Post by Maria Lurdes (Milu) on Jul 8, 2016 11:59:58 GMT
Hey everyone, I could use some help with a recent staff situation. As some of you know, I'm a multi listing host. I started with one room in my house six years ago. Four years ago I met a cleaner named Judith who would help me the odd time, it was nothing regular. One of my host friends asked for a referral, and since Judith was looking for more work, I gave him her name. Well, that was the last that I saw of her for two years as she started working for him almost full time.
Fast forward two years and they've had a falling out, so she contacts me. I was thrilled as we'd had bad luck finding anyone to work with us on a regular basis. We offered her 30 hours a week, she accepted and we started working together. Because Judith doesn't drive, it meant that I couldn't give her much autonomy. I'd still have to take the linens over, pick up the used linens, set the codes, etc. So it was a massive help having someone clean, but it wasn't yet a perfect situation. Everything worked out great for the first while and then we hit the slump of winter. Because I didn't want to lose her, I kept her at reduced hours (20 hours) and it was a job to find jobs for her to do when most of our places sat empty. The slow months of winter passed and we went back to normal. After a while (six months or so) she started to talk about how she wanted to do something with her life and because I considered her a friend, we talked about options and I shared some things that I thought she could do that would service the short term rental business. All of things that she could do required a computer which she couldn't afford. I bought one for her (a Macbook) and we discussed that it was bought with a loan from me. You probably are guessing that I didn't lay out any repayment terms, and you're right. Months pass, she continues working, but now little things are happening. She's showing up late regularly, and when I talk to her about it she gets very defensive in response insisting that it doesn't matter because she's getting the work done. For the most part it's true but now I'm experiencing (not often) guests showing up right at check-in time and the apartment still being cleaned. I speak to her about it and the claim is always that the apartment was extremely dirty, never that she showed up late.
While I'm trying to figure out how best to work going forward, what kind of structure I can put in place given so many vagaries in our business, she hurts herself playing volleyball. Her wrist is now wrapped up, and she takes two days off to let it rest. We didn't have enough time to make other arrangements, so my husband and I hustle to get everything done in her absence. She comes back to work for a week and her wrist is still not healed so of course everything is done much slower. I try to be sympathetic, but it's also now difficult to get the jobs done. I urge her to see a doctor, as wrapping it herself isn't helping.
Judith goes to see a doctor, and texts me the next morning (a THursday, she works M-F). By text she tells me that it's not good news, that her doctor has told her to stop work. I tell her that I'll meet her in an hour to talk. So we meet, she tells me that her doctor has let her know that she has joint inflammation and rheumatoid arthritis and that she can't exercise and can't do physical work. I'm shocked, but tell her that I understand, and that I'll figure things out, that she should take care of her health. I scramble to find coverage for the next two days and start to think about longer term options. Luckily two friends pitch in the Thursday and Friday and we get through the weekend. Monday is a quiet day so I start to hustle calling everyone I know looking for help. Luckily I find someone who can work 4 hours a day, she knows someone else who can work, and by the end of the week I have four people that know each other that all speak English (I live in a very latino area, my spanish is poor). We get through the first week without Judith, and all of the new cleaners are great. Some rough edges to smooth out as they transition from regular residential cleaning to STR cleaning, but they all listen, react, and they hustle. It's a pain dealing with four people instead of one, but I'm grateful that we aren't depending on one single person.
One week later Judith contacts me to say that she wants to come back to work, and would like to work Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays. I'm totally puzzled, as the week before it was clear that she had to stop work immediately, no physical exertion. But a week has passed and now she wants to come back to work? I discuss this with my friend, and she suggests that Judith isn't sick at all, that she took a new job thinking the grass was greener, and either the new job didn't work out, or that the hours weren't what she was expecting. I don't respond to her right away, only saying that I'm glad she's feeling better.
So my question is - what do I do about Judith? Ignore the fact that she left me high and dry? I was sympathetic because it was a health issue, but how did that get resolved so quickly? So do I go back to having her work and now cut off the other people that jumped in right away and are now working out great?
