Cleaner left early

[mockorangey]

I'm usually at work when the cleaner comes, but today I was working from home. After she left I realised she had finished 15 min early. I pay for 2 hour per week at £14.50 per hour, so not insignificant. Would you just let it go?

I would be curious as to whether she regularly leaves early.

If she is being paid by the hour for 2 hours she should be cleaning for the full 2 hours. I wouldn't dare leave my job early, there's always more that can be done.

she should work 2 hours if thats what she is paid for, My cleaner would clean other things. If it was a one-off emergency she had to leave for then my cleaner would ask/say and she would probably make the time up the next week (i wouldnt ask for her to do this for one-off 15 mins as she has been with me for years).

things work both ways....i imagine your cleaner would complain if you docked her pay by 15 minutes (if she still worked for 2 hours) or if you asked her to work longer than 2 hours but only paid her for 2.

if she is a good cleaner i would let it go this once.....but would be interested to see if she does this regularly

There is always things that can be done. Leaving early isn't on IMO, if she's paid for 2 hours work then she should do 2 hours work.

I would also do as another poster said above and make a list and then have extra tasks if she has time. Silly of her to do it while you're there, but at least now you know. She's probably slacking off much earlier when you're not there.

If you pay for two hours cleaning then you should get two hours cleaning. I’d mention it to her. If she slows down and does less work then I’d get a new cleaner. I’ve had the same cleaner fo the last 9 years somehow orother she always works her full hours and she works hard. I pay well and am very appreciative.

For £14:50 an hour you should be ble to get someone willing to do the work properly.
In the past I’ve always told perspective cleaners that I want them to work their full hours. I don’t mind a ciggie break if they are working a full half day.

Would you prefer she worked slower so the jobs filled the time?

Well there you have it. She cracks on and finishes only.. she could work slowly to keep you happy

The things she is supposed to do are clean the kitchen including sink, upstairs bathroom and downstairs toilet, vacuum everywhere, mop kitchen and bathrooms, dust. This is the first cleaner we've had and she's been coming for about 2 months now. When she first started, the business owner came round with her and we went round the house to see what needed doing etc, but we didn't go into minute details. The business owner did say to let her know if there were things we wanted doing, either ad hoc or regularly, that weren't being done. She also said that the cleaner might get quicker once she'd been doing it a while and might only need 1.5 hours.

The house was in a fairly normal state today, so I imagine it takes pretty much the same time every week. Today I had even asked for an extra job to be done, so if anything it would normally be quicker.

She does a decent job of cleaning, but there are clearly things that could be done if she has time, eg. she doesn't normally lift the rugs to vacuum underneath them. I hate the idea that I need to micromanage her - why can't she use her common sense and do those extra bits if she has time?

I'm usually at work when the cleaner comes, but today I was working from home. After she left I realised she had finished 15 min early. I pay for 2 hour per week at £14.50 per hour, so not insignificant. Would you just let it go?

I'm wfh and have no idea at all what time my cleaner left, I've got a vague memory that she called 'bye' on her way out. There is clearly something you aren't happy with....

She does a decent job of cleaning, but there are clearly things that could be done if she has time, eg. she doesn't normally lift the rugs to vacuum underneath them. I hate the idea that I need to micromanage her - why can't she use her common sense and do those extra bits if she has time?

I'd tell her to do the bits like that. I'd expect the rugs to be lifted, mine does and I've never explicitly told her to.

Next time ask her (kindly) why she left early. Might have been a minor emergency or something. It will,also subtly draw a line that it isn’t ok for it to be a regular thing.

Also have some “if you get a chance” jobs you mention to her.

Don’t agonise this much over £3.62 1/2 though.

Ask yourself “Is this because you don’t want the rot to set in?”. If so, fine, draw the line (see above). Or is it because you can’t quite afford a cleaner/begrudge the money;feel she doesn’t do a good enough job? If so, stop doing it.

Also, be wary of trimming back the hours a little bit at a time. Because it might just become too small a job to be worth doing.

If their service is sold as 'per hour' rather than the 'per job' model then it is TIME in premises they are selling rather than a service list to complete in the time it takes an individual to complete the list, if that makes sense.

