An Interview With One of My Amazing Cleaning Techs

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Introduction

Hello everyone, welcome or welcome back to the Filthy Rich Cleaners podcast. I’m your host, Stephanie from Serene Clean, and this lovely guest sitting next to me is my cleaning technician, Ashley. She has worked for me for four years now, and I am here up in Wisconsin visiting, and I thought I would take the opportunity to sit down and have a conversation with you, with one of my very best cleaning techs, and go through the history of her working here and just the evolution of the company from her perspective and her experience as a really excellent staff member. So Ashley, thank you for doing this, agreeing to this, and then holding you hostage or anything, to say yes to this, but thank you for sitting with me.

Ashley: You’re welcome. How flattering. That’s quite the reaction.

Stephanie: You’re just amazing. So Ashley, I would love for us to go back to the beginning and talk about even just applying to Serene Clean four years ago. What were you doing then? What attracted you to applying and what we’ll go from there? So what were you doing prior to working for us?

The Healthcare Background

Ashley: Prior to Serene Clean, I worked in healthcare for 14 years, which is a very long time. COVID came around, and the world kind of went crazy. It was difficult times for everybody, not just in healthcare, but also everybody at home. And at the same time, my father was also going through his own cancer journey, and it was difficult to try work life balance with COVID healthcare, all the rules and regulations, and then I couldn’t visit my father at home because of having to socially isolate from people. So I was looking for an alternative option, something I could do on the PM shift later at night, while still being able to care for my dad at home.

Stephanie: Because you were working full time for them, right?

Ashley: Yeah.

The Persistent Application Process

Stephanie: And so you had applied, actually, at that time, we had had a QC position available. We had attempted this years ago, for our commercial accounts in the evenings in Black River Falls here. And that’s what Ashley actually applied for. And we ended up hiring somebody else for that. And truly, it was in our – I was just talking to Crystal about this, my HR manager, and we’re like, we remember saying to each other, why we weren’t hiring Ashley or offering her a job. She’s way too overqualified. She lives, what, half an hour, 40 minutes away, and we’re like, why would she drive to Black River Falls for an hour of work? We were disqualifying her because we’re like, no way is this gonna be good enough for her, and you just kept pestering us.

Ashley: I was just telling Crystal that it took almost two months before I was very tenacious. Every Friday I would call and be like, hey, is there an opening? Are you guys hiring? Are you ready to bring me on? I’m ready to go anytime.

Stephanie: And we’re like, Why? Why did you keep doing that? What attracted you that you would pursue us in that way? Because usually it’s totally the other way around, right?

First Impressions Matter

Ashley: So I can say, when I walked in for the interview, it was a group interview, and there was that sign.

Stephanie: That was in our office, yeah, the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in acts of service, I believe, or in the service of others. That was a lettering in our old office. We really need to get that in this new office too. So that gave you a good impression.

Ashley: It did. I was like, this is where I want to work. Look how flexible they are with their family. And I don’t remember if it was dogs or kids, but dogs were there for sure. Kids might have been there. And I was like, oh my gosh, this is the best work environment. I only stepped in there for less than an hour, and I just could feel the ambience. It was awesome. It was like, I want to be a part of this. I love to experience this. And, PS, I really love to clean.

Company Culture From Day One

Stephanie: I love that you bring that up of you could feel our culture from the moment you stepped into our environment. And obviously, a lot of you guys listening, you don’t have offices yet, but even when you do get a small little shoe box or whatever it is you can afford in the beginning, do anything that you want to it that really showcases who you are as a company or what you want to embody. Because obviously one of our core values is family first. And as Ashley can attest, we do embody that, we live that. And so literally, the first instance that they walk in, we want them to feel – it’s not that we’re even have to really try. It just is right. There could be dogs, there’s kids, stuff on the walls. It just is all showcasing who we are as a company. What did you think of the group interview? Because we didn’t tell you it was a group interview. So what did you think of that?

Ashley: It was quite interesting. First time ever. I’ve never had a group interview, so it was a new experience, and it was different. You were really chop chop to the point, and this person asked this person this question, another question.

Stephanie: Yeah, done. Efficient. Really, for us, it’s that filtration process and also to take you by surprise, because one of your skills and the skills of all of our staff that really excel is being able to adapt and roll with punches quickly. And because, as we know, things go crazy out there in the field. Things are never happening just perfectly as planned. And you need to be able to adjust very quickly, even when it comes to schedule changes and things like that. So if somebody really hates being, I wouldn’t say bamboozled, but walking into an environment maybe that they didn’t expect, and being able to hold it together, that is one of the things. But truly, the group interview was just so we don’t waste a bunch of time on people we don’t want to talk to, or that don’t show up. Just showing up is half the battle. But yeah, so we hired for that QC position, somebody who lived in Black River Falls. And then finally we’re like, well, you know, we’re hiring for cleaning techs, but again, you know, we’re so skeptical of why would this professional person want to clean? Because at that point we were still very new. That was four years ago. We were only two years old at the time. So, yeah, we had an office. We had kind of this flow going, but compared to now, it feels so infantile in a lot of ways.

Early Training Experiences

Stephanie: So you started out at what, 20 hours a week? Maybe, I think so, something like that, doing residential and commercial. You’ve always been a hybrid cleaner, right?

