Legally Hiring Employees for Your Home Cleaning Company

At some point you'll need to hire someone to fill a position in your home cleaning company. But you don't want to hire just anyone, you want to hire the best candidate for the job. Whether this is your first hire, or you've been hiring for a while now, it's good practice to take a look at your hiring system to make sure you're legally hiring employees. You see, laws change – both federal and state laws – and the government doesn't accept ignorance as an excuse for not hiring employees legally.

Are you legally hiring job applicants or just playing musical chairs?

Steps to legally hiring employees

There are generally 4 steps involved in the process.

1. Writing a job description
2. Posting the job
3. Review applications and resumes
4. Interviewing candidates

Writing a Job Description

A well-thought out job description will help you attract the right candidates for the job, so don't just whip one up in 5 minutes. Your job description should include:

• Duties and responsibilities for the position.
• Qualifications and prerequisites.
• Equal Opportunity Employer statement. The EEOC enforces employment law and is the entity that states it's illegal to discriminate against an applicant for reasons of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (over 40), disability or genetic information.
• It's important that your job description not show preference for or discourage someone from applying for a job.

Be Prepared for the Interview

It's helpful to create a list of questions to ask during the interview, making sure to ask every applicant the same questions. Make sure your questions are focused upon the applicant's job duties, skills and experience. And remember, there are several questions you'll want to avoid during an interview.

You may want to consider coming up with a scoring guide for each candidate so you can evaluate their answers. Just make sure you have a consistent scoring system so all applicants are graded the same. That way you have evidence of your systematic process should an applicant come back later with a complaint about your hiring practices.

NOTE: We have a grading system in our “How to Hire *STAR* Employees for Your Cleaning Company” product, which includes a webinar and hiring forms.

Be sure to keep a job file at your office and keep all notes from interviews there. Make sure your notes pertain to the interview answers and qualifications for the job. Never make discriminatory comments here that relate to race, color, religion, sex, etc.

When it comes time to deciding on who to hire, you should be hiring the person that scored the highest according to the interview scoring system mentioned above.

Background Checks, Credit Checks and Testing

We recommend all cleaning companies do background checks on potential employees. After all, cleaning technicians will be cleaning your clients' homes and will have access to their personal possessions. If you're hiring for a bookkeeping position or office position that will be handling money, you may want to consider doing a credit check. Testing is optional, but becoming more common among all employers.

It's important to check with an employment attorney or an HR expert that can advise you on doing these steps legally. We have a PEO Company, which is able to handle all legal aspects of our hiring process so we know we are always in compliance.

Mistakes to Avoid When Hiring

• Not writing a job description
• Not making a list of what you need in a candidate
• Basing your decision solely on your gut feeling instead of facts. You can't always trust your gut these days because many candidates have become experts at telling employers what they want to hear. So if the facts don't match up with your gut feeling, have someone else conduct a second interview.
• Rushing the hiring process because you need a “warm body” to fill a position. Be sure to treat all candidates the same and take them through the same steps before making a hiring decision.
• Not paying attention to the legal requirements for hiring. You may not think it's a big deal to ask if the candidate has kids and if she has a babysitter that can watch them while she's working. But that is a huge legal no-no, so don't get caught in a hiring law suit that could potentially put you right out of business.

Whether you're about to hire your first employee, or if you've been hiring for years – now is a great time to review your hiring process to make sure you're in legal compliance. It will keep you from getting into trouble, and more importantly, it will help you hire the right candidate for the job!

Recorded Webinar Download How to Hire *STAR* Employees for Your Cleaning Company If you are struggling to find *STAR* Employees, then this webinar is for you! This is a recorded webinar that includes the Presentation Notes and several forms. If you are looking for a Hiring System for your cleaning company, then this recorded webinar will help you do just that! To learn more about this system and purchase, visit our store