Even if she is reading a magazine trading standards dictates that 'per hour' means the cleaner is obliged to be on the premises for a set time whereas 'per job' dictates that the cleaner completes a job list in any amount of time that person is capable of completing the agreed work.

So yes she should have stayed.

Don't worry about having to manage the situation, it is the business owner to manage her staff and the situation as a whole so contact her and explain what has happened, she will probably reduce the hours for you once she is aware that the time is now sufficient (unless has has a 'minimum' charge of course. For most services this minimum is for two hours or it's not worth paying for the cleaner to travel to the job and unload etc.

Hahah. I also had a clean-around-things cleaner. There are various bits on the floor in the living room, and I lift them onto the couch when washing the floors. This cleaner just slopped the mop around them. I'm fairly reasonable usually, but that brought out the unreasonable in me. So she didn't get called back again. Then I had another one who told me after I'd told her she was unsuitable, that it was her first time cleaning. She hadn't told me beforehand. I came back to all my clothes hanging up un-ironed. I was like wtf? Anyway, went to iron them myself, and she had the setting on the iron down at cold Silly woman probably did actually iron them. I am meticulous about cleaning so I decided a cleaner just isn't for me.

I do often wonder how do they clean their own homes? Are they as careless at home? For e.g. a massive bugbear of mine is going into a hotel and finding grime around the base of the bin on the floor because obviously the cleaners don't bother their asses to just lift it and clean under it. I'm similarly judgmental in peoples' homes. I'm an asshole lol.

Anyway, went to iron them myself, and she had the setting on the iron down at cold

😂😂😂😂

I’d have been pretty unimpressed with the business owner saying she might get quicker, in the first place?!

What, I’m paying for you cleaner to work out how to clean?!

Fair enough if the owner said “we can do a good estimate, but we always review after a month with feedback from your cleaner - and adjust the jobs or hours depending on what you want”.

I want a cleaner that works at a proper speed from the start, thank you.

OP I feel like you do that if you are paying by the hour then she needs to work for the whole two hours. And £14.50 is surely a good rate for her?

If you don't want to confront I would do as others have said and always have a list of things she can do "if there is time". But for goodness sake, like you said, with cleaning, how can you actually finish? Cheeky.

We've just ended having our cleaner. The agency couldn't keep people for any duration, so we had four or five different people since Christmas, and the latest one only did a decent job if one of us was wfh, otherwise their impact was negligible. Most damningly they'd been through the bedside cabinet (frillies had been put at the front instead of my bed socks ). At that point the trust was lost. 15 mins, I'd let it go honestly

diddly

You go to other peoples' homes and judge them on whether the bin gets moved to clean?

You don't get many repeat invitations to peoples' homes, do you...

Sorry, OP but I think you're being tight. Everything you wanted to be cleaned was cleaned. I don't think you can expect the cleaner to make work for herself because she worked efficiently today

If she thought it was OK to leave 15 minutes early when I was there, I'd wonder what she was doing when I'm not there.

As they get to know your house better, they're faster. Win/win. Who cares, really, it's 15 minutes.

I agree OP. The best thing would be for your cleaner to work one-seventh slower, so that your full time allocation is used up. Because that's what'll happen if you complain, and it would obviously be better for everyone.

FFS.

I pay an hourly rate (to an agency) for 3 hours a week.

Cleaner does the full 3 hours (I think!) and does what has to be done - eg tidying and cleaning, ironing, changing bed linen, emptying dishwasher etc. Then if she has spare time, it’s fab as she does other things - eg tidying drawers, unpacking shopping I didn’t get round to doing etc.

It’s like getting a bonus present on some weeks!

I suppose the difference between my arrangement and other posters is I’m not paying for a fixed price for a fixed job but for what can be done in 3 hours. If cleaner can’t complete the standing list in 3 hours, fine. If she completes in under 3 hours, great, and she then does some extras.

You work your contracted hours.And all those 15 minutes add up.Especially as she probably does it all the time.

Do you know @mockorangey if its the first time or is there any way you could find out.