This second tip on hiring a housekeeper is about references, and I hope that it will be incredibly useful to you.
As part of the referencing process, I like to recommend that your housekeeper provides you with a DBS check, which is a Disclosure & Barring Service. It is a very good way of making sure that person does not have a criminal record and can work safely in your own home. It costs up to £100, and is something, if it is important to you, you could offer to do for your housekeeper. A lot of housekeepers who are in the business would have one already in place.
The way I like to do referencing is to obtain two professional and one personal. Obviously, if the housekeeper is new to the profession they may not have two professional ones, but they should be able to replace these with personal references.
I love just to get on the telephone and talk to the referees. The reason being, when you talk to someone, you can pick up on the little things in their voice that could give an indication of what they may or may not have been happy with. It may be that the housekeeper is absolutely fantastic, but every now and then they may not be regular with their work, or let the person down. The referee may be reticent to put this in writing, but could be happy to mention it over the phone.
You want to get as much information as you can out of these referees to make sure that the housekeeper you are going to employ is:
- Trustworthy
- They do what they say they are going to do
- That they have a positive outlook on their work and that they love what they do. It is always very important but especially in housekeeping because if they love what they do they will have a great attention to detail.
So, talk to the referees if you can and you can also get the references in writing.