How to get good staff?

[Pjj]

The post is 2 years old

Lol sorry only saw your post after I had replied to it ???

 

[D. W. S]

Lol sorry only saw your post after I had replied to it ???

Yep but the one i sent isn't.. ?

 

[wee man]

Yep but the one i sent isn't.. ?

You haven't even said where you are,  I'm in N.ireland and I know a bloke looking a job can you give him one? Lol 

 

[scottish cleaning service]

If you pay well then you will get good motivated staff who will want to stick with you. fwiw

 

[Iron Giant]

I'm looking for 2 experienced window cleaners with at least 2 yrs experience.. Hours 8 till 3.30 

£13 a hour Monday to Thursday 

Create a post in the classifieds section otherwise they won't get seen. 

 

[P4dstar]

Started reading this, wondered who let the riffraff back in, then I realised it’s from 2 years ago ???

 

[Omega]

Just looking through and thought to add my 2 pence.

you may disagree or agree but it’s just my view

Make Recruitment a Small Challenge. I’ve recruited many times in my window cleaning business and I’m extremely particular with cleaning standards. I found that more lately I make people apply on indeed, they have to take assessments on there and then they may get invited to an interview. I brief them on our company and what it’s about and then ask a set of questions. They also have to complete a 45min questionnaire. Last recruitment out of 50 applicants, I interviewed a total of 6 and trial day for 2.

by adding some hoops I found that you get the more committed folks coming through.

we grade everyone fairly based on attitude, location, attention to detail and how good they listened to precise instruction. For example. If they drive they should email through their number plate first for parking enforcement reasons. You’ll be surprised how many don’t. They are perhaps more likely to miss a window.

once employed we have clearly defined stages of development which they should progress through and they know in black and white what is expected. They are issued a training manual that talks them through a lot of the process so we can standardise things as much as reasonably possible given the work. You can then assess in a non biased way. If they do not do x or y then they are not following the written instruction. Cleaning under every sill for example. You will be surprised how many simply just don’t listen or cannot keep to what an instruction is.

From there keep an expected time of when someone should achieve a certain level. For us it’s around 3-4 months to have them on their own in a van as I want to be 100% our clients will get virtually faultless service.
 

In many cases I have employed and people have just never clicked after 6-8 weeks and I have explained it’s perhaps not for them as a lot of the job requires initiative which is harder to teach.

each time I Will objectively criticise myself and how we can recruit and train better and it constantly improves and we notice this incremental improvement all the time.

in summary I think employing for window cleaning is harder than I’ve ever employed before and I’ve employed loads. In a shop staff are supervised really. Window cleaners are left and without clear controls standards slip. I think you just need to do it and keep refining. Think of failures as a chance to make an improvement.

one other point is I now have quality control checks to keep up on standards and I’m extremely demanding.

re pay. I don’t think you have to pay huge amounts. Ultimately it all comes down to the employee and what value they add. Just because someone can clean 300 in a day does not entitle them to earn 100 or 150. Utter ********. The ability for your business to clean said revenue is a result and pay off from a lot of your investment of time and effort. It’s easy to do the final service delivery part and think you’re entitled. It doesn’t work like that. Not many people are willing to take a risk or work months without a day of to build something but want to be paid like so.

we keep a fair pay structure which starts low for training. Increases when they actually add revenue from being capable. They move up again when working alone. When working alone and show signs that they can actually lead others and are not always needing questions answered etc they go up again. Because they are more valuable and using less of my time.

finally, everyone who works with me I always explain that they can actually earn as much as they want and I openly teach anyone with me whatever about business and leadership.

i always encourage them to develop them self through learning and setting clear goals. As we are establishing to move out towards nationwide coverage all my small team have the opportunity to own a piece of the pie but providing they are good enough and that is one them to work hard on themselves.

so for pay we give them more value than just the money aspect.

one thing one my team said to a new guy just a few months ago was that he liked that he is always pushed to achieve more in work and for himself through reading and learning. He had mentioned he never had that sort of push anywhere else and it must keep him stimulated.

thats my view. Perhaps it will help or provide an insight. I still find managing employees tough but with each week we are always improving and I think that’s the key. 