Ashley: Correct.

Stephanie: And so do you recall what the training process was like? Because I certainly don’t. It probably wasn’t a process at all, truly. Do you remember what that was like?

Ashley: Oh yeah, I do. I remember showing up for cleans and being with you. We didn’t have Hannah as the main trainer. So we didn’t have that back then. It just went with whoever the cleaner was. So it was a different person every day. And gosh, I want to say I was in training for two weeks. I don’t believe it was every day, maybe three times a week, new cleans with somebody every day. And then after the end of the two weeks, I did Warren’s place myself. I think I can figure out all these different people telling you how to do different things and trying to figure out what is the best way and what is the end goal, even though their processes are a little bit different. So I’m pretty good at taking information in and figuring out what the end goal is, not necessarily the process. I don’t get quite too hung up on the process. But when I got to Warren’s at the end, I’m doing the cleaning, and then April showed up to do QC totally by surprise. I wasn’t emotionally ready to even handle all of the stuff.

Stephanie: We just saw what you’ve always been so open to feedback, and honestly, I don’t even know if you’ve ever gotten a complaint, have you?

Ashley: Yeah.

Stephanie: Okay, well, I don’t recall them. There clearly weren’t that bad, very minor.

Life Changes and Flexibility

Stephanie: So, yeah, over the time your hours and needs have shifted, I believe, a little, but it’s always been around that it’s always been part time, right?

Ashley: Yeah.

Stephanie: So, yeah, tell me, I guess from starting out first couple of years, how has your life changed in that time, personally, because you have gone through a lot of life stuff, and I guess from an employer’s perspective, what have we done for you in order to accommodate those things?

Ashley: So being coming from the professional workforce and being a professional person, then really, I switched into the caregiver role, and I’m still in the caregiver role, and it just happens as the baby boomers are aging, and us people that are in our middle of our life here in our 40s, 30s and 40s, we’re becoming caretakers for our parents as well, and I also have young children in school, so this works fantastic for me to be able to pick my hours and work this more PM. You have different shifts available, and they’re not eight hours. I don’t have to commit to an eight hour shift. It’s kind of nice that you have a little smaller shifts on the PM so I can work and then still do all my family things and days off. So during the day, I can run mom to doctor appointments or run kid to whatever appointments that he needs, or myself even.

Working Weekends by Choice

Stephanie: Because you work, I mean, every weekend, or would you say most weekends, which is by choice. That’s what Ashley wants and what makes sense for her family and caretaking responsibilities. But when Ashley says being able to work shorter shifts, that’s kind of how we come at this. We, when we’re interviewing people, we ask them, well, what works for them? Instead of saying your schedule is going to be eight to four, it’s like, well, what can you consistently work? And as long as it’s, we can get an appointment in, a typical appointment, then that works for us. Or on the weekends, you may just have an Airbnb to go do, and then that’s it, right? We just don’t feel that you’re open to a certain amount, and we can fill up to that amount, but we don’t have to, and that’s for us as the company. It’s really attractive to have people who are open to part time. I’ve always been a fan of part time part timers, and I think people think that that makes you less serious about your job. Do you feel any less serious about that?

Ashley: It was actually very attractive coming from the professional setting, when they dictate your hours are eight to 4:30. This is your expectations, and you’re expected to be there 15 minutes before you punch in and 15 minutes after you punch out. And so then, for even Serene Clean, saying, what hours can you work, or what hours will work into your schedule? It’s totally opposite. One like, oh my god, talk about flexibility, and you live by that. It’s not just a model that you say you’re going to do. They really do do it. In the four years I’ve been here, have never overextended the scheduling for me. What if I say I’m going to be done at whatever, 7:30 at eight o’clock at night, I don’t want to be home. I have a little bit of drive too late. You’ve never, ever extended them and been like, oh, someone called in and we’re just going to assign you an extra two hours to 10pm.

Honoring Commitments to Staff

Stephanie: And that’s, I mean, you’ve always been very open to taking on things when you’re able to, but it’s always an ask and a request, but never a hey, you’re gonna get fired if you don’t do that or you just need to suck it up and do it. I just am so against that philosophy of managing people, because if we’re gonna say we’re flexible, and then when the brass tacks of it all comes down and we’re like, actually, screw your family and your life, that’s toxic. So it’s really just about honoring – if I just, I’d rather have somebody consistently for 20 hours a week for years, than burning them out. And truly looking at our team, almost all of them are parents, and almost all of them need that flexibility. And if I can get them consistently, it just makes a lot of sense.

Funny Cleaning Stories

Stephanie: And speaking of the work, obviously you said you love to clean, but let’s talk about some of the cleaning stories. I think that that would be really fun. I’d love for you to share the pantalones one, the panties, if you’d be willing to because a couple of weeks ago, in our Monday morning team meeting, we were sharing all of the funniest things that you found cleaning, and a lot of those I am not able to share on this podcast, even though it’s very uncensored, it’s still I can’t say certain words or phrases, but we can share yours. I think that that’s PG enough. So do tell about the vacation rental, Ashley.

