To think cleaning isn’t an unskilled job

[Thisisus909]

I am shit at cleaning. If I cleaned for 20 hours my house would look tidier but definitely not shiny clean.

I have had several cleaners ad hoc or for a season and they have always amazed me with how much cleaner they get the house.

Maybe I am just particularly bad, but I do think it’s a skill and we should give a bit more respect to those who do practical jobs. Calling it unskilled seems insulting. Just look at all the blogs and insta influencers who make a career out of training us mere mortals in how to do it better.

To some of the random, opinion-based posts on here, me wiping my own bum is a skilled job because it takes above-zero level of skill to do it.

Frankly, it depends if we're talking about pure opinion. In which case it's clearly open to debate on whether you need cleaning skills, or what those skills might be.

But it is objectively NOT a skilled job in job market/labour market or economic terms. For that, there are oodles of places for which you could check if it's considered a skilled role - and it isn't. E.g. government visas, the ONS occupation coding groups, etc.

So you, OP, and other posters might like to argue that it takes some skill, but it isn't a skilled job. That's not my opinion, it just IS.

I really think the issue may be around how we consider ‘skilled’ in relation to work. Yes, I have 3 degrees, and a specialist higher professional job. However, I am not very good with a lot of practical things. I would say the skills of someone doing good practical (cleaning/painting&decorating/etc.) are potentially of higher value to me, because I’m shit at them. However, society would still consider senior/higher professional jobs as being more skilled, and therefore more respected.
That’s how it makes sense in my head, anyway!

I also think people are taking offence at the term "unskilled" which is unwarranted.

Yes you might need "skills" to clean or shelf stack but those skills are taught in 5 minutes and nearly everyone can do the job. I wouldn't let someone with 5 minutes training cut my hair, men's my boiler or MOT my car.

A good skilled cleaner is a great find.

I agree OP. To do it you need knowledge of techniques, equipment, and how to use different products and what combines safely, and if you're cleaning in peoples homes you also need to manage a schedule, bring everything you need, provide customer service.

The 'unskilled' term is very misleading and is used to dismiss the level of experience and knowledge of the people who work in that field - yes most people are capable of cleaning/stacking boxes/waiting tables but not to an efficient and professional standard. The skills may not be as uncommon and hard to learn as those of a surgeon or lawyer but they still deserve acknowledgment.

Not all cleaning is equal either.
Some ( for example dealing with antiques) does require a reservoir of knowledge.

No, domestic cleaning is not a skilled job. I would say only specialised cleaning like for hospitals which has highest hygiene standards or biohazard cleaning like crime scene cleaning are skilled jobs.

Technically learning to read and write is a skill. But, like cleaning, it is a basic skill expected of most children and all adults. The term “skilled job” refers to a job that requires some sort of extra qualification in specialised skills. Domestic cleaning requires no specialised skills or qualifications.

So YABU.

@Ylvamoon

No not a skilled job. No formal training/ qualifications required to do the job. EVERYONE can do it. Granted some of us better than others, but in the end we all know how to do it.

You could say that about cooking but being a chef is a skilled job...

Like everyone else has said, 'unskilled' doesn't mean you can't be good or bad at it, it just means you don't need qualifications/training.

@georgarina

Like everyone else has said, 'unskilled' doesn't mean you can't be good or bad at it, it just means you don't need qualifications/training.

You don't need qualifications but I expect training makes a difference.

I accept that 'needs qualifications' is one meaning of skilled but it's not the only possible meaning.

You could say that about cooking but being a chef is a skilled job...

That’s very different. Just because you can cook doesn’t mean you can be a chef, a professional chef will take years of training. So the poster is right. However because you can clean does mean you can be a cleaner. It doesn’t take years of training. We can all clean, and with the right products and elbow grease we can do it well.

I agree op you’re putting a value judgement on the term unskilled and trying to redefine it to mean valuable, or even talented.

Cleaning is a valuable job. It can be done to varying standards. It is not a skilled role.

But it isn't a skilled job. You can go and become a cleaner without needing to have any qualifications or learned skills.

That doesn't mean it isn't valuable, and that those doing the job don't deserve respect.

There are lots of "unskilled" tasks which I'm absolutely crap at which others are great at. Likewise there are some I'm great at which others are not. That doesn't make them skilled.

