The 7 Signs Your Cleaner Is About to Quit

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Introduction

Hello everyone, welcome or welcome back to the Filthy Rich Cleaners podcast. I am your host Stephanie from Serene Clean. And in today’s episode, I thought it would be very interesting to talk about the flip side of warning signs, but this time not about clients dropping. I want to talk about the warning signs for employees about to quit. And this had me thinking based on the episode two weeks ago where I talked about how do we know the kind of danger zones of when we are going to lose a client of ours in our cleaning business. And then it was prompted really by, today was the last day of one of my staff members who has been with me for two or three years, I believe, and they had, did their proper two weeks notice and everything like that, but there was definite warning signs.

Or red herrings we could call them or canary in a coal mine, all of the phrases that you can look at idioms. Those are idioms, right? I think so. The idioms in the English language about basically stuff’s about to go down, right? And so with this particular staff member, that absolutely was the case. And so that made me think, gosh, what are the other warning signs or red herrings that an employee is about to quit or is on a downhill spiral. And some of these will be obvious, maybe others not so much, but I’d love to talk about my experience in Serene Clean. I did ask my managers as well, hey, what have we noticed now in hindsight? And I think it’s always so useful to reflect on previous experiences in order for us to be more aware going forward and to hopefully be able to nip things in the bud. And obviously, all of what I’m about to say will not circumvent the fact that a lot of people quit and there is zero warning. Everything is perfect supposedly, there’s nothing that could have prepared you or helped you mitigate what’s about to happen. It just happens. And of course, because the majority of the time it’s not about us, it’s not about our business, they’ve got stuff going on or what have you.

But I will say that there are some things that we have definitely seen patterns of and that’s what we’re gonna talk about today.

Backlash When Receiving Constructive Feedback

So the first one I wanna talk about is the one that actually led to this staff member who it’s their last day today. And the reason they gave their two weeks or what was the catalyst for it was getting constructive feedback provided. They had received a quality controller, quality check as we do on all of our staff members and our commercial accounts as I’ve talked ad nauseum about. And this person had had a bad quality check, frankly. There was a lot of issues. And so how we handle that when we are obviously not seeing and sitting down with our staff members on a daily basis, it’s very hard to do that. Of course, it’s a very remote situation, even if you’re 10 minutes away from them, that’s just, it’s not typical for us to see all of our staff members on a regular basis in person. So for us, when we do a quality check, we then share that feedback pretty much immediately with the staff member, good, bad, indifferent, whatever the feedback is, as well as any photos of things that have been missed. And so this particular employee had had a decent amount of constructive feedback over the years related to just detail work, lackluster cleaning, et cetera, et cetera.

Overarchingly, the reaction has never been great. A lot of, I would say, passive aggressiveness and not taking accountability in general or having attitude in relation to getting that feedback. And just in general, what I would categorize for you guys, so to look at this, is backlash or sulking when they get constructive feedback.

I’ve actually had it multiple times where somebody will get constructive feedback that is valid, 100% meaning it’s a quality check. It’s not up to snuff, it’s not up to standard. Potentially it’s a client complaint as well. And they will just completely say, well, don’t send me back there then, or I’m yanking my availability. I’m not gonna work those days anymore. You’ll have to switch it off because they didn’t do a good job and they can’t handle being confronted with that.

Gender Differences in Response to Feedback

And I will say anecdotally, I know I have a lot of listeners here, which no offense, this is just my personal experience, is frankly, almost 100% of my male staff members have done this, have done what I’m talking about right now. Meaning we say, hey, here’s the evidence, here’s the evidence that the job wasn’t done correctly, and they will frankly throw a tantrum.

Not sure what that’s about. I will say obviously I’ve had emotional responses from my female staff members, but a lot of times it’s much more overly apologetic or want to throw themselves off a bridge kind of thing, feels so bad that they messed up as opposed to the guys. It’s well, don’t send me back there or I’m not going back there or I quit. And that’s what happened here with the staff member. He, guess I’m gendering it.

He quit because he had a poor quality check and we’re just asking for the feedback and he’s no, this is my two weeks. That was time, it was clearly time. He had run his course here and he was really great, great personality and things like that, real chill. And overall, happy I had him for the time that we did.