Ashley: Right. So cleaning the Airbnb vacation rental on a Sunday afternoon, and I don’t get to see the people, but it’s always kind of fun to see who the guest was. You can kind of tell the personality of the guest by the items that they leave behind. As a good cleaner, I always check underneath the beds, because that’s a lesson you learn. You miss underneath the bed one time and the next time. So okay, check underneath the beds and in the master bedroom were a pair of panties, quite large red panties, and a bottle of nail polish.

Stephanie: Matching nail polish very important in the seduction game.

Ashley: The funniest thing I ever had. I laughed hysterically.

Stephanie: Did you throw them away? Or what did you do?

Ashley: I believe so. I think I texted and asked what to do with lost items. I believe they said throw them away.

Stephanie: It’s awesome. That’s a good one. It’s always fun. And honestly, I just, I think that those are sometimes a little awkward or whatever. But looking back, those are the funniest stories, to me is when things go wrong, things go awry, and obviously I’ve shared a lot of those on the podcast, of things going very off kilter.

Heartwarming Client Connections

Stephanie: Do you have any that really stand out as heartwarming or touching to you? Because obviously you do residential and commercial, your commercial accounts love you. They’ll buy you vacuums. They give you gas cards. They love you.

Ashley: Stocking hands, coffee cups, shirts from their business logos as well. That’s pretty fun. Some of my favorite ones, of course, I really love my elderly people. So a couple of the elderly people that I – Norm was one of them, and he would always leave me a note, and when I would come to clean his house, he would visit for a few minutes, and then he’d leave to go have lunch. And on my birthday, he left me a little card with an extra tip, and it was like, happy birthday. And I kept those. That’s the cutest thing ever to be able to – and when Jeannie was no longer if she fell and wasn’t able to stay in her home, and she moved to the assisted living and the daughter sent the message to you, Serene Clean, to please let me know that she would love it if I would come and visit her at the assisted living facility. That’s so cute. So that’s very heartwarming to me. So yes, it’s cleaning and it’s providing a service, but it’s also getting to know people and gaining their trust and loyalty. So you’re providing a variety of services in addition to cleaning.

The Heart Behind the Work

Stephanie: Yeah, it is a very sensitive thing and a very vulnerable thing, to have some people in your house. And I think that you obviously have the heart and soul for it already. It just comes very naturally to you. And that’s something that, honestly, we’ve had people come in as staff members, and they just don’t have that heart. And I would say a lot of times maybe they’d be more suited for commercial because I think from a residential standpoint, you do have to care. It can’t, I know at the end of the day, it is just a job. But at the same time, if you’re going to excel and really enjoy your work, to be able to take that meaning out of it. And honestly, I feel like that’s something I really try to almost emphasize or agitate, of I feel like that’s one of our core tenants, is sharing feedback, or talking about the meaning behind our work, that it’s not just cleaning. And hopefully that comes off to you guys, of we want to talk about we’re changing people’s lives. We’re helping them. It is so much more than cleaning because I know for me, if I’m having a shit tastic day, but I know that my work is positively affecting people, that can really help. I mean, have you ever had any discouraging cleans where you’re like, fuck this?

Ashley: I don’t think so. I walk into any situation, there could be literally shit all over the place. I’m like, alright, I’m gonna make this place amazing for you.

Embodying Core Values

Stephanie: I know, and you’re definitely – but again, core value, quality for us, is positive and grateful attitude. And so it’s just you align so heavily. And then finally, the integrity aspect of it. So I know I talk about core values so much, and so does every person in the cleaning industry, I feel like, or any company, really, but that’s because it’s the embodiment of our core values here, matching. And then that so successfully aligns for long term success, and really not having to correct or train. And obviously, we have changed and evolved a lot as a company since you’ve been here, in pretty much every single area. I mean, did anything really stand out for you that you’re like, oh shit, they’re getting their shit together, over the years there, or where it’s just did it ever come across to you that we were feeling chaotic in the office?

Ashley: No, you guys didn’t really – I’m part time as well during the day. I worked the PM shift, so when I did come in, no, everyone seemed – I was a little confused myself as I don’t know who to go to for what. In my mind, Crystal was pretty much my go to, and then April was payroll, I think in the beginning, right? So I don’t really do much with payroll, so I go to Crystal, but then there’s other girls. I’m like, okay, now the division of labor has…

Organizational Evolution

Stephanie: Yeah, honestly, but that’s highlighting we didn’t necessarily have any type of structure of who does what, and that’s something that I discussed with Crystal and her podcast recording, was that was a big kind of shift for us. Was saying, okay, this is your job. This is your job. And we don’t touch each other’s work, because it just kind of muddies the water. And obviously she’s head of HR. And also, for you guys, it is very – you naturally already kind of go towards her for anything, because it’s like, that’s what it means. But if it’s a schedule thing, you could go to any of the others because, so it just kind of highlighted that. What about I’m curious, one of the things that we’ve struggled with as managers is setting those boundaries, because we’re so, I guess, accommodating. Have, especially in the past year, I feel like we’ve really cracked down and kind of put a lot more out and the expectations have really risen. Have you felt that?

Ashley: At all the expectations, just for everything.

Stephanie: For behavior, cleaning, communication, we really, I feel like kind of cracked down on that, but you’ve already been kind of perfect. So it probably doesn’t feel like that. Some of my other staff maybe have felt it more.