 

[D. W. S]

Just looking through and thought to add my 2 pence.

you may disagree or agree but it’s just my view

Make Recruitment a Small Challenge. I’ve recruited many times in my window cleaning business and I’m extremely particular with cleaning standards. I found that more lately I make people apply on indeed, they have to take assessments on there and then they may get invited to an interview. I brief them on our company and what it’s about and then ask a set of questions. They also have to complete a 45min questionnaire. Last recruitment out of 50 applicants, I interviewed a total of 6 and trial day for 2.

by adding some hoops I found that you get the more committed folks coming through.

we grade everyone fairly based on attitude, location, attention to detail and how good they listened to precise instruction. For example. If they drive they should email through their number plate first for parking enforcement reasons. You’ll be surprised how many don’t. They are perhaps more likely to miss a window.

once employed we have clearly defined stages of development which they should progress through and they know in black and white what is expected. They are issued a training manual that talks them through a lot of the process so we can standardise things as much as reasonably possible given the work. You can then assess in a non biased way. If they do not do x or y then they are not following the written instruction. Cleaning under every sill for example. You will be surprised how many simply just don’t listen or cannot keep to what an instruction is.

From there keep an expected time of when someone should achieve a certain level. For us it’s around 3-4 months to have them on their own in a van as I want to be 100% our clients will get virtually faultless service.
 

In many cases I have employed and people have just never clicked after 6-8 weeks and I have explained it’s perhaps not for them as a lot of the job requires initiative which is harder to teach.

each time I Will objectively criticise myself and how we can recruit and train better and it constantly improves and we notice this incremental improvement all the time.

in summary I think employing for window cleaning is harder than I’ve ever employed before and I’ve employed loads. In a shop staff are supervised really. Window cleaners are left and without clear controls standards slip. I think you just need to do it and keep refining. Think of failures as a chance to make an improvement.

one other point is I now have quality control checks to keep up on standards and I’m extremely demanding.

re pay. I don’t think you have to pay huge amounts. Ultimately it all comes down to the employee and what value they add. Just because someone can clean 300 in a day does not entitle them to earn 100 or 150. Utter ********. The ability for your business to clean said revenue is a result and pay off from a lot of your investment of time and effort. It’s easy to do the final service delivery part and think you’re entitled. It doesn’t work like that. Not many people are willing to take a risk or work months without a day of to build something but want to be paid like so.

we keep a fair pay structure which starts low for training. Increases when they actually add revenue from being capable. They move up again when working alone. When working alone and show signs that they can actually lead others and are not always needing questions answered etc they go up again. Because they are more valuable and using less of my time.

finally, everyone who works with me I always explain that they can actually earn as much as they want and I openly teach anyone with me whatever about business and leadership.

i always encourage them to develop them self through learning and setting clear goals. As we are establishing to move out towards nationwide coverage all my small team have the opportunity to own a piece of the pie but providing they are good enough and that is one them to work hard on themselves.

so for pay we give them more value than just the money aspect.

one thing one my team said to a new guy just a few months ago was that he liked that he is always pushed to achieve more in work and for himself through reading and learning. He had mentioned he never had that sort of push anywhere else and it must keep him stimulated.

thats my view. Perhaps it will help or provide an insight. I still find managing employees tough but with each week we are always improving and I think that’s the key. 

Great response to my post, thank you, i have had employee's and i have done most of this in your post, high standards of service and so on they are ok for 3-4 months then they just start under achieving as you will probably no.. Very hard indeed to find the right person as trust is a big part in this field.. Thanks again 

 

[Cleanco]

Started reading this, wondered who let the riffraff back in, then I realised it’s from 2 years ago ???

Riff raff? 

 

[Part Timer]

Just looking through and thought to add my 2 pence.

you may disagree or agree but it’s just my view

Make Recruitment a Small Challenge. I’ve recruited many times in my window cleaning business and I’m extremely particular with cleaning standards. I found that more lately I make people apply on indeed, they have to take assessments on there and then they may get invited to an interview. I brief them on our company and what it’s about and then ask a set of questions. They also have to complete a 45min questionnaire. Last recruitment out of 50 applicants, I interviewed a total of 6 and trial day for 2.

by adding some hoops I found that you get the more committed folks coming through.

we grade everyone fairly based on attitude, location, attention to detail and how good they listened to precise instruction. For example. If they drive they should email through their number plate first for parking enforcement reasons. You’ll be surprised how many don’t. They are perhaps more likely to miss a window.

once employed we have clearly defined stages of development which they should progress through and they know in black and white what is expected. They are issued a training manual that talks them through a lot of the process so we can standardise things as much as reasonably possible given the work. You can then assess in a non biased way. If they do not do x or y then they are not following the written instruction. Cleaning under every sill for example. You will be surprised how many simply just don’t listen or cannot keep to what an instruction is.

