General Cleaning Issues - Floorcare, car valeting, buying and selling businesses, pricing, staffing, market research, etc.

Male or Female Staff?
Posted by Fox (Fox), 21 December 2003
Just been on a thread in window cleaning about female window cleaners.
My workforce is about 50/50 but I do find that some clients feel that males can not clean as well as females! (what a load of tosh!) Huh
Do any of you guys (or gals - lets not be prejudiced here!) find the same problem?

Posted by dave (dave), 21 December 2003
Hi Fox

ITS  A WOMAN THING! -  An eye for detail which men don't have, well thats what my wife keeps telling me.

A man will clean and do a good job, a woman will come along with a duster,flash it over quicker than a wink and tell you that its a finished job.

When we go to visit prospective domestic cleaning jobs, my wife looks at all of those and I do the Estate & Letting agents. This we believe stops the domestic client feel threatened by an over anxious man trying to get the order like a double glazing salesman, whereas the estate & letting agents are prepared for this.

It works well for us!

Well, I've been told I can go know, so long as I take all the sharp objects out of my pocket.

Regards Dave
Posted by thecaretakers.net (thecaretakers.net), 21 December 2003
I can't speak for household cleaning, but I can in a school environment, although I will probably get shot at dawn for saying this...

Most of my cleaning staff are men. This is by pure coincidence and no long term plan of mine. School cleaning can be heavy soul destroying work on a daily basis. Many women find the hours inconvenient as they have other commitments and it's just that it tends to be men who apply for vacant positions.

Men seem to be more able and suited to tuck themselves into the heavy work. Men seem more happy working on their own initiative and don't mind how much perspiration they produce or how badly they smell at the end of a day. Men generally tend to look at their work as a career where as women tend to look at it as a bit of extra money for holidays and luxury's.

Men tend to have more understanding of how things work and how to solve problems on their own. For example, if a vacuum cleaner hose blocks, a man will pull it apart, poke things down it to release the blockage and probably clean out the filters and give the vac a service while they have got it apart. Women tend to shout for help and expect a man to come to their rescue! Roll Eyes

Please, please don't misunderstand me. I have no-bias in reality. Women make great cleaners as well and I agree are often better at spotting things that men can't. Men do tend to miss things. At the end of the day, I'm sure all men and women have their strengths and weaknesses and it's probably a sign of a good boss who can use his staff to benefit from the strengths.

I'm keeping well away from the subject of who moan the most as I'm sure men will loose out big time Grin Grin


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