But it definitely felt every single quality check then, it just was getting worse and worse with the response and the sulking, the backlash, the sass, the passive aggressiveness, and then not correcting. You know what I mean? Not still having the same reoccurring issues, and that’s where we get frustrated, listen, you know the standards, you know what the expectations are, we can’t be more clear.

The Importance of Accountability

And we’re trying to just be very, have radical candor in the workplace and say hey, what do need from us? Not being a bunch of bitches or anything. We very much try to avoid that. And then when this is the response, it’s okay, yeah, you don’t fit here anymore. This is for me, a huge part of what makes somebody successful is, can they take accountability for their actions? Can they say, yep, I own that and I’m gonna do better.

And I think that that needs to be at every single level of our organization, because otherwise, how do you move forward? How do you solve problems if nobody can say, yep, that’s on me? And 100%, a lot of times it’s on us as the leaders, okay, we’re not communicating correctly, or something’s wrong with training, or why is it that this is happening? Or maybe we’re picking wrong, right? But a lot of times it can be gradual or they start off strong and seem to be able to take that feedback and then they just get frustrated over time. And just with the lackluster results are just, man, screw this frankly. So not surprised that he quit. We honestly expected this the past year because of this response every single time that we provided constructive feedback, just either he’s take me off that account. I’m not going back there. I’m reducing my availability. Just backlash, backlash for being confronted with the truth. Just an interesting observation. Don’t come from me in the comments, guys. I mean, it’s just, it’s been my experience. So it is what it is. So that would be the biggest one that kind of triggered this whole video, honestly, is just cannot take constructive feedback. And that is they’re either gonna quit or something’s gonna come to a head here without a big attitude adjustment, which people rarely do that.

Excessive Call-Outs and Personal Life Emergencies

Okay, number two of areas that could be the canary in the coal mine that somebody is about to quit is just a lot of call-outs and personal life emergencies, especially early on in their employment. So I will say that at any time in an employee’s life cycle at your business, including you, the owner and all of your managers and everybody, 99% of us are gonna be unreliable at some time.

We’re going through stuff, right? We’re going through life. And so I definitely do not hold this to be true just universally, but it really depends on how long have they been with us? And is this an isolated event, meaning hey, and they’re communicating with us what’s going on, meaning I’m going through this thing right now. I’m having a very hard time.

Anytime that our longest staff members have gone through some really hard personal issues, they’ve communicated that with us. And it’s just this really open and beautiful dialogue, how can we support you during this time? But they are dedicated to having that communication. They’re dedicated to making sure they’re being respectful of the workplace as much as possible. Again, we’re not, we’re very, very, very flexible, especially when stuff’s going down. But I will say if they are newer, if they’re within the first three months calling out all the time and having just a ton of personal life emergencies and it seems their world is on fire. That is almost, I would say majority of the time they are gonna quit. It’s not gonna work out. So if you’re seeing this pattern, either I would suggest reducing their hours drastically and seeing what could they accomplish. They can only work two days a week or only work partial shifts or something. So you can absolutely work with them during this, but I think you need to call it out and be hey, I see that you’re having a tough time right now. Why don’t we reduce it? So you only have this, or do you need entire weeks off? And then we can reconvene and see if you’re able to hit the availability that you had established when you came on and see if it’s even plausible or possible. Because again, people have timing is shitty sometimes when stuff goes down, but if it seems their world is chaos and everything’s on fire at all times. They may not just be in a place that they can be reliable enough for you. And that sucks and you really wanna do have that human element and be there for people. But you’re also running a business. There is that line in the sand of empathy, look, this is really affecting our ability to be respectful of our clients and your coworkers. And so let’s communicate, is there another option when it comes to availability? Or maybe this just isn’t the right time right now for you and you need to focus on your life. So if that is happening, nine times out of 10, they’re gonna quit if it’s within the first couple months. But if this is happening with a long-term established staff member, we’re definitely going to be a lot more trusting that this is real. And not saying it’s not real for the newbies, but it’s just, it’s actually usually real. It’s just more so manageable or they are prepared and ready to still give something to work. Again, this might sound a little heartless or something. It’s definitely not that at all. It’s just, we’re trying to be practical here and run our business. And we do need to have people who can show up and come to work and work to the best of their ability. So, yeah, so a lot of call outs, personal life emergencies early on is going to be they’re going to quit.