Professional Communication Standards

Ashley: Yeah, I am. Well, I think coming from the professional, the healthcare field was so highly regulated, the notifications I do. If I’m going to message a manager on the weekend, I try to be respectful and do it not at eight, 9:10pm, at nighttime. Do it while I’m working in that afternoon, one to four shift, close it maybe 10 to five or so when so to try and be respectful. That’s – I have noticed you’ve been a little more strict on that. And also the what’s our Slack? Slack. You can time the messages. Love it. Yeah, huge amount, because I may be thinking of something at 10 o’clock at night. I’m not going to – and so many times I would also open up my Facebook Messenger. I would start typing it at 10 o’clock. So it’s still be sitting there as a draft, to remind myself in the morning. But now with the slack feature, I guess that’s really changed as well, just the way that we communicate with the slack having so many different options, pictures and stuff.

Ashley: That’s when we really very nice and even doing the Zoom meetings versus doing the Facebook, that way. So it’s the evolution. Going back to your other questions about the holy shit, you guys got your stuff together – when we had that orientation, the big orientation, everybody attended. That’s, that was my ah-ha moment. That was my first, oh, my God. This is an actual all staff training and the hierarchy, we were talking about the division of labor, we had papers and it had the division of who’s doing what in the office, and all of their contact numbers. I was like, she’s getting fancy.

Company Growth and Professionalism

Stephanie: Yeah. It’s still, I mean, we’re six years old now, but coming from nothing. And luckily, as we’ve added on different office staff, and even just you guys in general, coming from a professional background, that’s a nice thing, because I just feel like it kind of elevates the whole company, because to act like a proper company, because there are certain things, obviously, that we want to completely be different than other types of workplaces. But at the end of the day, it is an organization that needs to behave in a professional manner. So that means a lot of documentation and trainings and things like that. And so you mentioned, the all staff training, where we kind of really set the bar, and some confusion. And as we’ve evolved, a lot of things have changed. So different people have gotten different training, different messaging and wires crossed on things like that. So it’s you were trained this way, you were trained this way. We just need to, across the board, say this is how it needs to be. And that’s obviously the beauty of the team meetings too. Is we talk about different challenges that come up. And honestly, for me, I think especially, obviously, me living remotely and you’re never in person for the team meetings, and for you guys listening, this is why I’m such a fan of consistent team meetings. And I just don’t think once a month would cut it. Especially we’re going over complaints, we’re going over positive feedback. We’re going over reviews from last week, tips from last week. Just sharing a lot of metrics. I don’t know, obviously, I’ve really tried to change that over time and increase what we’re sharing with you guys. Does that seem to matter? Do you think to share those types of numbers?

Transparency and Team Success

Ashley: I do. I really enjoy the transparency, for sure, because I’ve worked for other entities where it’s really ambiguous. You don’t know if your job is making a difference and what I’m doing. How is that affecting the bottom line? Are we doing well? But so by you sharing this, and this is how much you guys have been contributed to your retirement. That’s super exciting. It’s exciting and look how many tips we’ve earned. Oh my gosh, we’re doing great, rather than not ever sharing that anybody’s getting any tips. So it’s like, oh, it’s not, it’s the whole team is doing well. It’s not just I’m doing well, but all my fellow employees are doing well, and I’m proud of their work as well, not just my work, but I’m really happy for everyone.

Stephanie: And because it is really interesting industry when it comes to the fact that at the end of the day, you guys are – it reminds me of cross country. I ran cross country. It reminds me of cross country, of we are individually running our race, but to win as a team, every single person matters, because it’s a point system. And so I kind of see it that way, of well, how many appointments did we have? How much tips, how many complaints? Okay, we’re going on five weeks of zero complaints when you’re talking about dozens of people. That’s pretty freaking impressive that every single day you guys are showing up and killing it, and so really just trying to highlight that. And then when we do talk about complaints I mean, I said, you probably rarely have had them, but we just anonymously say this is the complaint that came in, and we just talked about how to hopefully prevent that in the future. Or if anybody has had a challenging situation, we kind of just talk about it. So, yeah, I would say very candid transparency is the goal. Sometimes I struggle with not over sharing. Obviously, of even if we have a difficult customer, well, I kind of see that as a positive, because if we have a situation that the office staff have had to deal with, I want to share that with you guys, because then it’s not all butterflies and roses for them. They have to deal with a lot of bullshit too, just like you guys do. And obviously they all came from being cleaners first. How does that make you feel? Has that ever been in your mind at all? Because that is important to me. Or do you think it would? Do you think you would give a shit if they hadn’t been cleaners?

Leadership That Gets It

Ashley: No, I do appreciate that very much. So last week, when Crystal was working – she picked up a couple of nights, quite a few – she was busting her ass in the office during the day, and then she’s cleaning the nights. Props for her. And she’s still a family a professional woman as well. It’s like, wow, I give her a lot of credit. I’m thankful that your leader is willing to get down in the ditches and get dirty with you. That is important.

