To sack cleaner for leaving early …

[Confused19831983]

My cleaner is paid £20 per hour for two hours a week. I tip her £100 at Xmas.
She has been cleaning for me for about four years.
I recently installed a ring doorbell due to the theft of a car on my street.
I can now see that she leaves 20 to 25 mins early every week.
If I happen to be in the house during the clean she stays for the allotted time.
I am largely happy with her clean though there is definitely more she could be doing. I live in a medium sized house.
First world problem, I know, but AIBU to say something?
I would never have known if I hadn’t installed the ring doorbell.
I thought I had a good relationship with her, and it feels like a bit of a betrayal.

That’s what I do pretty much. When the actual standards started to slip I did raise it - like the OP I am friends with my cleaner so I used that to start the convo and we were able to work it out

If the agreement is "two hours work" and she's working 1 hour 40 min,shes "stealing time". If she thinks the job is "do this then this then that, and when it's done, it's done" then she feels that by finishing early, who cares, the job is done.
She will likely be finishing early as she has the "knack" of your place.

It's tricky, after a few years, to have to follow up with expectations but the expectation is two hours work. There's ALWAYS something else that can be done to fill the time.

There's also dragging your heels and slowing down so same amount of work fills the two hours. She may do this, if questioned.

If you're happy with your arrangement, feel secure with her, feel the job is good, then leave it. Otherwise she may spend more time or do more cleaning but you also may be breaking in a new cleaner....

A few other posters here have nailed it, and I agree. With Christmas quickly approaching, and realistically you may have more visitors and footfall, you could use this as a great excuse to give her a list of "extra" jobs that you'd like to get done - things like cleaning the fridge, kitchen blinds, bathroom shelves etc. Say something like "if you get time in the two hours, if really appreciate it if you could get these bits done too, as we are having guests" or similar.

If she does them all, and you're happy with the quality of her house cleaning, then that's one thing, but if she says she ran out of time or couldn't fit it all in and she's STILL leaving early then that's when you have the difficult conversation, as she can't justify leaving early when there is still work to be done.

I had a cleaner.. it felt good.
Then I said something she didn't like so she ditched me.
Best thing ever...I don't need my house as clean as it was and im enjoying the extra cash I now have lol

Im a cleaner, and if I finish early, I adjust the charge or say I owe some time etc. Speak to her properly.

No just ask her to do more have a set list or something

If she does it great

If she's done everything what shes supposed to a good standard then no I'd absolutely not sack her. If her work was not to standard or incomplete then yes I would.

Relax, you say the cleaning is good. Give the girl a break, its only a few minutes. Jeez!

I would sack her because it is very obvious that she knows she is doing something wrong. Why is she accepting £20 per hour, when she knows she’s there for much less? I’m certain if you asked for 30 min of extra stuff to be done she would be very quick to charge you for that.
seriously she is taking advantage of you and she knows it

25mins is a few minutes for you?

Absolutely!

i would sack her, yes. Because the trust has been broken - she is clearly cutting corners when you are not around (not that she’s super efficient all the time).
so she then will cut corners somewhere where you won’t see (eg do a shoddy cleaning job).
I wouldn’t trust someone like that in my home.

whats the point of talking to her? She clearly KNOWS she is doing something wrong because she’s only doing it when you are not around.

It’s nearly 25% of the time, hardly a few minutes!

She knows it’s not acceptable as she stays for the allotted time when you are home. Two options:
stay for the agreed hours and complete additional tasks
or reduce time and pay to 1 hour 30.

I guess there is an unknown variable around speed of work. Is she working super fast and leaving early when you are not there? Ie getting the same amount done as the full 2 hours ‘normal speed’ work when you are there? I’d be ok with this as long as the standard was the same. Or does she just do less?

Obviously no one is supervising every corner and every second of her jobs, so she might do something but not as good as necessary and it might not be immediately noticeable

I've never understood this mindset. I always wrote a clear list of the tasks and explained the expected standard, and if the cleaner could do those tasks quicker than the estimated time, good for her! But, if I noticed that the standard wasn't up to par, I communicated (with pics if needed) and since I paid well, the issues never recurred. Always worked well for both parties. To me it's the same as keeping people in an office longer than needed - doesn't necessarily make people more productive just because they're present! All that matters is whether the job is getting done well or not.

Then she could just sit on her phone for the 20mins.....You would also be non the wiser and paying her for work she isn't doing.
So a list of extras to work through is probably the best approach

I can’t see how the timings matter as long as the cleaning is good, some people are fitter/more experienced than others so time doesn’t really matter in cleaning as long as the agreed work is done.

If she’s missed an area though, that’s different, let her know in a friendly manner to make sure to get to it next time as you do like that area done.

I definitely wouldn’t annoy a good cleaner by timing them, as they are thin on the ground plus they are running a business, they aren’t employees.

Allocate some extra tasks and be indirect. Wrap it up in a compliment. Doesn't even need to be subtle.

When you give her her bonus say something like "You do such a lovely job year round. I'm so lucky to have someone i trust! My friend, her cleaner was leaving early each week and she only found out after getting a Ring doorbell! She fired her, which is such a shame but i wiuld do the same. You need trust in these relationships. Weve got a Ring doorbell now and im so pleased i can trust you and we won't have these problems."

You think that's indirect? It's about as subtle as a brick and do you really think the cleaner won't realise what you're saying. Don't be so patronising.

There are plenty of 10 minute tasks to do in my house which would make things look nicer, eg polish the kitchen window. But if you are paying for certain jobs to done and she finishes early to a good standard, leaving early is fine.

Gosh- talk about passive aggressive!

Two hours isn’t long to clean a medium sized house. But I agree with pp just be direct on wanting full two hours if it means sacking otherwise.

And here we are again.

Lots of PPs who say “you are paying your cleaner for 2 hours, she should work for 2 hours!!”

But I’m willing to bet that a lot of those PPs are people who WFH and are paid for (e.g.) 39 hours a week, but think nothing of taking a little time here and there to do the school run, pop some washing on, do home admin, finish a bit early “because I’ve done all I needed to today” etc.

Double standards.