Do You Have A "Weak Link" In Your House Cleaning Business?
As a cleaning business owner, you are well aware of employees who are underperformers. Every business has them and every business needs to deal with them. The old phrase: “we are only as strong as our weakest link” can be applied to your company and repetitively poor performing employees. As the phrase suggests, no matter how strong your team may be just one weak link can cause the entire operation to break down.
Weak links not only cause dysfunction among your team, but also cost your company money. Sure, they may show up to work every day, but they may also be undermining your efforts at every turn. You know the ones -- they do just enough work to get by; other employees complain about the "slacker" on their team; they always seem to have a bad attitude. You know who they are...
Do you have a “weak link” in your house cleaning business?
Before you jump to any conclusions about who may be a weak link among your team, it's important to first identify some possible characteristics that fit the weak link description.
Following are some indicators that you may have a weak link employee:
- Needs continuous motivation to start and/or complete required tasks
- Needs continuous help from other team members to finish tasks on time
- Needs continuous explanations of the company procedures and policies long after the orientation process
- Is not engaging or involved in the team meetings
- Always creating conflicts and problems with other team members
- Always completing company assignments, tasks, or paper work late or not at all
- Cleaning quality and inspections always far below par compared to the rest of the team
- Continually breaking company procedures, policies, and rules
If you recognize an employee that fits most, if not all, of the above characteristics on a regular basis, chances are good that you have identified a weak link employee.
So what is the best way to handle a weak link among your team?
The first thing you should do is determine why they may be poor performers. Here are several reasons why you have a weak link employee:
- They were not provided the proper training and knowledge required of the job
- The job description and what is expected of them was not efficiently addressed and clarified
- There is a non- work related issue or problem affecting their performance such as family trouble, relationship problem, or drug and alcohol abuse
- There is a work related issue causing the problem. Perhaps they are being singled out, bullied, and mocked by fellow team members because of race, age, gender, etc.
- They are not capable of performing the physical requirements due to health or other personal conditions
- Lacks mental toughness and drive in ALL things that they do
The best way to identify if any of the above conditions are causing the poor performance of the employee is ask questions, either directed at the employee or through other team members. Knowledge is key here. If this employee can be rehabilitated perhaps they can become a key player on the team. If you have exhausted all your efforts to rehabilitate this employee, then it's time to let them go.
Unfortunately, many employers put up with poor performers much too long in the hopes that they'll change. They may tell themselves, "she's just going through a rough time - she'll get better in a couple weeks". But a couple weeks come and go and the employee hasn't improved. You have tried to retrain, refit, and reassign this employee but all your efforts have failed. They have become a "weak link" in your house cleaning business. It is now time to release them.
A word of caution: never fire an employee without proper documentation. If you have employees who are weak links, you should have Incident Reports in their employee file, and warnings as to the consequences of their actions, including termination.
The success of your home cleaning business hinges greatly on the performance of all your employees, especially the front line workers. Your business chain needs to be strong from top to bottom and if you have an employee who does not have the ability to function effectively, it's time YOU took action and released them. If you sit idly by and do nothing, then you become the “WEAK LINK.”