Stephanie: Yeah, yeah. And again, we’re really touching on a lot of cultural things. And I’m happy to hear from your perspective that you notice it, and it’s not necessarily for it to be obviously, overtly recognized, but we’re having a conversation right now about it. I’m highlighting is tell us how good we are. What do you think of it? But all of these things are concerted efforts. Some of them just are byproducts. But it’s all of this is when we’re talking about a holistic company culture, these things are important. And so when I said coming back to the team meetings, it’s yes, every single Monday morning we have shifted all of the appointments so that it can accommodate as many team members as possible joining either in person or virtually, which most – I would say half of us are joining virtually, obviously, me and Savannah, and you from your home, but just having that touch point, because half the meeting isn’t about work at all, right, it’s just us going around, we do a weekly question and talk about something we’re excited or grateful for. And you sharing your son had prom this weekend. And sharing these photos and things like that. And I just am such a fan of getting to know each other. I feel like we really know each other because of that. And it’s not just work because, yeah, you want to enjoy your coworkers.

Work Family Dynamics

Ashley: Work family. You guys really are my work family. So you said, the cross country of being so independent, I kind of did feel like that when I first started, maybe four years ago. That was on my own little private island for sure. I’m working this commercial account, because I know no complaints. Yeah, just no man’s land, of well, Ashley’s good. And especially, you were getting accounts far out in Melrose too. So we really didn’t have the capacity to QC very much. So, yeah, I was no news is good news.

Stephanie: And not being able to see other employees as well. I mean, see the office when I would come in and supplies and whatnot, but not having that camaraderie with fellow employees, the word family, what Matt just said about it was his birthday. So I went down to visit him and brought him and brought in chocolate chip cookies on his birthday, because I remember training him about a year ago, and I have not seen him in such a long time. I saw his birthday was coming up, so I messaged him, and I was like, hey, birthday boy, I haven’t seen you in a long time. He said he was gonna be there. So yeah.

Ashley: This lady, she literally cooked homemade chocolate chip cookies for a co worker and surprised him with them. What the hell? Just amazing. And honestly, this is the craftiest person. She has custom made me a handmade apron, because she’s a very skilled – I guess, how I would describe it, if any of us ever need alterations, we just go to Ashley. You have wood burned me a custom spoon with SpongeBob into it. Because, as we all know, I love SpongeBob. My whole staff knows that I do. So I get a lot of SpongeBob related gifts so that literally, is in the back of all my videos. If you guys see that spoon in the background at my normal office, that’s from Ashley. So, yeah, it’s very special to me. You’re very thoughtful. I would say you’re very thoughtful person. So it’s just, it really has evolved. But I think we had a lot of good basis, and it’s just getting a lot of great key players kind of early on of, I mean, you’ve seen a lot of, obviously, a lot of turnover over the years. Has that ever made you feel any certain way, or has it been just that’s just – I’m curious what the perspective is on turnover from a co worker standpoint.

Dealing with Staff Turnover

Ashley: When I first started four years ago, it seemed like every week, it felt like there was a new person, new face. Every weekend, it was like, okay, I’m training somebody, and then am I gonna see them next week? Are they gonna be hanging around? It’s like, I’m always friendly to everybody. It’s like, I don’t want to get too invested here.

Stephanie: Did you obviously, this is something that we’ve added is added that survey for trainers, because we’ve gotten burned by people training and then never saying anything because you guys don’t want to be snitches, right? And you feel like you’re tattle tailing, which is a great thing, you don’t want to be going to the boss about everything. I get that. But something that we realized was that was happening so much so that experiences that you may have been having that wasn’t getting back to us, and then they were getting released to clean, and then we realized this person sucks, or wow, there was red flags, and we didn’t see it because we weren’t the ones training that, meaning the management team. And so now we have surveys after every single training day for both the trainee and the trainer, asking how it went, and if there was anything – so looking back to when you did train, what would you say now that you know, with the hindsight of knowing that these people are no longer here, was there any red flags that you feel like – for you? What makes – from your perspective? What makes a good cleaner when you’re training them? Is there anything that you’re like? Oh yeah, they’re gonna be good.

Training Insights and Red Flags

Ashley: Oh, for sure. I could specifically think personally I trained and trying to – I’m also, I’m really big on the personality colors, so you kind of got to gauge who you’re working with, to know how to communicate with them, to relay what’s important and figure out what’s important to them, and then try and figure out how to make what you think is important important to them, if that makes sense. So there’s a person I was asking, I don’t know what kind of personality you do, do you organize things. And the person said to me, I have all my spices alphabetized in my cabinet at home.

Stephanie: And you’re like, this is a good one. He’s gonna be great.

Ashley: That’s a good question. Actually, that’s a really good question. We should ask that during interviews. I feel like – tell me about your spice cabinet.

Stephanie: You had me beat. I don’t even have mine organized. Wow, that’s good. Any red flags that you’re like this person is not gonna work?

