to say something to cleaner leaving early and what do I say?

[Trioofprinces]

New cleaner started about a month ago. We agreed she would do 3 hrs. She said that after getting used to it she thought it would take 2-2.5hrs, but we agreed to stick to 3hrs for the time being.

A couple of weeks ago she left after 2hrs 45mins so the following week I said something along the lines of "you seemed to be doing ok for time last week so if you have time could you please do x this week".

This week was the first time I left and let her lock up. I know she got here at 9.30 and the alarm shows her leaving at 11.50, so she stayed for 2hrs 20mins only. She took the money for the full 3hrs. (It would have been easy to take for 2.5hrs as she charges £8ph and I left £24, so she could have taken £20 and left a note).

Now, obviously if I didn't have the alarm I wouldn't have known when she left, and I doubt she knows that I can see the entry and exit time of her keyfob.

She came highly recommended so I don't want to naff her off but I also want to make the point that I am happy to pay for what she does, whether that be 2.5hrs or 3hrs but that I expect her to work the time I have paid.

We are also going on holiday next week and she is due to do 6hrs while we're away, now clearly if she thinks my house can be done in less than 2.5hrs, there is no way she is going to work all 6hrs we're away.

So, what do I say to make her realise I can see how long she's here without sounding like I'm monitoring her, and what do I do about the holiday time?

WWYD?

Thanks

either cut her hours to 2 and half she is obviously getting everything done in that time or add a new job you expect to have done.

can i ask if you are away on holidays why does she need to come in? will someone else be there to leave a mess that needs cleaning?

I think that if she is doing all the work that you want her to do, in a satisfactory manner, then YAB a bit U. If you make an issue of it then she will stay longer but won't do any more work (well I woldn't anyway!), I'd rather have a hard worker and pay for teh job than pay by the hour and have someone who takes advantage.

Just give her extra jobs to do - she's clearly getting everything done in the allotted time.

If she cleans well, I wouldn't worry about it.

Otherwise she'll just drag the job out but the results will still be the same.

I'd just be honest with her and say that now she's settled in you're happy to reduce it down to 2.5 hours as she suggested. Leave her a list of deep-clean jobs to do while you're on holiday and as long as they're done, don't fret.

WRT holidays - pay her when you are away and ask her to do a 'spring clean.'

No-one will be here to make a mess while we're away. I should change her to only come once so that it is clean when we come back, I just felt bad about giving her less hours while we're away.

It depends if you strictly want her to do three hours, or just do the job in however long it takes her. I found my cleaner got faster the longer she had been here, I suppose like we all do when you do a job/task regularly. But I still paid her the full amount we agreed, she was a blooming hard worker.

If she is doing a good job, I wouldn't bother too much.

I think 15-20 minutes might just about be OK, but 40 is not acceptable. Like me leaving work now rather than at 5. Where's that kettle?

I used to pay my cleaner as normal if we were away but if she went away, obviously nothing

I think that's fair happy.

If she's doing what you want her to, I'm not sure what the problem is.

I think the thing is, I have a fairly big house and when we started I said I know you probably won't be able to get everything done in 3hrs (previous cleaner had 4 hrs but she worked at a snail's pace), so dusting only needs to be done every second week etc, spare bedrooms every 2nd week etc.

Obviously if she has time, I'd like dusting done every week rather than upstairs one week and downstairs the other. It seems to be that she clearly has time left over but instead of doing the other half of dusting for example, she's going home!

I would be very careful. I had a cleaner who did similar, I tried to tackle it but after a few months it became obvious her dishonesty extended to stealing food, jewellery and cash.

happy that's what I would expect to see in a cleaning contract. Either work as normal or payment of a retainer fee.

Oh, and she was the friend of a work colleague, which was how she came to be recommended to me. Work became extremely awkward after I had to call the police.

I agree with giving her perhaps one extra job to do....maybe a different one each week on a rolling basis, ie, cleaning the oven, kitchen cupboards, inside windows, etc. If she's a good worker and cleans to the standard you are happy with, I'd let 15 mins go, but 40 I'd have to call her on it. Does she do ironing for you?

Oops, two happy posters! I would not expect to see stealing in any contract!

OP just say what you want. Either reduce the time to 2.5 hours or increase what you want done in 3. She won't mind!

Don't tell her about the alarm, say toy just missed her when you got back, and leave hwr money for two and a half hours.

yellowraincoat - the problem is that she asked for £8ph, which I am happy to pay. We did not agree a 'job' rate, it was an hourly rate. Therefore I expect to pay a rate per hour she works, I do not expect to pay for 3hrs and have her work 2hrs 20mins.

As someone earlier said, 15mins is fine, but leaving 40mins early is too much.

We have just started using a cleaner and DH is a little suspicious that she's finishing much quicker than she should - he's at home on the day she works, but doing his own stuff so not monitoring her.

I think I might raise it with her as a friendly "how are you getting on now you've had time to settle in and do we need to revise anything?" to see what she says in the first instance. Although I am mostly just happy to have it done, and if she can work quickly without standards slipping then I'm not too bothered.

Shrug, like I said, if she does everything, I don't see a problem.

I think people get too hung up on hours. If there's more stuff you want her to do, tell her.

Like most, I don't think I'd be worried about 10mins, if she was doing a good job, but I think now (after a trial of a few weeks) is a good time to say "We need to decide what you are going to do then - do you want me to leave more jobs and you work the full 3 hours, or would you rather I left you £20 for the 2 and 1/2 hours you seem to be doing at the moment ?" All very pleasant and not said in a complaining way that she's already taken the money for hours she's not worked over the last couple of weeks. She can then choose. YOu don't need to tell her how you know what hours she's done.