[Helen]

hi helen,

as for an attendence bonus if they turn up!!!  do you mean if they have days off for sick, and i guess arrive on time, or do you mean unauthorised leave, meaning not coming into work without an acceptable reason?  if its the latter i just cant accept it and have to sack em!  :

Days off sick = no sick pay and no attendance bonus
Lateness,unless it went over 15 minutes without a call we were lenient on this as long as it did not happen too often. Once a month for a good worker is not a problem. Anything over 15 minutes and no phone call the vans left without them....... if they then turned up it was up to them whether they go to the van under their own steam and had a reduced days wage, with reduce attendance bonus or did not work at all that day (obviously no pay whatsoever
Not in for no reason? Unfortunately you cannot sack them on the first time for that, you have to go through the proper disciplinary of verbals and written warnings etc etc.
Most of the no turn ups were on Mondays or Fridays (what a surprise....not) so the attendance pay was based on a daily basis.
Thank god we don't employ anymore

[geefree]

Helen, you went from employing , what seems like a fair few staff, ... to none?

[Helen]

Helen, you went from employing , what seems like a fair few staff, ... to none?

Yip......built up where we wanted to be with it,  got class work, got class areas and got class prices. As staff left, we didn't replace them and did the work ourselves. Once all the staff had gone we sold it as a business rather than just a "round".
We made what we wanted to make on it, otherwise we wouldn't have sold it.
Window cleaning was only part of our cleaning services and we realised that the ever increasing time spent with the hassle of staff on windows could be spent more profitably on the other areas of the business.
We employ for evening cleaning and that's it now.
The rest we do ourselves, carpet & upholstery cleaning, leather restoration and flood restoration work.
Now we have happy easy days and evenings, no sleepless nights, no endless battles with awkward staff, no mad rush on a Monday morning when someone does not turn in, no custies phoning saying "it wasn't very good this time",no damage to equipment or vans, no employers national insurance to pay on top of wages etc etc etc.............
Would I go back to employing on window cleaning.......never

The best thing of how we do it.......
we can sack each other or ourselves if we want and know that the next day we will still be there to complete the work

[George P]

helen - have you thought about subbing window cleaning work out instead of employing,

[Helen]

helen - have you thought about subbing window cleaning work out instead of employing,

George, have you read my last post properly....lol  

I certainly wouldn't sub out the window cleaning work now as there is none or very little left

In the past we had subbed out and had problems with standards not being up to ours and being let down at the last moment, so not a lot different from "proper" employing

[bobby p]

TO HELEN - How long did it take, in years, till you were sick to death of employing window cleaners?     did any take you to a tribunal over the years ?

[George P]

sorry not read properly,

[Helen]

TO HELEN - How long did it take, in years, till you were sick to death of employing window cleaners?     did any take you to a tribunal over the years ?

We employed for about 8 years give or take a month or two, no none took us to a tribunal as we did things correctly.  If we were unsure we spoke to Acas for advise before acting.
If the last person we were to employ had not let us down 15 minutes before he was due to start (yes first day), by saying he had changed his mind.......... : we may have been still employing now as we did have some good people along the way. This last one made us sit down and re-think what we were doing, what IT was doing to us and where did we want to go from there........the rest is in the other post

[Helen]

sorry not read properly,

 

[H S and Son]

I know Helen and her other half pretty well I think. We've exchanged work over the years and compared notes as to the state of our businesses, the economy and this forum. If anyone is unsure about employing I think that Helen has always approached this side of things in a very professional manner. There's plenty that could be learnt from her experience.


Have fun at Sherfield Park on Thursday doing the carpets Helen I'm doing the windows inside and out there Friday morning. You should have charged more btw ;0).

[Helen]

I know Helen and her other half pretty well I think. We've exchanged work over the years and compared notes as to the state of our businesses, the economy and this forum. If anyone is unsure about employing I think that Helen has always approached this side of things in a very professional manner. There's plenty that could be learnt from her experience.


Have fun at Sherfield Park on Thursday doing the carpets Helen I'm doing the windows inside and out there Friday morning. You should have charged more btw ;0).

Thanks Matt, I'm sure we did get loads wrong along the way, but always learnt from that.
Will make sure I put loads of finger prints on the insides for you Thanks for the lead though.

Believe you may be doing some charity work later this year, keep us informed and we'll donate

[H S and Son]

Yes yes, the two of us are doing a charity ride though Rajahstan in December. 

[Helen]

Ok, no extra finger prints for you, didn't have time as next door left a note on the van saying can you come in and do my carpets aswell......
Have left overshoes for your muckie boots, not on our clean carpets you don't.
Custie said your feet would be too big for them, so left you 2 pairs