Ashley: There was a couple. There was a couple ones. There was a couple gals that just had so much other things going on that they weren’t quite picking up as well and maybe missing some of the – I’m a very much a detailed person. The corners have to be good there. No, don’t leave sand in the corners. Don’t leave cobwebs in the corner. So if they’re missing some of that stuff initially, the first time, obviously okay you’re new, but the third time…

Training Challenges and Solutions

Stephanie: Where they’re not retaining information or learning, yeah, that’s really frustrating. And that’s for me, I hate training because I just hate repeating myself. So it’s very frustrating when somebody – and to me, cleaning is second nature. I don’t need to be trained. Obviously, nobody trained me. I figured it out. So why can’t you just know this? And so that’s obviously a terrible mindset that is not the mindset of one a trainer, of frustration over somebody, not just having all my knowledge into their brain, of how to clean. So obviously we’ve paired people with folks who we think are good teachers and who are patient and kind and all of the important things and that don’t get easily frustrated. And in the beginning, we were, until Hannah had her position, we were assigning them to active clients homes or appointments, where it’s you’re expected to get the appointment done and train. And that’s kind of chaotic, if it is all we could do at the time. And so that’s one of the improvements that have been made, is they’re training in control homes. This is not a paying customer’s house. It’s the managers’ homes, so that they can take the time without feeling that franticness of I got to be on time. I’ve got appointments to get to today, and that’s just really stressful. So, yeah, things have definitely evolved specifically in training.

Quality Control Evolution

Stephanie: So what about quality control? Obviously, that in the past year has been ramped up insanely so. You’ve probably gotten QC’d I don’t know how many times probably in the past year. I mean, I don’t know, just because, yeah, so, I mean, what do you think that – how does that make you feel?

Ashley: It’s good. It keeps me on my toes. Yeah, much anyways. But when Hannah did point out maybe one thing, one of the places I was like, oh, I never thought of that. I started here for years before you – well, and honestly, back in the day, we were having you guys QC each other, really, again, up until Hannah’s position. So that’s been only less than a year that she’s the QC. But you guys were QC-ing each other. Did you think QC on other people? Right? Well, talk about that. What, how did you feel doing that, providing feedback in general. What do you think of that philosophy of having each other quality check?

Ashley: I felt like yesterday, when Janine and I were at the library, we still did that. We split the library in half, and we met in the middle, and then afterwards, I’m like, okay, we should quality check each other, because it’s just ingrained. I think that’s still the way we are.

Stephanie: Yes, absolutely. So at the end of the day, if you’re on a team cleaning, you check each other’s work, doesn’t matter how long you’ve been here, that is philosophy, because it’s fresh eyes. And we all can miss something. And so for us, one of our biggest red flags is if somebody can’t take constructive criticism, and if they get really defensive about it, and obviously, if you feel that it’s incorrect feedback, that’s one thing, but it’s if you just immediately argue, or some have just been like, don’t put me on that account, because they got a complaint, a legit complaint, and it’s just that’s not the right – you don’t just to say and get to say that, well, just don’t send me there anymore, because it’s well, we’re all human.

Ashley: We make mistakes. We’re not robots. We have families and we have other things. We lock our keys in our car on our way to work, perhaps even today, hypothetically, one could do that, right?

Managing Remote Leadership

Stephanie: Ashley, in case you can’t tell, that is what happened today. A case of the Mondays today, to quote Office Space. But yeah, so, I mean, yeah, we all make mistakes, and I think that just highlighting that we never try to really shame anybody. It’s more so a problem solving of, listen, this is the name of the game, and if you can’t handle it, this is not going to be a good workspace for you. So, yeah, it’s just been ever evolving. And every single kind of section of the business has changed a lot since you’ve been here, and even just me moving away. I talked about this with Crystal, what did you think of that, from an employee standpoint, of was it what the fuck kind of – what happened to Stephanie? Just gone?

Ashley: You were so involved there every day when I – and then all of a sudden, boom, you’re gone. Change is hard. I lost my Stephanie. Now, since the virtual with the zoom and we can see you. It’s like, oh yeah, it doesn’t feel any different, right? I’ve noticed that you’re not here.

Stephanie: And honestly, I probably wouldn’t even be working in the office anyway, because I’m the biggest distraction in the office, and nobody else gets any work done. So even if I lived here, I don’t think I would work, because I have so many meetings doing stuff. So yeah, just a lot of things have changed.

ZenMaid From the Employee Perspective

Stephanie: And one thing I wanted to highlight, obviously, because our this is brought to us by ZenMaid. So from an employee perspective, we’ve had ZenMaid since day one in the business. What? What do you – when we started training you and stuff and just you getting used to ZenMaid? What was your perception of that from a cleaning standpoint, and making your job easier, making your day easier. What did you think about using that software?

Ashley: Oh, I really like it. I think it was amazing. I really like that the addresses are in there, and you can tap the address and it brings up your Google Maps, because I’m a woman, and sorry, and I can’t find places very well sometimes. So that is amazing. I’ve really noticed the evolution of the notes. ZenMaid, in the beginning four years ago, I was like, I’m really not sure – we did have, we had checklist, right, but not nearly as robust now. So I’m like, okay, this is what in the ZenMaid, this is what it says to do. No news is good news, everything. But as the years have evolved, the checklists have evolved, and ZenMaid notes are very specific. And even today, it was so nice this morning, I’m like, okay, only have to do the bathroom and the floors rather than walking into the place and be like, oh, I have to clean this whole house in two hours. Are you kidding me? No, right there specific.

