Do cleaners not do dishes?

[Fifi00]

My new cleaners seem a bit rubbish. I clean the loo , move clothes, I had already hoovered a couple of days ago and gave everything a proper scrub/mop there wasn't much for them to do but DD and DH had left breakfast dishes in the sink. The dishes were untouched and the cleaners left 30 mins early. I pay for 2 hours a week , 2 cleaners so 1 hour. Is washing some dishes and cleaning the sink really unacceptable?

You can't clean and mop the house before the cleaner comes then moan when she leaves early OP. Just do your own cleaning....issue resolved and no they don't do your dishes.

Even if the toilet looked clean and the floors recently vacuumed, the cleaner would still do those things.
Mine does dishes but I pay for enough hours that she has time. If you pay for bare minimum of time then the cleaner will need to crack on with main cleaning tasks like toilet and floor. She won't have time to also wash up.

Just talk to her about it. They are all a bit different.

Ok I will hire someone who will thanks for the advice.

Cleaners and housekeepers are different, in my experience. Our cleaner wouldn't get involved in tidying up, including doing the dishes. She does offer some housekeeping services and an ironing service but they are completely different to cleaning services. She said she has had to create the boundaries otherwise some clients treat her like a slave and as if she's there to do everything. She'd get into trouble if she didn't do those chores but also into trouble if she did them and something broke (she shouldn't have touched them!).

I've had good and bad cleaners AND worked as both a commercial and domestic cleaner and it's totally reasonable to wash a few dishes and do a bit extra if the place is already clean for whatever reason. Ask your cleaner if you're paying for a to do list or paying for their time. If you're paying for their time then find a new cleaner, they aren't worth the effort of micromanaging.

YANBU.

I get that they can't do "deeper cleans" normally, but if they had 50% of their time left I'd expect them to use it cleaning, whether that's the dishes, the fridge, the doors, the skirting, whatever!

Cleaning is cleaning. Time paid is time worked.

I work 9-5. If I finish my tasks at 1pm, I don't go home and put my feet up. I find more work to do, or I plan, or I use that time to help colleagues. Their work isn't my responsibility but equally I'm being paid to work.

I'd sack them. It's YOUR money, trust your instincts.

Went to bed thinking I was being unfair to my cleaner but having slept on it in my opinion it is like any other service I pay for

I say what I want and a price is agreed
If cleaner doesn’t want to eg do the dishes they should say so

My mind is blown at the concept that a cleaner wouldn’t clean a few dishes left on a bench.

It is literally their job. To leave the place clean.

Why is it OK to expect them to clean your loo, but not some dishes…..?

Not in the UK, and always do dishes before leaving the house, but I can’t imagine coming home to a house that had been cleaned by a cleaner, and seeing dirty dishes left on the bench.

Throw in that they left half an hour early, and … 🤯

This could probably be resolved with a quick chat or an email with a brief of what you want done. I'm sure if you listed your priorities they would go to the effort to get those bits done first. Cleaners aren't mind readers. They will have a standard checklist of what needs doing generally. Unless you've left some green toilet duck down the loo or something they will probably be none the wiser if the loo is clean or not and will just clean the loo as part of their checklist.

Ours does if we leave them but generally we clear everything like that up so she can actually do the cleaning rather than tidying and doing dishes etc

they shouldn’t have left 30 minutes early!!!
that’s outrageous. They should have asked hi what else needed doing or cleaned the windows or given the oven a quick clean etc.

I would get new cleaners op.
And yes mine definitely would do the dishes. It is still cleaning for heavens sake whether it is a dish or a floor, it’s irrelevant.

What about cups, glasses, or plates left in rooms, on bedside tables? Would they just be left or would they get washed up/taken and stacked in the dishwasher?

I think most people hiring cleaners these days actually want housekeepers so it should be made clear at the outset what the expectations are and make sure you are paying for adequate time to get all the work done

I don't know about those who are cleaners who charge more for doing dishes? In my opinion you have an hourly rate and you work for that hour. Washing dishes may not take any longer than mopping the floor but you may not have time to do both

I was told my one agency that they charge more for a deep clean as the girls have to work harder? Does that mean they don't work to their best when they are doing a general clean? In my opinion the deep clean should have taken longer and cost more due to it taking longer - not because the cleaner is working harder

@chopc could be a poor choice of words? In a sense, cleaners do work physically harder for a deep clean - moving furniture and fabrics which wouldn’t be moved / taken down or up, in an ordinary clean.

Agree that deep cleans will take longer and therefore be more expensive than a regular clean.

Maybe because the deep clean is harder or more unpleasant physical work, they need to pay more to attract people to do the work? In the same way that I'd expect to pay a labourer more to dig ditches than I would to mow the grass. They're still working at capacity for the task they're doing, but the incentive needs to be higher for the harder job.

I would discuss, when first employing cleaners, what you want them to do.

Mine does 🤷‍♀️ She's great! I don't ask her (or expect it) but she always washes anything in/near the sink. Although to be fair, I live alone and it's only ever my breakfast dishes.

I've just put out an ad for more housekeeper/cleaning and I've had lots of offers. Going to sift through and see who fits

Mine will do the dishes and the laundry if I ask them to.

Housekeeping rates I've just checked the average salary and it's around the same as a cleaner. There's no special rate for washing the dishes.

@Fifi00 you're being pedantic. There's a difference between a cleaner and a housekeeper. My cleaner charges £14/hour for cleaning, and up to £18/hour for housekeeping which involves tidying up, washing dishes / sorting dishwasher, laundry and ironing. Her quote would depend on the requirements of her client.
I ensure the house is tidy of clutter and washing up put away before she comes because I want her to maximise her time actually cleaning not tidying up after us.
Make sure your clear with your next cleaner about exactly the jobs you want doing so they can quote accordingly.
And if your cleaner is not doing something they ought to do, talk to them about it and reach an agreement!

There's no special housekeeping rate , I've made enquiries and I'm hiring someone who charges the same rate for housekeeping as cleaning.

I'd keep these cleaners or get new ones, but put together a list/rota of jobs that you would like doing once every 4 weeks or something.
So
Clean fridge
Skirting boards
Windows upstairs
Windows downstairs
Hoover under beds
And ask that one if these is done each week if/when they have done the usual clean

I used to clean offices and one of my first jobs of the day was to clear dirty cups etc from desks and put them in the dishwasher or wash them up

No, the buggers don't!

They didn't even sweep my chimney!

Call themselves cleaners 'shirkers' more like. 😡

I would have totally expected them to do the dishes given they left 30 minutes early.
of they finished early they should use their initiative to see what else could be cleaned.