YANBU. I'll defend cleaning to the hilt and generally think dividing work into 'skilled' and 'unskilled' is a blunt instrument at best.

There is skill in learning and applying cleaning techniques and using the best products and tools.
More broadly, a good cleaner is efficient with time because they know how to do things in a certain order and how to carry round their products etc to waste least time. Might sound simple, but personally I fall foul of things like that any time I try to clean.
Also social skills and discretion. I once had a temp cleaner in my (excellent) regular cleaner's absence. I needed the loo while she was doing the bathroom (not just a wee either...) and asked her if I could have the room for a bit. She looked disgruntled (I mean I know it would have disrupted her, but...) and rather than discreetly and efficiently go and get on with something else in another room/downstairs, she hovered outside the bathroom and was standing there when I came out.
I found it mortifying, and was also pretty unimpressed with her. A good cleaner has skills and nous to deal with situations like that.

I was taking 'skilled' to mean something like 'requires skill to do it really well and this makes a noticeable difference'.

After all I expect OP knows you don't need qualifications to be a cleaner.

A handyman is kind of similar. Anyone can bang in a nail and many people will shamelessly charge you for banging it in the wrong place but you can REALLY tell the difference with someone who actually knows what they are doing.

I used to clean houses until I went to university. My employer gleefully told me she had found someone cheaper than me.

OK.
Then she told me a few weeks later that her cheaper cleaner had cleaned her silver with a Brillo pad ...

Unskilled labour is a specific term that means no qualification or formal training is necessary to do the job. It doesn't mean there isn't skill involved, or that someone can't do a better job than someone else.

I'd be much slower at picking fruit than a tall, strong 20 something but you can't do a degree or an apprenticeship in picking fruit. Hence it's an unskilled job. Same for cleaning.

The categorisation of jobs into skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled can vary slightly depending on the definitions used for different purposes, but unless it's some sort of high level of specialised cleaning like decontamination of a laboratory or something, its hard to argue that cleaning classes as a skilled job.

You could say that about cooking but being a chef is a skilled job...

Cooking at home and running a professional kitchen are two very, very different skill sets. You can't compare the two.

Lots of people can cook well at home (with few time pressures) but those same people wouldn't stand a chance in a professional kitchen.

I'm a cleaner who has never been let go by any of my customers. I've had to turn people down, though.
My work requires knowledge of cleaning and my interpersonal skills are very good. It's not a skilled role, per se but does require a fair level of competence.

And to the pp who said deference is required, I disagree with that.
Consideration of other people's homes is not the same as deference.

Unskilled labour is a specific term that means no qualification or formal training is necessary to do the job

That’s exactly the definition of unskilled Labour, or requires no specific training to do a competent or adequate job.

People are confusing the term with value, talent, competency etc

Other Examples of unskilled Labour are farm labourers, road sweepers, shop assistants, people who wash cars etc,

They all require competency in doing the role. They all are valued. They all should be respected. But they are not skilled Labour.

Examples of skilled Labour are a plumber, an electrician, a mechanic etc.

This is what Wikipedia thinks (I know there is a technical term but that doesn't necessarily make it the same thing as general usage)

A skilled worker is any worker who has special skill, training, knowledge which they can then apply to their work. A skilled worker may have attended a college, university or technical school. Alternatively, a skilled worker may have learned their skills on the job.

I did it for a while when my son was younger , I'm fit and well but it's hard physical got work ! And relentless too! Literally back breaking for 9 hours non stop ( aside from breaks ) not something I'd choose to do!

@Aria999

This is what Wikipedia thinks (I know there is a technical term but that doesn't necessarily make it the same thing as general usage)

A skilled worker is any worker who has special skill, training, knowledge which they can then apply to their work. A skilled worker may have attended a college, university or technical school. Alternatively, a skilled worker may have learned their skills on the job.

Really no one should ever use wiki 😂

@huuuuunnnndderrricks

I did it for a while when my son was younger , I'm fit and well but it's hard physical got work ! And relentless too! Literally back breaking for 9 hours non stop ( aside from breaks ) not something I'd choose to do!

And then come home to do your own house - that’s the bit that would grate.

@Bluntness100

I can't see why not but as I think you need a subscription to use the OED and I don't have one, please feel free to post an authoritative definition you prefer....