday decorations and store safely etc etc. The list is endless so I'm sure you can come up with plenty of.ideas!

We used to have someone for 10hours a week to do all the daily/weekly stuff and about once a month they'd do an extra deep clean.

I would say be very precise. Be clear on the jobs you expect daily/weekly and then maybe create a non-exhaustive list of extras (clean out cupboards, wash sofa cushions, sort through toys etc)

I don't think you are describing a housekeeper. You need a cleaner plus. A housekeeper organises the duties of the lady of the house which includes organising sub-contractors for bigger jobs.

Our cleaner cleans hard and soft floors, dusts, polishes mirrors and furniture, cleans bathrooms, kitchen, etc, changes beds, does the dishwasher three mornings when she's here, does some laundry and the ironing. She works 8 hours pw in a large 6 bedroom house. I also have a window cleaner and pay for a deeper clean twice a year. I cook and sort out shopping.

Thanks you everyone, that’s really helpful.
It’s not really a housekeeper role is it? Just a cleaner with extras. I guess I’m thinking laundry=housekeeper. We were so lucky with our last person. She just got on with things and knew us inside out after 8 years.

I did try to write a list of jobs, plus a list of additional jobs to work through in the extra time for our current person. When it wasn’t working out and she was leaving early I suggested focusing on a deeper clean of a room each week. We even did walkabouts of the house to talk about what could be done in her spare hours. Sadly, I think she just lacks initiative and isn’t motivated to do a good job. Hopefully, if I’m clear with the agency, this might help.

Fingers crossed!

Nothing to add here except to say you sound like a thoughtful employer, op. I hope it works out well.

I would ask the agency what expectations or guidance they have for their cleaners and how long they tend to stay. In less than a year I had 3 from my agency and they were all very different. 2 were brilliant and the third bad so I gave notice.

Cleaner 1: very through (background as commercial cleaner). Always stayed her hours and would do extra cleaning jobs like the fridge to fill the time. She left for an employed role.

Cleaner 2: more of a cleaner plus with a background in a professional role. Wasn’t as thorough at cleaning as cleaner 1 but she tidied and was amazing. Again she left for a perm role, non cleaning role. If I could get someone else in like her I’d have no hesitation. She had arrived once after we’d gone to hospital with our baby and the house was trashed. She organised it all and made us some dinner for when we got back.

Cleaner 3: even with me in the house barely did 1h30 of the 3 hours. Didn’t look for extra jobs and wasn’t thorough at all. Cleaner 2 left early sometimes but I didn’t mind as she did so much. The lady lady took the piss.

My feeling afterwards was that the agency can’t have been outlining expectations that clearly if the three ladies I had were so different. I would love a cleaner/tidier again but not sure where to look.

My biggest tip is that the clearer you can be with the agency the better. Not down to the 'how' to do the job, but the outcomes.

So if you want cleaning plus laundry plus 'taking the initiative' that could mean lots of things. Do you want someone who will do a deep clean of one part each visit, or someone who does a lot of tidying as well as cleaning, someone who will put laundry away and keep cupboards organised, or someone who will sort through outgrown children's clothes for donation/storage and label all new clothes for school or someone who can help with cooking and meal planning etc etc. Looking at ads for others can help.

If you want child-related tidying and jobs it could be worth specifying experience in a family house/with children (while also specifying that they won't need to provide childcare).

Last one is make sure you pay and treat them properly, payroll companies are good. It's the right thing to do, minimises your risk and hopefully helps you to keep the right person.

You could use The Organised Mum method as a template for the cleaning part of the job - I wish I'd had that when we had cleaners who almost all sloped off early and it's why I don't have one now.