Attitude About Being Held to Policies

All right. Number three, which kind of is number one, but a little bit different. And that is gonna be attitude about being held to policies that they agreed to. So if they get sassy when they are basically called out and not doing things in the correct manner, or they are misbehaving or whatever, I know it sounds I’m talking about kids, but sometimes they act it. And so it’s hey, you’re not calling out the way that you’re supposed to, or you know that this is not how we do things here. You’re supposed to do X, Y, Z. You’re hey, you’re clocking in before you get to the job site, or you’re not clocking out, or you’re not telling us how long you’re taking for a lunch break, or you’re going for a smoke break, or whatever the heck the thing is, and you’re not telling us, or what have you, whatever policy that we’re talking about.

And then we call them out basically and say hey, this is the policy. We know that this is not being followed right now. And this is unacceptable and whatever that looks like, right? And then again, that attitude. And so it kinda is number one with constructive feedback, but I would just say in general, if they cannot hear any criticism whatsoever. And I mean, it’s not we’re just saying, hey, we hate your shoes. It’s not that at all. You know what I mean? Or dress code’s a perfect one. I’m hey, you know, you’re not, you can’t wear these shorts. They’re not, they’re not acceptable. Everything has to be knee length. That’s the dress code here. And then if they throw a hissy fit or they, a lot of times what you’ll see with this particular category, the next day they’ll call in. They will basically be their way of saying screw you basically. And I’ve seen this time and again, where we know once we give them, I guess a talking to or whatever you wanna call it, the conversation is had or the message is sent next day they’re calling in or that day they’re I’m not going to my next cleaning. Again, it’s just, I truly see it tantrum in adult form and I get it, I get it because if you guys go listen to Mike Robbins episode, we talk about this of giving that feedback in a constructive and as positive way as possible and just being straightforward with people and being respectful. But then that gut reaction for a lot of us is I suck, you suck. And then we can’t really get to that but wait, what are we talking about here at third stage, which is where we wanna be, where we can actually have the conversation. A lot of people get very revenge-y, I would say, or wrathful, I’ll show you boss, I’m gonna make you suffer for saying the truth, basically. So I see that very often, and if you see this pattern, they start doing that, they’re gonna quit. If they can’t be held accountable, if they can’t even hear when they screw up and then they backlash basically at you in this manner, not gonna work out.

Getting Into Drama with Coworkers

The fourth area is going to be getting in drama with coworkers. And this is a big telltale, almost immediately they’re not going to, they’re going to quit or not gonna work out. Not only from us nipping it in the bud. And again, that call out of hey, this isn’t okay. But anytime they start to try to stir the pot, it’s so unusual in our workplace culture. We really have zero drama in our workplace culture. It’s just not even really frankly possible sometimes to have it because we don’t work together very often. As you guys know, we run a solo cleaning model and so it’s just unusual for our cleaning techs to work together. So if they are attempting in those very small pockets of opportunity to create drama or start pointing fingers or shit talking or whatever, it’s a huge alarm bell for us.

Once they realize that that doesn’t fly here, they’re gonna out themselves. They’re gonna be shit, I can’t get away with this because none of us are gonna respond to it. They’re not gonna get what they’re trying to get, whatever that is, whether they’re trying to manipulate the workplace, whether they’re trying to somehow exert some power and control in the workplace. It’s if I walked into, I don’t know, Japan and I started screaming in English obscenities. I mean, they might get it, but they’re probably just gonna all look at me blankly and being what’s with this psycho chick? If I could speak, what’s with this psycho chick, right? And they’re probably just gonna be no, that’s weird. That’s very strange. She should probably leave. That’s what that’s here. When they walk into Serene Clean and try to do this, try to stir the pot or whatever, try to create problems interpersonally, that’s literally all of us. We’re what’s with this chick? This is they don’t know, they don’t know yet. They don’t even go here, right? So they have no idea that that’s not normal. And maybe it is that other workplaces actually it’s very common in other workplaces to have that, but it simply just doesn’t fly for us. So once they realize that they quickly out themselves, they quickly remove themselves. If we don’t remove them, they typically are going to remove themselves pretty quickly. Cause it’s just shit, I can’t get away with that here. And it’s honestly almost, almost funny again. Once you can keep yourself calm, and I know I’ve talked about that last week of staying calm is difficult sometimes when people are being crazy.

