To want my cleaner to work New Year’s Eve?

[Merryoldgoat]

This is obviously a first world problem - I’m not ‘seething’, ‘in a quandary’ or ‘really concerned’. I’m just not sure so asking for opinions.

My cleaner works for us on Thursdays. This year Christmas Eve and NYE are Thursdays.

I’ve already told her I don’t expect her to work Christmas Eve - I will pay her as normal.

Should I give her NYE off too? If I did I’d pay her.

On the one hand we’ll all be home so cleaning won’t be so easy for her, on the other the hand it will need a good going over by then.

The money isn’t an issue - it’s more will I value the clean or will it be more hassle to get the house in a reasonable state to clean beforehand?

YABU - of course you should give her NYE off

YANBU - NYE is a normal day for most so let her come.

Also concerned about the household mixing - normally no one except for DH is here when she cleans - I don’t want to put anyone at risk unnecessarily.

assuming that you don;t want her to clean before your ginormous New Years Eve party

DH used to work optional overnight NYE for triple time and a day in lieu-he works in IT not as a cleaner.

Given your cleaner would have additional workload and would be missing time away from their own preparations I think it is a reasonable ask with appropriate extra compensation.

NYE is a normal working day for lots of people, why would you give it off ?

NYE is normal working day . New year's day is a bank holiday. I'd expect her to work rather than get a paid day off.

Ok.

Thank you all for your input.

I have decided that whilst I’m probably reasonable to want her to come (which she’d be happy to and expects to) it’s probably safer in pandemic terms to say not to as I can’t guarantee we’d be able to all go out.

If it’s a meltdown day, inclement weather etc then it’s just not going to be possible.

What I have learned from this thread:

Some people really detest that people have cleaners and if we do, we are lazy and should be happy to have that pointed out to us.

For the record I’m not lazy. I work. My husband works. We have two autistic children and frankly I hate fucking cleaning. So I pay someone to do it for me.

That someone is a person whose work I value and a person who I like. She cleans my house but she’s also a kind friend. She brings me plants, I give her presents for her children. We exchange Christmas gifts.

I don’t treat her like a skivvy and I actually think there is a lot of misplaced jealousy from some people here.

I’m fortunate, yes. But I’m not a twat.

@EveryDayIsADuvetDay

assuming that you don;t want her to clean before your ginormous New Years Eve party

Yes - it’s going to be truly spectacular. My in PJs and a bit of Mariokart.

Very lucky to have a cleaner . She is very much appreciated and we give her 2 weeks paid holiday over Xmas . Cleaners are normally not on a high salary with no holiday pay and I feel some people are not particularly nice to them like other lower paid workers ( not you OP)

I think some of the comments regarding meanness are a bit focused on the fact that its a cleaner

Christmas eve and new years eve are just days (as much as i love Christmas eve) its not unreasonable to expect someone to work those

If the OP wants to give these as paid days off well thats lovely, i think most posters are just saying that she doesn’t have to as neither of these days are holidays

Beady eyed meanies 😀

My cleaner has has enough paid holiday this year and I’ve rolled my sleeves up more than enough. I’ve paid her in full through both lockdowns when she hasn’t come to work. So no way am I paying her in full for Christmas weeks if she’s not coming to work and I have to do it myself, however I am very happy for her to switch her days round (also works Thursdays).

I have decided that whilst I’m probably reasonable to want her to come (which she’d be happy to and expects to) it’s probably safer in pandemic terms to say not to as I can’t guarantee we’d be able to all go out

I saw a poster mention this earlier, its a very good point

@Tenyearsgone My cleaner has been with us for years and years and knows she can always take time off and often does for lots of reasons. If she doesn’t want to, then that’s fine as well.

And @Antst sorry but it literally is a normal working day. If she said ‘Hey, just to let you know I’m taking Christmas Eve off’ then that’s fine! I’d wish her a lovely Christmas and get on with my day.

We pay her double at Christmas plus Christmas presents, birthday presents, little chocolate gifts at Easter and paid her in full throughout both lockdowns - in fact, we told her not to come and paid her before Boris even announced a lockdown in March.

Nice of you to think about whether she'd want the day off, and super nice to still pay her. My employers always expects me to work those days, especially if they give themselves the day off. If I wanted it off I'd have to take it as holiday, which I suspect is the case for a lot of people.
Of course concerns about mixing aren't normally part of the equation and I can understand you seeking opinions.

As she can't switch days, and your not sure what the weather will be like, can you speak to her and leave it open-ended till say the Mon or Tues before and decide then. Telling her beforehand you'll pay either way and likely be just a quick run around to keep on top of it after Xmas week. You don't need to decide now and she'll know a few days in advance if you need her.