Stephanie: So it’s just nice to have exactly what you need to do, when you need to do it, kind of thing. And obviously, I’m very proud of the SOS feature, because it was our stories that kind of helped inspire the need for that. Obviously, none of us have had to use it yet. It is cool. Just all of the evolutions and rapid changes and improvements, and there’s going to be a lot more even, just stay tuned, even they’re going to be adding in the next hopefully couple of weeks, the in your guys’s appointment list views that you can see where you need to get keys from, instead of having to click into the appointments. It’ll just be you need keys for these accounts, we realize. So yeah, so yes, a lot of our stories are inspiring change. ZenMaid so it’s gonna make the software even better. But yeah, I was always curious to ask, from a cleaning tech perspective, what you thought of utilizing that, and if it made you feel like we had our shit together more, Did it seem like, wow.

Ashley: It did. It was because your address wasn’t there, where you need to go, the time is in there, and it was pretty robust. I am a detailed person, so I really enjoy the evolution of the notes being more detailed now versus what they were four years ago.

Information and Preparation

Stephanie: And that’s just been obviously informed just by mistakes and oh crap moments of well, the cleaner did – that was on us. And a lot of times it really is on us in the admin of you guys, in order to be successful in the field, need the proper information, and that’s why it’s not so much as just having the address and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. It’s what the heck. How do I get in? How many pets? Is there any rooms to leave off, even to the point of does it have a finished basement? Because we would miss basement sometimes, or get through a whole house and then open a door and be like, oh no, there’s a basement and it’s finished, and we’re supposed to clean it. And so we’re psychotic on our intake now of clients, in order to allow you guys to not be have the wool pulled over, or feel like not prepared, not prepared, the worst feeling in the world when you show up and you’re not prepared. So I walk in and I usually still, today was a new I haven’t been to this lady. She’s a serene clean client. I’m part time. I haven’t seen all of our clients. So I just wanted to say hello. I just want to verify that this is what I’m doing today.

Ashley: Good. Okay, and just in having that proper communication so super important. And obviously, you’re very professional and adaptable. So if we do throw you in, because you’ve never been – you haven’t ever done any quarters or anything, have you, I don’t think. Have you?

Ashley: Oh yeah, that hoarder. How was that? So we don’t typically do hoarder houses, so I’d love to talk about that, but because this was, I mean, I’m so – we kind of just gave you the rundown on this situation, and you just show up and what is the goal in that home? Because obviously, we’re not throwing anything away, right? Really? I mean, yeah, it’s just literally cleaning. But what’s it like there?

Handling Difficult Situations

Ashley: Yes, that was a really – the hoarder. Obviously, so many things in my mind, I’m the training. I’m like, oh, the checklist and all of these things that I think should get done. Obviously, you walk in and what’s important to them is not important to you, and it’s whatever is important to them. This situation, the sister was there and she was cleaning. She was like, oh, thank God. I just need someone to gather all of the dishes and wash dishes. So I was like, oh, perfect. Okay. And then I got all that done, and she’s like, oh, you’re done with all of the dishes. Well, it has been two hours, two hours of dishes. If you could do the bathroom, just the toilet, just get to the toilet. And, of course, I’m a promise low and deliver high kind of person, oh, I’ll see if I need to the toilet. Got the toilet and the tub done and the floor. And I was like, yeah, I’m rocking this.

Stephanie: And obviously, yeah, it’s just a delicate situation, because then we’re dealing with some mental health issues. And honestly, that is a very common occurrence, I would say, is we are dealing with the physical embodiment of mental health complications, whether that be depression, grief, overwhelm, and all of these other things that can lead to that. And I feel like we talked about that fairly often here, and are pretty trying to just have empathy for the client and what their needs are, because, yeah, I’m sure it can be kind of draining for you guys. I know for me, of that’s a lot of pressure.

Ashley: You gotta put it into a serene, clean environment. And that’s not happening.

Stephanie: I think that. I know we’ve had a couple of, even just the past weeks, where we’ve gone into that, and it’s been the embodiment of depression, basically, or postpartum, or whatever the person is dealing with. And our cleaning techs being like, oh my God. I can’t do what I want to do. And so how do you tackle that? Say you don’t have the direction of the sister. How do you go about being as successful as possible in a space like that where it’s a lot of shit, basically, stuff everywhere?

Strategic Approach to Overwhelming Situations

Ashley: You just walk in and you scan and you kind of walk right back up what’s doable and what’s not doable.

Stephanie: And just, I find compartmentalization really helps me. Of I’m just looking at this space right now, that’s it. Not going to get the whole house and pick a room, pick a room that you can make a good impact on, and start bite sized chunks. And, break it down into small – okay, I’m just going to get all of the garbage out of this room.

Stephanie: Absolutely, absolutely. So yeah. I mean, it’s definitely been a journey. I’m trying to think, what other giant things have happened since, I mean, you’ve been here for so long, and, I mean, you – gosh, even just from a I feel like we really leaned into trying to be more of – I just hate using the word family, because I think it’s something that companies use in a way to manipulate people. Of oh, this is your family, therefore you need to sacrifice in a manner. So I try to only have it be the positive side of family that you can actually leave when it’s toxic. And I do think it’s a work family.

Work Family Support System

Ashley: All of the 30 employees that are here. So when I had to call in and take my parents to the emergency room, and that sucked for me, but somebody else stepped in for my day, I would absolutely 100% do that for somebody else. There is not one person out of those 30 people that if you were to say, Ashley, could you cover X, Y, or this person shift? And I would say, no, I don’t think so. No, not one person I would do that for anybody.

