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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not put the heating on for the cleaner?

437 replies

Falcon1 · 26/11/2019 12:34

It's 13 degrees today and feels very mild. I work from home and I'm perfectly comfortable. I don't like being too hot and we only put the heating on if it drops below 16 in the house. It's about 18 currently.

Anyway, just had an arsey message from the cleaning company saying my cleaner has complained about the cold and that all clients must ensure their houses are heated to at least 22 degrees whilst the cleaners are there.

AIBU to think this is ridiculous? I'm in the bloody house myself! Surely if I'm comfortable sitting at my desk, the cleaner (who is being active) should be able to cope?

OP posts:
LaurieMarlow · 26/11/2019 16:56

I agree 22 is too high. 19 feels reasonable to me.

ArgumentativeAardvaark · 26/11/2019 16:58

The OP is an employer and has responsibilities as such.

Nonsense. She is no more the cleaner’s employer than she is the employer of her plumber, window cleaner or Ocado delivery man.

This cleaner is employed by an agency who have a contract with the OP to provide services. OP has a responsibility to comply with the terms of the contract, which may include an implied or express term to make sure her home is a safe/tolerable working environment. Any requirement to heat her home to 22 degrees would go beyond default reasonable expectations and would have to have been stated expressly in the contract. I suspect that it was not. That doesn’t mean that the company can’t ask her to make it a bit warmer, just that it can’t ask her to maintain a temp of 22 degrees.

Looobyloo · 26/11/2019 17:01

I clean houses and some are freezing! Yes you get a little warmer while cleaning but I still don't get too hot, and before anyone says I need to work harder, I also run which requires a lot of effort and I still get cold. Some runners run in vests and shorts in winter, I run in hat, gloves and thermals, we're all different I'm just a cold person.

Just shove it on for an hour or get a new cleaner, a warm blooded one preferably.

LaurieMarlow · 26/11/2019 17:02

That doesn’t mean that the company can’t ask her to make it a bit warmer, just that it can’t ask her to maintain a temp of 22 degrees

That’s essentially what I’m saying, I’m not arguing that she should have to have it at 22.

But the OP’s home is this woman’s workplace. I wouldn’t consider 16 an adequate temp for that.

selfhelpneeded · 26/11/2019 17:04

22 degrees! I'd never be able to heat my home to that temperature in the winter even if the heating was on all day.

IWorkAtTheCheesecakeFactory · 26/11/2019 17:06

The OP is an employer and has responsibilities as such.

No she isn’t. She is a client. The agency is the employer. When you get your hair done in a salon you aren’t the stylists employer. You are a client of their employer.

Looobyloo · 26/11/2019 17:07

@Torchlightt you think the cleaner should wear thermals and a wooly jumper? Why not also a baraclava, hat, scarf, gloves and padded boats? I'm sure she'd be very comfortable while cleaning In all that.

@notthemum not that shit again about working harder, read my thread above

LaurieMarlow · 26/11/2019 17:07

No she isn’t. She is a client. The agency is the employer.

Point taken. However her home is the cleaner's workplace.

CountFosco · 26/11/2019 17:08

18C is pretty perfect when doing even light physical work, we keep our manufacturing facilities at 18C and the staff don't wear many clothes under their Tyvek suits.

Is she not wearing warm enough clothing? SIL now lives in a tropical country and despite having lived here most of her life she seems to need layers and layers of clothing when visiting, probably because all her clothes are now bought in the tropical country and so aren't actually warm. Whereas one warm jumper would probably suffice.

LolaSmiles · 26/11/2019 17:11

I’ve never worked in an indoor job where 16 would be seen as a reasonable temperature
Her house was 18 degrees.

The heath and safety guidance already quoted by posters says that the minimum for many jobs is 16 and its lower for physical jobs.

The OP has no obligation to heat her house into the 20s if she doesn't wish to in order to accommodate someone else's preferences, just like I have no grounds to demand that work heat /cool the staff room to my personal tastes.

I seriously think there's people on this thread who are the types who think the office air con/heating should revolve around their preferences (eg I feel the cold so everyone else should have to wear summer clothing in October / I run hot so the whole office has to deal with a hurricane of air con in June)

cerios156 · 26/11/2019 17:11

...when I walk into a home or business that I don't own, I accept that I don't control the ambient temperature. That "22 degrees" business honestly sounds like b.s. There's no way that's policy.

