[Pristine Clean]

OK ive always wondered how you deal with this.

You have an employee thats the cleaner.

The employee has the office keys where they are cleaning.

You want the keys back, lets say they fail to give you the keys. You need to sack them. What do you do to get the keys back except strangle them! :

Key insurance probably would not cover this.

Your thoughts appreciated. Not that this has happened but would like to know as I am sure one day it will

Dave

[suffolkclean]

Get a copy of the keys before you give them to the cleaner

[holmesclean]

Only problem with copying the keys is that the cleaner still has a set of keys that he/she may use to enter the building and possibly cause damage should you sack them and they leave on unfavourable terms.
However if building has an alarm system coded the code should be changed.
Regards

Tom

[Len Gribble]

Tell them a white lie like going into clean the carpets (done this on many occasions) don’t forget to get the pass code if there is one.

Len

[Pristine Clean]

Well its nice to know that there is not actually much you can do.

As for copies no copies dont work! We have many keys that are security keys and they cannot be cut at your local key cutting shop.

Dave

[shelton]

If you are operating a keyholding service for your customers, either commerical or domestic, you should be keeping them in a secure location at your registered premises and only releasing them when they are to be used.

If I was providing a copy of my keys, I'd certainly want to know where they were held and who had access to them.  Not sure I'd tolerate having them being carried around in someone's bag or pocket day after day.

In my book, your staff should collect and return the keys.

Have you thought about your position if your employee lost a key and customer wanted to change the locks?  You may well be liable for this.

[Pristine Clean]

Shelton,

I agree with you here. However I do not know of any cleaning company that will get an employee to return the key before and after every clean.

The office maywell be know where near the client, Plus the cleaning is done out of office hours. So how is a cleaner meant to access the sites.


Come on think about it. Every key job that there is, even years ago when I worked for a company as a cleaner, I would hold the keys not return each each day with the keys back to the office.

It just cant be done.

Dave

[shelton]

We have a letterbox on our premises and make sure the employee knows of their responsibility to return the key(s) after the job.  We add 1/2 hour to any job that is outside a certain area to cover their time returning the key.  For evening work, they pick up direct frm us.  Maybe we're lucky (or well organised  ) to emply staff that are local to our office.  It just lets us, truthfully & confidently, inform our customers that letting us have a key is as risk free as we can make it.

The last thing one of our cleaners wants is the police asking about a burglary and they are stood there with the keys in their handbag!

I can understand the geographic problems other face, but I'd rather be safe and a few quid worse off, than sorry and be paying out for new locks or losing a customer.

[trevor perry]

just refuse to give them their last weeks pay untill the keys are returned.

[Scotbrite]

Hi,
Trevor, i don't think employment law would look to kindly on you withholding pay from any one BUT what i would do is write a clause into there contract of employment that if they were required to be a keyholder and did not return them at end of employment then a replacement "fine" would apply, say £30, i don't think to many cleaners would want to lose this money,
Regards,
Ron

[Gilbert Sprous]

I have run into the situation only once and asked the cleaner to return them immediately.  The keys were returned so no problem.  All the offices that I get the keys from relaise that the cleaner that I employ for that office, wether it is me or someone else, is the key holder for that office.  I do not have my employees return keys after every visit.  Some cleans are nightly and if I add a 1/2 hour a night, that would come to almost 70 pounds a month the client would be paying just to have keys dropped off at the office.  I have lost and unrecovered key insurance as part of my insurance policy.  It will cover me up to 10,000 for any thing that would come from key and lock replacement.  You may think that is quite a bit but considering that some of the sites have key fob alarms and so forth, I thought the added insurance was a good bet and it did not cost much.

Cheers

[Fox]

Same as most on here we have many sets of keys out with cleaners.  When we start a contract we always ask for two sets of keys/fobs.  This allows the contract manager to check site when convienient and cover when the cleaner is off without running around after keys.

If I have to dismiss a key holder it will either be face to face in the office where I would then take the keys immediately or out on site where the same would happen.  I have had a guy work for a couple of months who was a key holder and then disappear with the keys, I called and wrote and visited but to no avail, he just seemed to disappear, my lucky break was that the company had fired someone that very week and changed all of their locks so they never knew! 

I think if a cleaner refuses to give keys back you have to inform the client and you should threaten legal action as they are holding property which doesn't belong to them.  All in all most people are pretty decent and wouldn't do this but you must try to put in as many procedures as poss to stop it happening in the first place.

Fox

[Ralph Smith]

I had this on few occasions. Cleaner would not return the keys following dismissal, I have told cleaner that I will inform the client, locks would be changed at his cost (cleaner) and it would be deducted from final pay.

It really works, keys have always been returned within hours.