Interesting thread, on one hand we have those who believe that Vix has been poorly treated, the other, people who believe she has brought this all on herself!
Lets start at the beginning, Vix, has never been given a contract of employment, by either of her companies, this is not only morally wrong, but also illegal, it is the law that each employee is issued such a contract within 13 weeks of starting their employment, it is considered best practice to issue the contract of employment after the employee has accepted your written offer of employment.
Regarding Vix poaching clients, be they domestic or commercial, this again is morally wrong, but not illegal, unless specifically, forbidden in your contract of employment, which, remember she has not been issued with.
Now, of course there are two sides to every story, but we only have Vix's side of things, so lets just take her at her word, both her present and previous employer seems to have treated her very poorly, but from their side of things, could it not be, just poor management? Both companies, could have held the opinion, that Vix, needed little if any supervision, because she is a crackerjack cleaner, who gets on well with the clients, and does the job right! If this is indeed the case, then, more fool them, for not realising that ALL STAFF require encouragement and rewarding, perhaps in Vix's case promotion and better wages along with more responsibility, if the companies concerned have failed to recognise talent and hard work then tough, the industry can do without them.
Others have mentioned the importance of doing things the right way, this I wholeheartedly agree with, just because you are self employed, does not mean you should be exempt from H & S legislation or indeed any other regualations, so get this sorted, yes its going to cost money, but failing to do this, puts you in exactly the same league as your previous employers, so if you go ahead with out this, you really wouldnt be any better than them.
In response to newbrooms post, you got very defensive over how you have come to know the exact amount billed by your present employer to one of his clients, the sum of £59:00 was mentioned, you seem to believe that this is all profit and way too much considering that you do all the work!
Well once you become self employed, you will of course realise, that the £59:00 has to cover insurance/admin/training/tax/VAT/chemicals/equipment/consumables etc, etc, of course, it maybe that your present employer doesnt pay any of this, and indeed the entire amount is all profit, but it is only a matter of time before he gets caught out.
I can only guess that you have come by this figure after talking to your present employers client, this in my opinion, should set alarm bells ringing, after all if your client discusses such matters with a companies cleaners it does point to a less than professional attitude in that persons dealings, as has been pointed out by others, it also means that the same thing could happen to you somewhere down the line.
Cleaning, is a business worth billions of pounds per year, it should be treated as such by those engaged in serving clients, and indeed by the clients themselves, long gone are cash in hand and little old ladies pushing a vacuum around, however most clients and indeed most involved in serving those clients needs do not have a clue how to actually clean a building correctly, you only have to look at the number of posts on here crying out for help when things have gone wrong.
My final piece of advice would be to visit the following people or organisations before you start trading:
Bank
Accountant
Tech College
Business Link
Chamber Of Commerce
Health & Safety Office
Tax Office
VAT Office
Commercial Solicitor
All the above will keep you on the right track, and help ensure that you dont become just like your present employers, they will also increase your chances of actually making a living from this industry, after all, no one in any other industry would give you a job without any knowledge of that particular industry, cleaning is no different, it is, after all, a business.
Regards,
Rob
