To not put the heating on for the cleaner?

[Falcon1]

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?

It is not unreasonable to be asked to warm the place up for a few hours a week for your cleaner. If they haven’t been born and raised in a typical drafty old home in damp, grey England with wartime-mentality parents/grandparents who considered heat above 18 an indulgence then you really can’t expect them to be comfortable at 18 degrees.

@littlejlb - not true I'm afraid!

I feel guilty if I don’t remember to turn the heating off for my cleaner!

I’m too poor to ever have the heating on so I’m a little jealous.

I’d send a sarcastic message to the cleaning company asking if they employ iguanas and then get a new cleaner.

I think clue was in doesn't speak English… I work in an environment with people from other country,s that feel the cold. im boiling at 20 my heating is never over 18. at work im in a t shirt while they are in jumpers hugging the radiators saying how cold it is and they are working hard. so I think ask for a different cleaner that doesn't feel the cold, or put it up for 10 mins before they arrive.

Ridiculous! Yanbu. I think there is a minimum for some (not all) workers of around 16 degrees? I'm sure someone on here knows.... but that's way above any minimums....

I'm sure you pay them enough OP. Bollocks to paying for extra heating whilst they're exercising anyway. Get another cleaner who is not a bloody wimp.

God, I hate Mumsnet sometimes.

I hope the cleaner gets a nicer job when OP dumps her. Preferably not with one of the majority of posters on this thread.

The whole tone of "How dare she?" relating to a lowly cleaner with ideas above her station, is plain nasty.

I agree @saraclara. An employer who values her employee should listen and respond when the employee says that her working environment is having a detrimental effect on her.

When I had proper central heating I would always run mine on 30 degrees because I’m always cold. Now I have piddly storage heaters that take about 5 hours to warm up and cost a fortune in electricity and barely heat the room up anyway. Oh and are utter trog shite for drying washing! I don’t know who the hell thought they were more economical because they most certainly are not

22 is not too hot , my thermostat is set at 25 all day in winter. I would feel nauseated in that environment.

Here's a newsflash. All people are different. It doesn't matter if other cleaners prefer it cooler or some people think 22 is too hot, the OP's cleaner finds it too cold. It's just common decency to make sure they are comfortable in their work environment

Hmm - shame then that the OP can't be comfortable in her work environment

Think she’s having a laugh. I grew up with only coal fires. Now have central heating. Never cracked my thermo over 18; never cold. And when I’m cleaning, heating off, windows open. How it should be done. Gets dust and radon gas out of house.

Um.... We never, ever have our heating above 19.

Remind the company that we are teetering on the edge of climate disaster and to heat the house to 22 would be utterly irresponsible.

I think different temperatures are required for different houses. I set my heating at 20 degrees but it often doesn't come on and the house is freezing. I then have to whack it up. It gets too hot, I turn it down. The house is freezing. I do think if the cleaner was doing a proper job she wouldn't need a hot house.If I kept my thermostat to 19 we would be shivering all the time.

22 is not too hot, my thermostat is set at 25 all day in winter.
We have our heater set to between 24-28 and we cool our house to 23, which is recommended for the workplace here in Australia.
One man in our offices has his aircon set to 18 in summer and his room is freezing.

I think the 'bully employer v meek employee' is unwarranted in the case.

Guidelines to temperatures in the workplace are a min 16ºC however, if employees are doing physical work it's 13ºC.

At the height of winter and summer office workers battle for power over building services... Constant calls to higher or lower heating... Some go on the charm offensive to secure the building service team's allegiance!

I work from home and couldn't work in a sweaty 22ºC as suggested by the agency - My thermo goes up to 25 which I assure you is ridiculously hot on a mild day.

Perhaps a compromise to 18 and the cleaner wears jumpers until they get used to UKs 'draughty old houses' as someone so eloquently put it!

So you can’t just turn the heater on so she is warmer? I’m Aussie so your house sounds bitterly cold. I would just turn it on so she was comfortable, I doubt the exact degree is important, it’s more the fact that the heating was completely off.

The whole tone of "How dare she?" relating to a lowly cleaner with ideas above her station, is plain nasty
Nothing to do with being a "lowly cleaner".
Some of us just don't believe anyone can take a job going to people's homes and the start dictating the way they heat their houses (just like someone going from office to office wouldn't be reasonable to dictate the temperature they want each office to be at).

I'd be finding a new cleaning company. Though to be fair on realising I'd missed the fact the cleaner speaks so little English she can't communicate a basic thing to the OP like she's a little cold, I think I'd definitely change cleaning company because they shouldn't be sending anyone with almost no ability to communicate out lone working in other people's houses in my opinion.

My desk is on a draughty factory landing. I’m nesh as. Current temp 20.5°C and I’m roasting! If I need to get up and do stuff round the factory, I have to turn the heating down for a while so it’s around 17° when I get back to my desk else I’d melt. For those who say that OP should ensure a pleasant working environment for the cleaner, what about a pleasant environment for the OP? That’s her working environment too. In this particular case, I think it’s the agency who are very much out of order and I would delight in telling them so. OP, YANBU.

Sack 'em Falcon1. Plenty more reliable cleaning firms around.

Well entertained by this topic and I've got to agree that requesting 22 degrees temperature for the cleaners comfort is quite unreasonable. Have they picked the wrong cleaning agency ...?

I have a friend who’s a cleaner/housekeeper/nanny.
Her employers (3 generations of the same family living in 3 different houses) are extremely rich and, although they’re kind, they have no concept of how tiring manual labour is.
My friend said one day “SHE’s never gone home with an aching back!”

OP, have you ever tried to clean a house to a good standard with an aching back at 16 degrees?
Thought not.

16 degrees is really chilly for indoors. I doubt she would complain to her boss unless she was genuinely uncomfortable. The fact that you find it tolerable is neither here nor there. I can’t believe that you wouldn’t just put the heating on for an hour rather than consider firing someone over this.

AppropriateAdult I think the issue is the 'complaint'. It's likely that the OPs reaction might have been different if the cleaner had asked her directly... Instead the OP was ultimately commanded to have her heating on at a specified temperature!

The situation was dealt with badly by the cleaner and their agency.