As long as she is safe and treated with respect otherwise, you're under no obligation to boil in your own home for her comfort.

Girl, bring a jumper. 18 degrees is not the arctic. It's a warm spring day.

LaurieMarlow · 26/11/2019 17:15

Her house was 18 degrees.

Ffs Confused

Her thermostat is at 16. It’s winter. Go figure.

All the OP was able to say was it’s 18 NOW. The OP has made no provision to ensure it stays that way.

Comefromaway · 26/11/2019 17:30

Another one who thinks that’s bonkers. I work in n office (of a heating company) and the temp is set around 18-19 degrees.
I have my thermostat on 23 at home in the evenings but the other day I did a bit of light cleaning and had to open all the windows it got so hot.

Tabitha005 · 26/11/2019 17:33

Your cleaner is clearly not a peri/menopausal woman. It seems a bit of a strange thing for the cleaner to request, seeing as how cleaning is a physical job.

If I were the cleaner, I'd just have worn a jumper.

ClientListQueen · 26/11/2019 17:41

Surely they can't request that? I mean I had to work the other month, outside in shorts and a bikini top and it was bloody 3c and vile. Obviously we stopped so I could warm up/have coffee/shelter etc but that date was booked, I was being paid so I tried not to whine too much!
My house is usually around 16-18c

LolaSmiles · 26/11/2019 17:46

Her thermostat is at 16. It’s winter. Go figure.
All the OP was able to say was it’s 18 NOW. The OP has made no provision to ensure it stays that way.
It was 18 when the OP posted. Houses don't cool off that much during the day, and if it did drop below 16 (which is still higher than the minimum suggested for physical jobs) then the heating would kick in.

The OP has absolutely zero obligation to heat the house according to someone else's preferences.
She can put another layer on if she's cold, and if she knows she runs cold then she needs to have sensible layering systems (and not do what some people do which is throw their coat on and make a huge fuss of how cold they are when a few thin layers is a much more effective way way of keeping warm).

I tend to run lukewarm most of the time and get Raynaud's, so dress accordingly. It's not that difficult and I manage in a house that's 18-20 degrees depending on what I'm doing.

Menora · 26/11/2019 17:47

No to 22. I don’t turn mine over 20 very rarely

Chouetted · 26/11/2019 17:48

"...when I walk into a home or business that I don't own, I accept that I don't control the ambient temperature. That "22 degrees" business honestly sounds like b.s. There's no way that's policy."

We're not experts on their policy, the cleaning company are. If they say it's policy, we should probably believe them.

blackteasplease · 26/11/2019 17:48

I couldn’t bear to clean at 22degrees!

BlueJava · 26/11/2019 17:51

22 deg C is way too hot for cleaning in my view. When I do a full house clean i dont put the heating in at all. The chillier the better.

HoldMyLobster · 26/11/2019 17:51

Anyway, just had an arsey message from the cleaning company saying my cleaner has complained about the cold and that all clients must ensure their houses are heated to at least 22 degrees whilst the cleaners are there.

If the cleaner was cold then I'd say you should heat your house a little. 22C is IMO ridiculous but I'd put it up to 19 or 20 for a few hours if that made the cleaner more comfortable.

MarshaBradyo · 26/11/2019 17:53

A cleaning company stating their policy was 22 degrees probably wouldn’t be around very long. It’d be crazy to demand that.

Torchlightt · 26/11/2019 17:56

There's nothing uncomfortable about a soft vest and soft woolly jumper. In winter. A lot of people in the UK consider it their birthright to wear only a t-shirt, at all times of the year. Which is why the planet is fucked and it's now 40 degrees in summer and rising.

LaurieMarlow · 26/11/2019 17:57

It was 18 when the OP posted. Houses don't cool off that much during the day

Houses don’t cool off with no heating on, in winter. Sure my dear. Wink

Bottom line is OP will only guarantee 16 degrees. To me, that’s not sufficient. If she guaranteed 18 that would be just about acceptable in my eyes. But she isn’t.

JamesBlonde1 · 26/11/2019 17:58

Eh, they're mad. Cleaning is a physical job if you're doing it properly and you are warm.

When I clean I make sure all heating is off and I tell the family to put jumpers on!