What to do about cleaner in this heat?

[Rainallnight]

My cleaner travels from the other side of London. She’s due tomorrow. I think probably the right thing to do is tell her she doesn’t need to come and pay her anyway.

But I’m in two minds and interested in what other people are doing?

I asked my local car wash guy to pop in for a wash if he had time, but given how long the heatwave is lasting, I told him I wouldn't expect him to come in this heat.

No idea what WFH looks like in reality.

Not possible in my job. I’ve been in today - it was about 2° cooler inside than out 🤣

Erm it depends what you call ‘odd necessary thing’ - I have a general weekly routine whatever the weather & basically yesterday was around 2 hours of cleaning my 2 bathrooms and downstairs loo, hoovering stairs, halls, kitchen & tidy / wipe round kitchen, daughter’s room (plus quick clean of daughter’s room), empty & clean bins, tidy garden, washing. Essentially a cleaner’s shift.

My cleaner messaged on Monday and asked not to come tomorrow. I was going to message him anyway and he beat me to it. I'll pay him for the missed week when he comes next week.

I think it's the right thing to do.

Why are we all hailing the cleaner. Why does she have to be appreciated for work she has not done. Turn up, l will pay you, don't turn up I won't. The world does not stop. I and millions of others have gone to work this week. And tomorrow and the next day. Cleaner doesn't like it.. get a new one.

Really? Its a gesture of goodwill and that goes a long long way. The CLEANER will appreciate the choice of not coming in on a day when the extreme heat will present many challenges, its NOT that the cleaner should be appreciated for being paid for a job she wont do. It's hard work being a cleaner, even harder when the weather is hot - and in this heatwave .... being a kind and sympathetic employer is the way to go.

Please do it. My DM is a cleaner and really struggled today.

I don't have a cleaner but I'm not cleaning my own house as I'm too hot. Therefore I guess it's reasonable not to expect someone else to do it. So I would cancel cleaner and still pay. It's probably also worth it for the goodwill

Go with your gut. Tell her she doesn’t need to come and still pay her. I’d do exactly this.

I’ve told our cleaner not to come, and paid her.

Also told mine not to come and I’ll pay her. Also in London and public transport is falling apart. I’m just sitting on the sofa with a fan blasting in my face so I can’t really expect her to clean the house while I just sit around sweating. And the house is a complete tip and I have no energy to make it vaguely presentable enough for her to do some actual cleaning..

I'm in two minds about this. I keep thinking that I must remember to do a good clean of the house before the next heat wave because I have not managed it during this one and the last one. That said, loads of folks have to work in hot weather. My heart went out to the council street cleaner I saw today. He was out under bright sun, his uniform looked like a polyester top with a mandatory pester hi vis vest over that, and was pushing the bin. The guys working on the road works redesign were still out working. The roofers doing my neighbour's roof have been up there. But then schools were off, and some jobs have let people go early or offered reasonable adjustments. Personally, I've been traveling on festering busses for hours this week and sitting in airless hot rooms - I've been angry, tired, a bit giddy and not very with it cognitively, all of which will have had an impact on the work, and I would have of course been thrilled to not have had to go to work.

Any physical job in this heat is hideous. I do something similar but full days at a time with a client and I’ve had to cancel several days work this week as I know I’ll feel ill in the heat and can’t complete my work to my usual standard. It’s lovely to hear if so many of you paying your cleaners as it’s really hard to have to make the call between health and money. I’ve taken the financial hit this week but many people can’t afford to do this.

I'd just leave it up to my cleaner. She's a grown-up. If she thinks it's too hot, she will tell me. She might have other jobs and would have to come out anyway so I'm not going to presume her timetable.

(I've just cleaned my whole house wearing just pants. It felt a bit like I was in a carry-on film but it got the job done. (I would not expect my cleaner to just wear pants btw).

The post is clearly referring to clients who cancelled last minute. It is perfectly okay (and expected, even) for late cancellations to be charged for all kinds of freelance work.

If it’s affordable for you to do that then I would. Depending on the frequency with which they attend and the arrangement you have for cleaning it might also be worth discussing at the same time as to whether or not a bit more work might be needed on their next visit.

Update!

I texted her and said don’t come but I’ll pay you anyway. She said she’s going to come. Didn’t explain why (not that she needs to). She does a number of people in our area on rhe same day so maybe as a PP said she didn’t want the gap in her timetable.

Thanks for all the thoughts and perspectives on this thread. It helped.

The only trouble is that now, as @vauxhallallegra says, I have to summon the energy to do some tidying!

This is exactly what happened to me! My cleaner was due yesterday. I told her not to come because of the heat, she said she’d still come and do a short clean which she did. I paid her the same as usual of course!

I think she will thank you 🙏

Makes no sense to me. She could have just used the gifted time to slow down or take a break. You can't help some people.

id wriggle my nose & tidy up for you if I could

you did a nice thing, even if she's turned your kinds offer down 🌷.

Christ.

I really like my cleaner, she is hardworking, honest and kind. The fact is that if my house doesn’t get cleaned this week it really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of life. Most people I know would think that offering for her not to come and paying her anyway would be a reasonable thing to do in a red heat warning.

The observation that someone probably has houses to clean either side of mine is a fair one. So what? If she sits in the shade in the park and has a bit of a break and an ice cream. Good for her I say.

My cleaner is due this afternoon (she can't come earlier as she does another property before mine in the morning). I offered her to not come and receive full pay but she said she will still come but do a lighter clean. Fine with me to have a lighter clean as didn't expect her at all, I don't want to clean in this heat. Appreciate I'm not self employed but I've had concessions this week from my work due to the heat so if I can do it for someone else then I will.

I have done what you are suggesting OP.

My son still went to work: outside, gardening for 5 hours. Just ask her if she wants to start earlier/later ?
Otherwise you're just training her/him to be lazy and use any excuse. I work in all weathers: most people do

She doesn't still have a job to do if the OP has given her a paid day off though. A little consideration goes a long way.