I do feel like I have a friendship with Judith and I'm trying very hard to respect our friendship while also taking care of my business. Judith was (is) a good worker when she wants to be, but it felt like she was losing interest and then the health issue. So I solve it all in a mad rush with a lot of headaches and now she wants back?
What would you do?
Fast forward two years and they've had a falling out, so she contacts me. I was thrilled as we'd had bad luck finding anyone to work with us on a regular basis. We offered her 30 hours a week, she accepted and we started working together. Because Judith doesn't drive, it meant that I couldn't give her much autonomy. I'd still have to take the linens over, pick up the used linens, set the codes, etc. So it was a massive help having someone clean, but it wasn't yet a perfect situation. Everything worked out great for the first while and then we hit the slump of winter. Because I didn't want to lose her, I kept her at reduced hours (20 hours) and it was a job to find jobs for her to do when most of our places sat empty. The slow months of winter passed and we went back to normal. After a while (six months or so) she started to talk about how she wanted to do something with her life and because I considered her a friend, we talked about options and I shared some things that I thought she could do that would service the short term rental business. All of things that she could do required a computer which she couldn't afford. I bought one for her (a Macbook) and we discussed that it was bought with a loan from me. You probably are guessing that I didn't lay out any repayment terms, and you're right. Months pass, she continues working, but now little things are happening. She's showing up late regularly, and when I talk to her about it she gets very defensive in response insisting that it doesn't matter because she's getting the work done. For the most part it's true but now I'm experiencing (not often) guests showing up right at check-in time and the apartment still being cleaned. I speak to her about it and the claim is always that the apartment was extremely dirty, never that she showed up late.
While I'm trying to figure out how best to work going forward, what kind of structure I can put in place given so many vagaries in our business, she hurts herself playing volleyball. Her wrist is now wrapped up, and she takes two days off to let it rest. We didn't have enough time to make other arrangements, so my husband and I hustle to get everything done in her absence. She comes back to work for a week and her wrist is still not healed so of course everything is done much slower. I try to be sympathetic, but it's also now difficult to get the jobs done. I urge her to see a doctor, as wrapping it herself isn't helping.
Judith goes to see a doctor, and texts me the next morning (a THursday, she works M-F). By text she tells me that it's not good news, that her doctor has told her to stop work. I tell her that I'll meet her in an hour to talk. So we meet, she tells me that her doctor has let her know that she has joint inflammation and rheumatoid arthritis and that she can't exercise and can't do physical work. I'm shocked, but tell her that I understand, and that I'll figure things out, that she should take care of her health. I scramble to find coverage for the next two days and start to think about longer term options. Luckily two friends pitch in the Thursday and Friday and we get through the weekend. Monday is a quiet day so I start to hustle calling everyone I know looking for help. Luckily I find someone who can work 4 hours a day, she knows someone else who can work, and by the end of the week I have four people that know each other that all speak English (I live in a very latino area, my spanish is poor). We get through the first week without Judith, and all of the new cleaners are great. Some rough edges to smooth out as they transition from regular residential cleaning to STR cleaning, but they all listen, react, and they hustle. It's a pain dealing with four people instead of one, but I'm grateful that we aren't depending on one single person.
One week later Judith contacts me to say that she wants to come back to work, and would like to work Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays. I'm totally puzzled, as the week before it was clear that she had to stop work immediately, no physical exertion. But a week has passed and now she wants to come back to work? I discuss this with my friend, and she suggests that Judith isn't sick at all, that she took a new job thinking the grass was greener, and either the new job didn't work out, or that the hours weren't what she was expecting. I don't respond to her right away, only saying that I'm glad she's feeling better.
So my question is - what do I do about Judith? Ignore the fact that she left me high and dry? I was sympathetic because it was a health issue, but how did that get resolved so quickly? So do I go back to having her work and now cut off the other people that jumped in right away and are now working out great?
I do feel like I have a friendship with Judith and I'm trying very hard to respect our friendship while also taking care of my business. Judith was (is) a good worker when she wants to be, but it felt like she was losing interest and then the health issue. So I solve it all in a mad rush with a lot of headaches and now she wants back?
What would you do?