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Volume 26
July 2010
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| Greetings!
Welcome to the Clean Team Pro!
One of the toughest things about being the owner of
a small cleaning business is managing your employees -- particularly when one
of them is not working out as you had hoped and planned. Even with a thorough
interview, an in-depth background check and a comprehensive training process in
place, there are still times when an employee just doesn't turn out to be a
good fit for your cleaning company.
When that happens, you are faced with a very
unenviable choice: Continuing to invest in this individual or replacing them as
soon as possible? If you have been in this position before, you know how tricky
the decision can be. Our feature article includes five questions you should ask yourself
before making the decision to terminate an employee. I hope that it will help make one of the most difficult management decisions a little bit easier.
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Is it Time to Fire an Employee?
5 Questions to Ask Yourself First
As any owner of a small cleaning company knows, hiring the right staff is as much a science as it is an art. It takes a tremendous amount of resources -- both time and capital -- to hire cleaners. Not to mention a decent measure of good fortune. Then we spend hours and dollars more training them to clean "our" way.
We obviously hire the people that we think have the best skills, experience and work ethic to suit our company. But sometimes, even if we do our homework, we make mistakes in our selection.
When you reach the conclusion that your employee is not well suited to your company, you need to ask yourself: Do I keep investing my time, money and resources into training and improving the skills of this individual? Or will my company be better served by finding a replacement right now? In order to answer this question, there are a number of underlying issues you will need to address.
1) How difficult is this person to replace?
Recruitment is a huge investment, so before you fire your present employee, ask yourself if you are willing and able to do the work to find a replacement.
2) If I fire this individual today, will I have coverage for his or her houses until I find a replacement?
You may think this person has to go right now, but how will the rest of your business function one-man (or one-woman) down? Will you be able to keep up with your house load? What sacrifices will you have to make to ensure that your team is adequately staffed (for example, having to fill in, while continuing your full-time job of running the business)?
3) Is there another role this person can play more effectively within the company?
Before you engage in termination, ask yourself: Is this person perhaps right for my company, but wrong in this job? It might be as simple as switching him or her from bathrooms to kitchens, or flipping the schedule around to assign the problematic employee to a more experienced team leader.
4) Will firing this person open you or your company up to legal consequences?
It's an unfortunate reality that in our litigious society, we must always ask ourselves whether termination might open us up to a lawsuit. Fear shouldn't rule your business, but don't make the decision to terminate without fully considering all the consequences.
5) Have you given this person sufficient time to find their groove?
Cleaners may not get it the first time. They might not even get it the 15th time. But with sufficient direction and demonstration, most of them will eventually get it. If you have taught and re-taught, but this person is undermining your company's productivity or morale, then the time has come to contend with his or her termination.
Have you struggled with whether or not to lay off an employee? How did you make your decision? Send me your story to jeff@thecleanteam.com. I'd love to hear from you!
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Reader Mailbox
Letters from Our Readers
 I love hearing from our readers, especially when it's to share how a story in one of our newsletters impacted their business. Last month, we focused on the importance of websites in advertising our businesses and branding our company identity. Here's one of the reactions we received in response to that piece:
I absolutely agree with you [about the importance of having a website], I wasted nearly 5 years not
having one. I dare not even try to work out how much this has cost me in the
long run. It's generated me a lot of revenue even in a few
months. Also I think they are great at getting people to give you their
email addresses and permission to email them discounts and offers. My request a
quote form that visitors can leave a few basic details on hardly ever
gets anyone saying no to wanting to hear about discounts and special offers.
Then you can keep selling and reminding them about you. :)
I think the next big thing is going to be social networking however. Although I
personally can't stand facebook, I think this could be a big part of our future
along with some of the other networking sites.
- Luke Horner of Magic Maid in the UK.
Jeff's response: Thanks, Luke! I'm glad to hear it's going well for you. And your comment about social networking may just inspire another newsletter article. Stay tuned....
Do you have a question, suggestion or idea to share with me and our readers? Please send me your emails to jeff@thecleanteam.com. I love to receive your mail! |
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Thanks for reading us this month! Come visit us on the web at www.thecleanteampro.com.
Sincerely,
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Jeff Campbell
The Clean Team Catalog |
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