[Pope vader]

how long do you give for new starters to learn how to use a pole,  had a lad working with me for about 3 weeks and he is useless,  had a couple of cancellations after he has done them, have had to redo a few,  he sorts of strokes the windows with the brush, misses webs,  seems to always find dog poo and says doesnt see it,  i just find him annoying,  i dont seem to get a lot more done with him in than when i am on my own,

my head is telling me to get rid,  what do you think

[Smudgeoff Cleaning Services]

Sounds like you should follow your head mate!
Tough but true, it's your business remember....

Daz

[pure clean2o]

Some people just not able to do physical work.
It's just not in them.
This jobs not hard to learn, dose not take three weeks
To learn the basic job.
Give him a waring let him know it's not working out if he don't buck up let him go

[SunShineCleaning]

I think it depends on how good the teacher is.

[Paul Coleman]

how long do you give for new starters to learn how to use a pole,  had a lad working with me for about 3 weeks and he is useless,  had a couple of cancellations after he has done them, have had to redo a few,  he sorts of strokes the windows with the brush, misses webs,  seems to always find dog poo and says doesnt see it,  i just find him annoying,  i dont seem to get a lot more done with him in than when i am on my own,

my head is telling me to get rid,  what do you think

How long was the trial period that you offered?  One month?  I think a month is reasonable to see if someone is going to shape up.  Some fine tuning of technique and speed will take longer but you can get a pretty good idea by a month.  Not that I've ever employed - just remembering that it took me a while to adjust when I switched methods.  Thinking back, I think a one month trial to get an initial impression followed by a further two months to fine tune.  If someone isn't getting it right at a decent pace by three months, it's unlikely that they ever will.  It sounds like your guy isn't going to get past the one month hurdle.  Sometimes you can see it sooner I guess.
I had to smile at ".....he sorts of strokes the windows with the brush, misses webs,  seems to always find dog poo and says doesnt see it........." .  When I read that I thought Wow.  The dogs around there can fly 

[Helen]

how long do you give for new starters to learn how to use a pole,  had a lad working with me for about 3 weeks and he is useless,  had a couple of cancellations after he has done them, have had to redo a few,  he sorts of strokes the windows with the brush, misses webs,  seems to always find dog poo and says doesnt see it,  i just find him annoying,  i dont seem to get a lot more done with him in than when i am on my own,

my head is telling me to get rid,  what do you think

Sounds like a need for re-training and 100% supervision for a while. 3 weeks is not long in any job to be 100% proficient. How much training and supervision did you originally give him?
Get him out working alongside you and check every window he does, point out (nicely) where he is going wrong and put him right. Get him to put wrong any mistakes, the best way to learn IMO.
I would have a chat with him and explain the situation, if he doesn't know then he can't do anything to change. Give him a timescale to improve and explain that , that is the standard you require at all times and if it is not met, then there will be disciplinary action as per the disciplinary section in his contract
You will soon find out if he is going to stick at it when you put this into action

[AS Window Cleaning]

hired staff are rarely going to work as efficiently or put in the same caring effort that you do, as its your business. I would judge it as much on their attitude, if they don't care and show no signs of initiative or at least trying harder I personally would get rid (in the nicest possible way!). if their attitude is in the right place I would give more concentrated training on where they are lacking.

[Pope vader]

going to give him this week if he is still annoying me getting rid,

[Smudgeoff Cleaning Services]

Very well said Andy...

Daz

[bobby p]

if his timekeeping and friendliness is okay ,id try and mould him . make sure you praise him when he does right and have a laugh at times too , could bring him round  and make him try harder

[Steve_c]

Your training?

[Pope vader]

possible,  but i dont think he is a full shilling,  as this isnt a hard job, 

[Pope vader]

UPDATE

i finished the guy up on friday, couldnt take any more,  i was getting angerier and angerier, the more time i spent with him,  this is over the week,  i was constantly telling him how to do the same things,  he was missing parts of the window off,  i would be shouting him and he couldnt hear me,  i had custy cancelling jobs on the windows he had done,  others where just complaining that they where still dirty,  i found my self ready to hit him, if i had to tell him again

i was coming home stressed after spening the day with him,  i found my self wanting to come home after 2 hours as he was getting me more annoyed

in the end i just thats it, your finished up

[AuRavelling79]

My chap is getting better and quicker. Now just over two months in. I've had one complaint from a custy who has white ali in hardwood. But he is polite to the custies who all love him.

I told him that I wanted a perfect job in month one and a faster perfect job in month two. He still works with me but I reckon his speed is getting him up to £130 a day on domestic when we seperate the trailer from the van where the work is compact.

I am confident that when he is cut loose in the van (I'll use the trailer with the car) that he will be doing £160 and that he'll be paid £100 of that in basic plus bonus.

By spring I want him capable of doing £200 on a domestic 8 hour day, earning himself  £120 and having a van for private use.

[Frankybadboy]

gold

come and give mine some training. : :

[Pope vader]

i wish this lad was half as good as your gold,  it got to the point that i had to stand nect to him to make sure he did it right,

[rah]

It's never nice having to let go of someone,I think you can tell within a week if they have the nowse to grasp something, if they have then allowing them the time is key.

Rob.

[bobby p]

its a pity your lad didnt work out,have you another lined up yet?  

nobodys perfect ,hell im not, ive learned to be as flexible as i can but not flexible with the standard of the clean. for example i have a problem understanding both of my current workers as one is South American (i thought he was saying "south AFRICAN " for the first 2 weeks) and my other lad talks as if a gobstopper is in his mouth
   No matter,theyre very good cleaners

[Pope vader]

i was getting complaints, and to he honest it looked like he hadnt cleaned them,  i got every brush out i had to let him find one that suited him,  as was saying didnt like brush,  i had trouble understanding him, as well,  i think he was a little bit deaf,  he talked like he was,  i just had enough in the end,

[PURER CLEAN]

if you want a job done right............ do it your self.