But once you can, it’s almost humorous. It’s holy crap, this person is acting a little teenager right now and it’s kind of silly, frankly. So if you are having a little drama queen or somebody who’s always starting stuff, or if you run teams, you’re gonna have to watch this a lot harder, honestly, because it’s gonna be just, you know, of course, interpersonal conflict is gonna happen at work. And I just think it’s really important to sit all parties down and literally talk it out. That’s what we do every time it legitimately happens between staff members who we know we’re not trying to start anything. They just had some type of snafu. We sit them down, we have a manager and we’re laying it all on the table. We are talking about this. What’s the issue? What’s the miscommunication here? Who said what? And just make sure that we clear the air as quickly as possible and don’t let anything brew. I think it’s really important to establish that from the get-go and if this is an issue that in your workplace, you can absolutely correct this. It can be done. It’s just gonna take some concerted leadership on your part and getting involved in having difficult conversations, even if they are wildly uncomfortable. And I know how hard that is. I say that and I know how hard it is, but it’s truly the only way to have a workplace where everybody feels, is feeling good, you know?

Complaints About Physical Demands

All right. Next one is going to be maybe a little odd, but it is based on the fact that one of the most common reasons somebody quits is the physicality of the job. Cleaning, I think a lot of people assume that it’s not as hard as it is, and especially on the residential side, it is so physically demanding. And of course, we’re asked, and we ask so many questions during our second interview now about the physicality of the labor and really getting into the specifics of it and how do they take care of their body? How do they push through when they are feeling a little physically drained? What does that look like? Because this is such a common reason for people to quit for us. And so what I will say is if they are really talking a lot about physical aches and pains, especially kind of after the first, you know, the first week it’s really honestly, even the first couple of weeks of training, if they’re just oh my gosh, this is so much almost always they’re going to quit. They’re going to quit. They cannot do the work. And that’s totally understandable. But I will say, I think that if somebody starts talking this, reduce their hours, if it’s financially feasible for them, because otherwise they’re going to quit. If they can’t do this 40 hours, could they do it 15 hours a week? 20 hours a week, what is it? Because if they’re a great staff member, I’ve lost a lot of great people because of this reason right here, because of the the sheer nature of the work. And I’m not trying to force anybody or anything. But we’ve had a lot of staff members who this job has kind of got them in shape, if you will, because it’s so physical and they moving every day. And it’s very sustainable for them once they kind of get into shape to clean, if you will.

But in the beginning, it’s tough. And so I just want you to be cognizant of that and notice if they are saying a lot of things. And also, is there anything that you can do? Can you get them a kneeling, gardening pad or something along those lines, really encouraging water breaks, stretching breaks, having snacks, taking care of their body and not running themselves into the ground? I think it’s really important. And that’s definitely an area I want to really explore more at Serene Clean is how can we encourage take everybody taking care of themselves physically and mentally of course, which we’ve really focused on mental health especially in the past year with our EAP the employee assistance program benefit, which is free mental health services for all of our staff members and their immediate family which is really fantastic, but you know, we cannot ignore our bodies in this job. It is truly just it’s hard and I know a lot of you guys are literally cleaning right now saying amen sister.

It’s really hard. So we have to be taking care of ourselves and not allowing our either ourself or our staff members bodies to break down. And so if there’s they’re talking to a lot about this, see what accommodations could be made. Maybe they need to be on commercial if you have enough commercial. Maybe they can’t do move outs, right? Maybe it’s just start or maybe one max, right? One deep clean max a week. And that’s truly I think that’s a good policy across the board. Deep cleans are too hard on people to be doing multiple a week. It’s incredibly challenging. Trying to really be aware of how many deep cleans are we putting on people and just listening if they need a breather, if they need a back off, it’s okay. We would much rather them be more part-time than them burning out and saying, screw this job. So just be aware of people are looking at us and ask them how are they feeling? How are they physically feeling with the job? What’s going on there? And of course, if we can introduce any tools and supplies that makes their job easier, the drill scrub brush attachments, stuff to save their shoulders, we’re going to do that, of course, anything to make the job easier.