From there keep an expected time of when someone should achieve a certain level. For us it’s around 3-4 months to have them on their own in a van as I want to be 100% our clients will get virtually faultless service.
 

In many cases I have employed and people have just never clicked after 6-8 weeks and I have explained it’s perhaps not for them as a lot of the job requires initiative which is harder to teach.

each time I Will objectively criticise myself and how we can recruit and train better and it constantly improves and we notice this incremental improvement all the time.

in summary I think employing for window cleaning is harder than I’ve ever employed before and I’ve employed loads. In a shop staff are supervised really. Window cleaners are left and without clear controls standards slip. I think you just need to do it and keep refining. Think of failures as a chance to make an improvement.

one other point is I now have quality control checks to keep up on standards and I’m extremely demanding.

re pay. I don’t think you have to pay huge amounts. Ultimately it all comes down to the employee and what value they add. Just because someone can clean 300 in a day does not entitle them to earn 100 or 150. Utter ********. The ability for your business to clean said revenue is a result and pay off from a lot of your investment of time and effort. It’s easy to do the final service delivery part and think you’re entitled. It doesn’t work like that. Not many people are willing to take a risk or work months without a day of to build something but want to be paid like so.

we keep a fair pay structure which starts low for training. Increases when they actually add revenue from being capable. They move up again when working alone. When working alone and show signs that they can actually lead others and are not always needing questions answered etc they go up again. Because they are more valuable and using less of my time.

finally, everyone who works with me I always explain that they can actually earn as much as they want and I openly teach anyone with me whatever about business and leadership.

i always encourage them to develop them self through learning and setting clear goals. As we are establishing to move out towards nationwide coverage all my small team have the opportunity to own a piece of the pie but providing they are good enough and that is one them to work hard on themselves.

so for pay we give them more value than just the money aspect.

one thing one my team said to a new guy just a few months ago was that he liked that he is always pushed to achieve more in work and for himself through reading and learning. He had mentioned he never had that sort of push anywhere else and it must keep him stimulated.

thats my view. Perhaps it will help or provide an insight. I still find managing employees tough but with each week we are always improving and I think that’s the key. 

Very interesting read and obviously this method has taken you many years to get it to this stage. The thing that I get out of this is to get good staff you have to incentivise them and that is done through your wage structure, embolding them and I assume the "opportunity to own a piece of the pie" is some sort of share incentive scheme?

 

[D. W. S]

Very interesting read and obviously this method has taken you many years to get it to this stage. The thing that I get out of this is to get good staff you have to incentivise them and that is done through your wage structure, embolding them and I assume the "opportunity to own a piece of the pie" is some sort of share incentive scheme?

Yep done all of that had 2 guys for 10 yrs now they think taxi driving is the anwser,, ? offered them part time work aswell.. I was paying £100 a day for the both as was very experienced then they decide to leave me right in the _ _ _T.. But i will survive ?

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Very interesting read and obviously this method has taken you many years to get it to this stage. The thing that I get out of this is to get good staff you have to incentivise them and that is done through your wage structure, embolding them and I assume the "opportunity to own a piece of the pie" is some sort of share incentive scheme?

Aye, I have been watching a TV Program called War Factories. Its really interesting regarding human behaviour when employing folk. Germany and Russia took over factories and forced people to work for the same weekly wage no matter how hard they worked. All that happened was productivity fell 90% and they also sabotaged their work to get back at their employers. The USA and UK used a different method by offering their employees incentives to work harder and longer hours with extra money in their weekly wage and productivity went through the roof. That's the main reason we won the war, we had much more reliable equipment and a happier work force. Forced labour never works and leads to a negative work force, history tells us this. It still continues to happen when a leader forces their will and that's why RBS went down and the boss runs off with a big pension. ?

 

[Part Timer]

Yep done all of that had 2 guys for 10 yrs now they think taxi driving is the anwser,, ? offered them part time work aswell.. I was paying £100 a day for the both as was very experienced then they decide to leave me right in the _ _ _T.. But i will survive ?

Personally have no interest in employing, I've been there and did that many years ago when workers rights were no where near where they are now. Wouldn't fancy having to pay a man to take paternity leave.

All I'm trying to do is build a business with very good long term contracts at the highest hourly rate I can get. When I get to circa £180k then semi retire to let my son and a another, probably someone to join the partnership, to do all the running around and me to do all the paperwork side of the business.

 

[D. W. S]

Personally have no interest in employing, I've been there and did that many years ago when workers rights were no where near where they are now. Wouldn't fancy having to pay a man to take paternity leave.

