Cleaner Returning to Work

[mintandgold]

Hi, wonder if you can help with a moral dilemma regarding our cleaner returning to work.

We have paid our cleaner in full without question throughout lockdown at usual (expensive) rate which has added up to around £400 for hours which were not able to be worked. Happy to do so as we were still earning - albeit one of us had taken a pay cut to 80% in line with furloughed staff. Anyway we appreciate her and wanted to ensure she wasn't left without our payments through no fault of her own, we also hoped it would mean she would return when it was safe to do so.

I would now like her to return and have asked for five or six extra hours when she does in order to bring things back up to standard - 4 children, one full time key worker and one full time non key worker working from home mean that usual standards have been hard to maintain!

My question is if it is cheeky to expect that these extra few hours would be included in the hundreds of pounds already sent? This has not been offered and I'm not sure if I'm being unreasonable to expect it? I know that others in the area stopped paying her as soon as lockdown began and I have no idea of her circumstances and if she was able to avail of any of the self employed grants etc.

Husband is aghast that we may get a bill for an extra £100+ and sees this as just asking her to work a few of the hours already paid before writing off the rest.

I can see his point but also haven't brought it up with cleaner as do have a feeling it may be unreasonable to expect this. Would be grateful for others opinions!

We paid our cleaner during lockdown and she has been itching to come back. We finally said yes and had no expectation of her doing extra. She has however offered to do two extra hours which we really appreciate.
Thinking of office settings, I imagine some people will be asked to do extra to catch up or might not be asked but will have more work. It's tough but I would say don't ask . If s/he offers great, if not then simply ask to pay her for a few more hours

No you can’t do this. You do need to pay.

So you essentially put your cleaner on furlough. If you were on furlough and were paid 80% of your wage would you then make up all of those hours when you returned to work?

But it's a bit different when an individual is paying the 'furlough' bill, rather than the government.

Oh well, that’s my plan for the cleaner coming back scuppered anyway - DH has woken up with a cough. It is probably hay fever but as he’s a teacher he’s going for a test.

@SimonJT who pays "furlough", the government, the OP didn't get any government help, she paid 100% of the wages herself.

Very different to furlough.

I agree that the goodwill ought to go both ways. This is Mumsnet, where people like to talk about showering free money on their cleaners and not expecting work in return, which I find quite odd. That said, I think it was your mistake, OP, not to specify what you were paying for when you continued to pay during lockdown. So I’m afraid you probably need to write it off this time, but if the cleaner does nothing to reciprocate then you can definitely make a mental note.

@Flippetydip

We paid our cleaner throughout. She is coming tomorrow. She normally does two hours but I’ve asked her to do a bit more. I will not be paying her extra for this.

Christ, you cheeky beggar. I hope she doesn't come back.

@Flippetydip you didn’t answer (unless I’ve missed it) whether your cleaver offered to work for free or you told them to, or even if they knew in advance that they wouldn’t be paid.

Yes... just over £20 per hour so no qualms at all about unfairness in that respect and I can't agree with likening the issue to furloughing her as we haven't reduced the rate nor been furloughed ourselves. None of this money has come from the government.

Despite the good rate, I do agree I should have considered and requested that a one off deep clean be included upon her return at the start of lockdown - it was my mistake not think of this and to speak to her about it then.

I also agree with those who take my husbands view and would expect the goodwill to go both ways to a certain extent. If it was me then rightly or wrongly I would absolutely be rewarding those who I value and who have stuck by me by prioritising my return to them or bringing things back up to scratch by working a few extra hours and including that time in the money already paid.

As I've already said, I will not be requesting these extra hours to be included - this was a genuine AIBU after a debate with my husband and I've been grateful for all the views I've been given here - I'm glad some can see both points of view like us though.

I'm feeling guilty. We haven't paid our cleaner as my husband's salary has gone down to 80% during lockdown (he's self employed). Our cleaner has been self employed for years so she would would also have been entitled to the 80% government funding that my husband has received. It's very generous of everyone. However, my husband has lots of clients who give him work but they haven't continued to pay him while he's not doing any work for them.

I fail to see why I’m a “cheeky beggar” for this. I have been paying our cleaner 100% of her wages each week for the last 12 weeks. She has not been cleaning. Why is it unreasonable to expect her to do three hours this week rather than her usual 2? The vast majority of her clients have paid her nothing throughout this period.

And whoever said “I hope she doesn’t come back” - brilliant reasoning. Then she’s out of a job.

Anyway as I said above it’s a moot point as DH has symptoms so she’s not coming (but will still be paid)

You still haven’t said whether you just informed her she’d be working for no money or if she offered.

I’m guessing that you either just told her that was what or expected, or she’ll find out at the end of her clean.

My cleaner normally does 10 hours per week. I paid her throughout. She did come back after 6 weeks I think? (She asked to.) Anyway, when she came back she worked an extra hour or two a few times without being asked. I asked her if she needed extra money and she said no. So we have both been generous and my house has ‘caught up.’

Sorry, I think you would have needed to make this clear from the start.
It would be nice if she offered, but you can't necessarily expect or insist upon it.

I paid my cleaner in full every week. She was very appreciative. She brought me some flowers when she returned an stayed a couple of hours extra the first two times she was back. I tried to pay her for the extra and she refused.

I am really surprised at these answers. You paid your cleaner through goodwill and I think it is reasonable to expect some back

I paid our cleaner for 10 weeks and she came back last week. She refused payment and we've gone back to normal this week.

I didn't expect her to do a free clean but it felt nice that she did. I'd certainly not have asked.

It’s not just a bit extra. An extra hour for the first week or two maybe she’d have given you, but 5-6 hours?

@lancaster

I am really surprised at these answers. You paid your cleaner through goodwill and I think it is reasonable to expect some back

It's not really goodwill if you expect something back for it.