to ask my cleaner not to chat on the phone for ages whilst she cleans?

[jaffacakesrock]

I have an awkward issue with my cleaner.

My cleaner is very reliable and lovely - a gem and don't worry, we pay her and look after her accordingly - but in recent months, as she cleans she is chatting on the phone quite a lot. I know it's a boring job so I understand why she does this and of course I wouldn't mind the odd phone call but it's a lot and I can see the difference in the standard of cleaning.

How can I broach this? I feel awkward asking her not to use the phone. We're quite friendly which doesn't help in some ways.

Before anyone asks how I know she's on the phone so much - I can hear as I'm working in my office at home. I guess I could say it disturbs me when I'm working which is true to a point but if I'm out, it would still be a problem.

I am paying a very good rate before anyone asks (sorry if I sound defensive - I know how cleaner-related threads can end up on MN!)

If its affecting her work then it's an issue. We had similar problems and i think the longer she was with us the more complacent she got. We ended up letting her go, for other reasons also

I'm confident it's fair of me to mention it as it's affecting her work but I can't work out exactly what to say/ how to say it without sounding petty. Any ideas?

Well you need to be clear in your own mind exactly why you want her to stop, and then that will be clear to her when you say it.

The thing is you say you 'guess you could say it disturbs you' but then you say that's only true to a poiint - and I think if you make that the reason you're asking her to stop but it isn't quite the reason, she'll probably pick up on that.

If it is that her work has declined recently, then I would start from that - this job wasn't finished, that wasn't done properly, etc - rather than starting from what seems to be the cause of the decline. I think you would find that easier to explain, and she would find it easier to respond.

This is not a cleaner specific problem - it happens in any workplace where staff are given reasonable access to phone/social media etc, I've seen it a lot in my career and seen discussions online about it.

There are a couple of options you can pick from:

Don't address the behaviour (phone calls) but address the results. I've seen more work added where someone looks to be idle (they soon learnt to drop the personal activities being done during work time if they have a target to reach and limited time to do so). In this case it looks like she is doing the work required - but not well (so you can't really add more without a discussion).

So the alternative is to talk about the results. You could word it "I had to redo the hoovering last night after you left, you normally get right into the corners, was there a problem with the hoover yesterday?" If you keep doing this (with specific examples) if she's any brains she'll realise it was due to the phone calls and will curtail them.

This approach seems to work because it gives the responsibility for the results to the person rather than you micro managing them.

Another approach that is also useful is for you to be present when the behaviour is being shown (i.e. if you hear her on the phone, leave your office to get a drink of water/cup of tea and wave at her while mouthing "I won't interrupt you, I can see you're on the phone"). If she realises that you are aware that she is constantly on the phone hopefully this will prompt her to limit the calls herself without you having to have a showdown.

Of course you may have to address it directly if she doesn't pick up on either of the above approaches - calm, clear and reasonable is the approach to take. A statement such as "I'm usually really happy with your work but for the last couple of weeks standards seem to have dropped (give a couple of strong examples, don't get too wordy). You seem to be on the phone a lot recently, do you think this has caused it?"

Just realised I said "don't get too wordy" above - haven't really taken my own advice, have I?!!!

Good luck with sorting it out anyway.

Ooh you are good at this onthebottom. Thanks - that's fabulous advice and I would feel comfortable with a couple of those options.

However friendly you have been with this lady, you have to remember that you are her employer, paying her to do a job....and she needs to be reminded of that.

Perhaps become a little less friendly with her....and a little more business-like.

Tell her that you have noticed she does tend to spend quite a lot of time on the phone while she is working and ask if she would kindly try and keep calls for when she is finished (if at all possible).

Take it from there.

It would be hard to become less friendly - I should probably have said in the OP that she has been cleaning for us for years, babysits, etc.
Of course there needs to be a line drawn so that in situations like this it isn't awkward but it would be weird now to be less friendly.

Your wording sounds fine and I will try that or one of onthebottom's approaches depending on what feels right next time she's here.

Does your cleaner have a coffee break when you could suggest she make her calls? Then she could concentrate properly on her jobs before and after it. It's harder if people are calling her just to chat. I would also keep an eye on her, popping out of the office to go to the loo, get a drink, fetch something from upstairs etc (even after I'd had the chat about the quality of her work if it comes to that)

Maybe ask her if she would prefer to change her hours (am - pm or pm to am) so that she can clean un-interupted by the phone calls. Add that it is obviously very difficult to clean when on the phone but you hope that whoever needs to call her all the time is ok.