All I'm trying to do is build a business with very good long term contracts at the highest hourly rate I can get. When I get to circa £180k then semi retire to let my son and a another, probably someone to join the partnership, to do all the running around and me to do all the paperwork side of the business.

Good on you, but you can only do so much by yourself and if i could I certainly wouldn't be interested in employing any one myself.. 

 

[Part Timer]

Good on you, but you can only do so much by yourself and if i could I certainly wouldn't be interested in employing any one myself.. 

I started doing this on my own 5 years ago, the business was started over 9 years ago. I was virtually taking any job I could get at the start as I always felt I was better earning some money rather than sitting on my @rse. In the first 3 years I trebled the turnover I inherited and then started the refining and turning marginal work down.

When my turnover got to £50k I fetched my son back on board, Corona has slightly slowed me up but turnover this year will be circa £80k and if I get the contract I'm currently negotiating it will double, at least, my turnover again. At no time have I ever contemplated taking on work that would mean I needed employees.  

We're all different and hopefully everyone reaches their own goals. We won't all have the same goals and we won't achieve them the same way. 

 

[D. W. S]

I started doing this on my own 5 years ago, the business was started over 9 years ago. I was virtually taking any job I could get at the start as I always felt I was better earning some money rather than sitting on my @rse. In the first 3 years I trebled the turnover I inherited and then started the refining and turning marginal work down.

When my turnover got to £50k I fetched my son back on board, Corona has slightly slowed me up but turnover this year will be circa £80k and if I get the contract I'm currently negotiating it will double, at least, my turnover again. At no time have I ever contemplated taking on work that would mean I needed employees.  

We're all different and hopefully everyone reaches their own goals. We won't all have the same goals and we won't achieve them the same way. 

Well said total respect, but i never said no and just continue to build ive even off loaded the bad payers and awkward houses but still continue to grow, even put the prices up above average but again the growth just continues.. Im where you want to be which is great.. But also frustrating.. 

 

[Part Timer]

Well said total respect, but i never said no and just continue to build ive even off loaded the bad payers and awkward houses but still continue to grow, even put the prices up above average but again the growth just continues.. Im where you want to be which is great.. But also frustrating.. 

On a side note, many moons ago my family business was bought by a company in Congleton and I had to travel down there every Friday. Don't know if that's anywhere near you.

 

[Omega]

Very interesting read and obviously this method has taken you many years to get it to this stage. The thing that I get out of this is to get good staff you have to incentivise them and that is done through your wage structure, embolding them and I assume the "opportunity to own a piece of the pie" is some sort of share incentive scheme?

The incentive is one thing but more importantly I really seek out people with the right attitude which is like mine.

i don’t sweat the small stuff too much. Don’t mind paying for a member of the team to be off 2 weeks paternity to spend time with a baby as opposed to them getting pence from the gov. You tend to get more in loyalty although that’s not the intent.
 

i want people who have a courteous attitude that all clients like and have a positive attitude to work and will go the extra mile.

in the brief I deliver I state that we are more about seeking ways to go the extra mile for our clients as opposed to being window cleaners.

as a result I honestly stand by that my small team would happily change into any other service because it’s our ethos which is at the core. Window cleaning is just the what we do. The why is that we aim to change the perceptions and exceed expectations our tradespeople.

simon sinek talks about this approach and I used to stand by it from my previous career and it’s just as applicable in Window Cleaning as it it for corporate and retail.

 

[Part Timer]

But do you actually think you'd find people with the right attitude if you didn't give the right incentive. Chicken and the egg scenario I suppose.

Personally still wouldn't employ, if my area had a need for window cleaners, currently the trad guys charge £7 for 3 bed semis, I would look at the franchise route rather than have the stress of employment 

 

[steve garwood]

But do you actually think you'd find people with the right attitude if you didn't give the right incentive. Chicken and the egg scenario I suppose.

Personally still wouldn't employ, if my area had a need for window cleaners, currently the trad guys charge £7 for 3 bed semis, I would look at the franchise route rather than have the stress of employment 

See you’ve been posting all Sunday afternoon. Missed another good session. 
@Denis right, you’re not a proper drinker ??

 

[Part Timer]

See you’ve been posting all Sunday afternoon. Missed another good session. 
@Denis right, you’re not a proper drinker ??

Out at 4, currently drinking Vodka and Coke in the house after a 12 pint session. Any time you fancy a try big boy, let me know ?