Overall Lack of Engagement

And then finally, the biggest one I would say that we see the most, just it’s not gonna work out with them. They are overarchingly not a good fit for Serene Clean is just overall lack of engagement with the meetings and the communication and the buy-in in the company from the get-go. So really just getting the vibe that they are not drinking our Kool-Aid and they are not involved in any of the communication on the team level. They’re not saying happy birthday to their coworkers. They are not saying pleases and thank yous. And they’re not just interacting with the company or they’re not wanting to join team meetings or input anything, right? It’s just very lackluster when it comes to the involvement. They never come to any company events. And you may be saying right now, you’re Stephanie, all of that is above and beyond. They shouldn’t have to do those things. I agree on company events that are volunteering or Christmas party or whatever. They don’t have to do that. They don’t have to do that.

However, the ones who really are into what we do and really coincide with our core values and love their work, that team, those team members, they’re in it for the long run and they are invested. They’re chatting in our crew social chat. They’re giving everybody attaboys and even just reacting to messages and yeah, saying happy anniversary or when we bring a new team member on, are they saying welcome to them?

Those little nuances, if they are not being involved at all, they show up to their cleanings and they do not communicate, even just politeness or how it comes across in the messages. Again, I’m not trying to say they need to kiss our ass or anything, far from it. But it’s just how pleasant are they to interact with? That really tells us. And I can think of several in the past year that we hired where it’s just they had zero interaction outside of absolute bare minimum communication to get the job done. And it’s not we don’t, if you’re a shitty employer and you pay terribly and you’re just, it’s a bad workplace. Yeah, I don’t expect any, but if we’re all gonna not give a shit, right? But I know that that’s not the case here. And I know how important it is to our workplace culture that we’re all really kind of just interacting with each other and having that connection, even though it is mostly virtually, having that is really important for Serene Clean’s culture. And so if they are not actively adding to that, they’re not gonna last long. It’s just not the right personality fit because the right people love that they that aspect of serenity. They that we’re interacting that they enjoy the atmosphere and the family vibe or whatever you want to call it the sports team vibe because I know saying you know workplace family blah blah blah that’s feels really toxic sometimes and so I mean it in the best way possible is that my you know even though we have really high standards and quality and all of that stuff my personality and playfulness is really what I want.

The type of people who are attracted to this workplace is hey, we can be silly, we can send memes and whatever, and just be kind of spaz, tick, and ridiculous sometimes. That’s funny and that’s fun. And so if they don’t having that silly lightheartedness, even just interacting that, send a heart, that type of thing, if they’re just not having any of it and just are very standoffish, they’re probably not just going to last because they’re gosh, this this workplace is annoying. So if you find it’s annoying, then you’re probably not going it. And I get it. You’re here to do your work. And I get it. The whole what do they call that? Where everybody just kind of did the bare minimum in their job or whatever. That’s I get it. There’s there’s merit to that when you’re not appreciated and it doesn’t get you anywhere and it doesn’t get you raises and things. But people who are active participants at Serene Clean are going to be rewarded in a variety of ways. And frankly, it’s just more fun. You’re gonna have a better day at work when you interact and, you know, kind of play the game, if you will. It’s just yeah, let’s play together. You know, I think that that is really important. And again, that’s just, it’s my personality. It’s what I enjoy. And I wanna work with people that also enjoy chit chatting and being playful and sharing little little blurbs about themselves and whatever they’re comfortable with, of course. So it’s just, yeah, if they’re if they’re terrible communicators, do not interact or engage with anything at all. Then it’s just they don’t quit. They don’t quit, guys.

Conclusion

So, yeah, that’s what I had for our list and what I asked my management team as well. That is what we thought of when it came to the red herrings of somebody is about to quit and hopefully this has been helpful to you. I would love to hear any other warning signs that you guys, now that you’ve had, you know, maybe you’ve had some staff members, what were some warning signs looking back that you’re yeah, right there, should have caught that, or I had a gut feeling when this happened and I ignored it. I would love to hear any of your guys’ stories down below in the comments. And other than that, just hit that like, hit that subscribe, and I will see you in the next episode of Filthy Rich Cleaners. Thanks, guys.

Note: This transcript has been edited for clarity and readability

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• Watch Filthy Rich Cleaners – E61: “Clarity is Kindness” — The Right Way to Give Feedback with Mike Robbins

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