I'm working Christmas eve and New Year's eve this year but finishing a little earlier. If she's normally finished by about 3pm I'd expect business as usual.

It's not up to you to give her the day off if she is self employed. She tells you when she's working, end of.

I'm a cleaner, have worked both those days before, I found it a nightmare as people would not stay out of the way. This year I'm working very early on Xmas Eve and that's it.

Our cleaner has told me - with plenty of notice - that she’s taking two weeks off over Christmas. Absolutely fine - she’s self employed and it’s entirely her choice. I’ll pay her double for the final session she does before Christmas, as a ‘Christmas bonus’.

The haters are just jealous and offensive frankly.

How rude to pretend that being a cleaner is such a low level job people should be embarrassed. How many businesses and self-employed cleaners would be in very deep financial trouble is people all suddenly decided to "clean themselves".

Trying to make yourself look so grand and magnanimous about the poor low cleaner just make you look like a complete twat. They don't need your sympathy and condescending insulting attitude. They are doing a job, like any job.

By telling the OP she could "clean" herself, you are trying to put someone out of their job. Patronising and stupid to say the least.

So people spend hundreds, thousands even, on tat, excess food, overpriced gifts, gifts for TEACHERS, all in the name of The Christmas Spirit, but heaven forbid a cleaner get a special paid day off.

Some really odd comments on this thread. I would love to know what these people do for a living, those that are saying that people should be paid for doing nothing on a normal working day. I am term time only and appreciate the 2 weeks over Christmas that we have off, but then apart from the bank holidays which we do get paid for, none of the other days, including New Year's Eve, are paid for, so my pay is reduced accordingly. That's perfectly fine. I wouldn't expect for it to be paid for when I'm not in work.

I have worked in other sectors FT where we only got bank holidays off and fully paid for. Anything else like Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are normal working days and if you want the whole day off you take it as leave out of your leave allowance. If you don't want to use your leave then it's an office-based job it's usually very quiet and bosses let you leave a bit early.

So I guess it all depends whether self-employed cleaners arrange their fees to take into account any paid holiday, or whether they are, in effect "term-time only" thus only getting paid for the time they are actually in work. How bank holidays for cleaners should get paid for is another matter. But New Year's Eve is not a bank holiday anyway, so it's all moot.

There's nothing Scrooge-like about OP and her situation. jSome people are totally misunderstanding things. OP sounds like a fantastic and generous client. Please, please, let me know what you do for a living, all those people calling OP a Scrooge!

DH used to work optional overnight NYE for triple time and a day in lieu-he works in IT not as a cleaner.

Oh my god, this is NOT the same!!! Your DH worked OVERNIGHT, which is when most people don't work anyway, and he got compensated for it being precisely the usual time that everyone is celebrating NYE, NOT during the day on the 31st when absolutely feck all is going on......because many many people are AT WORK!!! So there is no need to pay the cleaner any extra at all for a couple of hours during her USUAL working time on a NORMAL working day....

OP, I don't know how you're staying calm at some of these comments. Some people have such simplistic ways of thinking about things.

Assuming she's self employed it's her call whether she works or not. Im surprised she's not already told you when she'll be working and what she'll be charging for Christmas Eve, New year's Eve etc as most people charge time and half at least. Just ask her what her plans are.

It's a normal day - I would have her come as usual.

Most people charge time and a half on New Year's Eve, before, say, 4pm?? Really? That is not reasonable.

OP, I don't know how you're staying calm at some of these comments.

I’m not really!

All the ‘clean your own house’ stuff too. A) like I do fuck all between visits and B) having a cleaner is the ultimate in indignity.

One of our cleaners from work has just left. We are all so upset. He was excellent and very nice and worked very hard - he’ll be really hard to replace. Our cleaners are valued and proper employees and as important as anyone else.

@Merryoldgoat

We obviously do clean I’m the interim - but she does the stuff we don’t have time to do on a regular basis.

The ‘family’ is me, my husband and two autistic children. The older is 7 and keeps his room very tidy. The younger is 2 and like a wrecking ball.

The implication that just because we have a cleaner we won’t don’t do anything else in between visits is a bit daft.

I clean and tidy more now than before I had a cleaner.

Sounds like you have a good plan.

I would make sure family went for a walk and kept out of her way and pay her extra as NYE. My cleaner works for me Tuesdays and Fridays. She is coming Tuesday before Xmas for 3 hours instead of usual 2, not Xmas day, but Tuesday after for 3 hours instead of 2. We will go out for a long walk with dogs before Xmas and ho shopping in sales Tuesday after Xmas. She will obviously be paid for Xmas day and I have a Sizzling Pubs gift card for her so she can enjoy a few meals out with her DH in NY.