Stephanie: And I think that’s the thing, is and I’ve tried to highlight that just in the team settings of obviously we wouldn’t share anybody’s personal information, but it’s every single staff member, has gone through something where that has caused them to be potentially unreliable for a time period, or needing a lot more flexibility, or time off, or just not able to do what they typically could. And just saying, listen every time you call in, that’s because one of the people here is stepping up and helping, and so keeping that in mind. And it’s not in a guilt of you need to do anything, but just it’s we’re trying to accomplish hundreds of appointments a week. And every single day somebody calls in. Today, it’s Monday, we had three or four staff members call in. And so it’s giant schedule shifts. We had to reschedule several appointments we had. Hannah’s training today, so you can’t use her as a fill in. And so just you guys don’t necessarily know that we’re just lot of schedule changes. Guys, check your schedule.

Ashley: That’s part of the transparency. I notice over my schedule changes, I understand that. What’s going on? We’re just open up ZenMaid and be like, what are they doing? Why does it keep changing?

Managing Schedule Changes

Stephanie: And I know that can be frustrating sometimes, especially when you’re having to drive farther than you’re expecting to drive. And so we try to just let you know, hey, this is not normal. We’re doing the best we can, but sometimes this is the perfect ideal schedule in our minds for everybody. And then the day actually comes and I just throw that out the window. And we just got to get these appointments done. And I think, again, looking and that’s an interesting thing, and looking back to interviewing you and things like that, and again, rolling with the punches of, your schedule changes a lot. Does it not? I mean, fairly often, right?

Ashley: I sometimes I don’t know my morning, Friday morning cleans. Where is it going to be? How far am I going to have to drive?

Stephanie: Friday? Is there a shit show? I wish you could just close on Fridays, because that’s when stupid things happen.

Ashley: Sometimes it is a little bit farther of a drive than what I can quite make. But you again, the flexibility being like, oh, I’m going to be 15 minutes late because it’s a little bit farther what I’m used to driving.

Stephanie: But we just try to just let you guys know what’s going on and and why it’s happening, and without throwing anybody under the bus, because at that day, we’re all going to call in. And so it’s just this is what it is. You can’t stop that. We just know that this is the name of the game. We’re gonna deal with two kind of emergencies in the cleaning business. It’s either going to be client cancels, cleaner calls in, or complaint, I suppose. So it’s just okay, this is what we have to do. And just kind of letting you guys know on the upfront, we’re never going to schedule you outside of your availability. But if you say you’re available, you need to be available. And I don’t think we’ve – because that was a problem for a while of somebody saying they’re available, and then they go, they didn’t have an appointment booked, maybe for the next day. So then they go out and make plans or whatever. And so we do. We’re definitely quite structured. Now, I would say on what we expect of no – if you say you’re available and you want off, you need to request PTO, or time off, or however we use a lot of softwares, we use Gusto, ZenMaid, obviously. So for you, Slack now, Zoom. So be a little tech savvy is useful, but all of those are super easy to do for sure, and then train you all. That’s a new one for sure. I don’t know if you’ve gone through the online orientation. You did. What did you think of that?

Ashley: It was different, so different from this is the first time. So four years of doing that little quiz at the end, right? I was like, okay, four years, and I should get this.

Stephanie: Exactly, just making sure everybody’s up to date as things have changed and things like that.

Advice for Other Business Owners

Stephanie: But yeah, knowing that we’re speaking to cleaning business owners, is there anything that you would say? They’re trying to learn from the wisdom that we have at Serene Clean. What would you say to an owner if they want to attract talent like you? What would be your words?

Ashley: I am a non typical – you even said that I am a non typical employee for you. So I think just having an open mind on looking at your applicants with a different perspective, you asked me, why do you want to even work here? Give them a shot. Give them a chance. They might surprise you. How many of our staff members are coming from the healthcare industry as professionals, almost a large majority of our staff is coming from the healthcare industry and COVID, changed a lot of things. Not being appreciated, being run into the ground.

Ashley: Overworked and more, expecting longer hours and taking away from your family time. And it was tough.

Stephanie: So just having an open mind, it sounds like for sure that would be a big one. Anything else?

Ashley: Okay, cool, cool. Well, thank you, Ashley, for your time today. This has been lovely, and everybody give her props for being on a podcast. I mean to for me to ask her to do this, and her willing to do this. This is not part of the job description – you will be paid for this time, though. So everybody hit that like, hit that subscribe, leave some comments of appreciation for Ashley. She is a true gem, and I’m so I’m so grateful for you. I am so happy that you came along and really have helped shape the culture here in the company as a whole, because you’re a beacon of excellence. That is you.

Ashley: Oh.

Stephanie: And guys, we’ll see you the next episode of Filthy Rich Cleaners.

Post-Podcast Bonus

Stephanie: This is post podcast recording, but Ashley just did her spin the wheel that we have as a little perk, and she just got $100 cash. And the other one was, what? What else did you get?

Ashley: $75 Walmart gift card.

Stephanie: So Best Place to Work ever, right? Ashley, I’m not paying her to say that, but it was kind of like that.

Note: This transcript has been edited for clarity and readability.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• ZenMaid
• Gusto
• Slack
• Zoom
• Cleaning for a Reason