New housekeeper fit?

[Anonymous]

Hi all, we hired a full time housekeeper to replace our long term nanny once our kids were at school full time in August. The HK has a lot of experience and good references from prior employers. She works 7am - 3pm, and her role includes cooking breakfast, preparing dinner and leaving it ready, all of the day to day family laundry, and full housekeeping. Pros are that she is reliable and punctual, happy and pleasant, tries hard. Cons are that she moves and thinks very slowly, it takes her much longer than most to complete simple tasks, she needs a lot of very specific feedback because her judgment isn't great, even with feedback she still misses stuff or screws stuff up. For example, this week she decided to use bleach on a stain on a dark sweater, and of course destroyed the sweater altogether. She's been with us since August and I'm trying to decide if we should stick with her or find a replacement. We pay her $30/hr, on the books, with PTO etc so it's a lot, and would be fine if the house was really clean or organized, but instead I spend weekends doing stuff that our nanny would always be on top of, such as organizing the kid's clothes, toys, putting the clothes in the right bedrooms because HK really struggles with this. WWYD?

[Anonymous]

I'd be looking for someone new. I ain't got time for that shiz.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd be looking for someone new. I ain't got time for that shiz.

OP - that’s what my DH says, but then I’ll have to do all the work to find someone new and figure that out around the schedule for the current Hk

[Anonymous]

Did you go through an agency? They could take in the load of vetting and sending options.

I agree though I’d look for someone new. Maybe you need a household manager instead of a housekeeper?

[Anonymous]

Sounds to me like you need a new housekeeper, and you need to ask questions about efficiency and critical thinking when you talk to references.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd be looking for someone new. I ain't got time for that shiz.

OP - that’s what my DH says, but then I’ll have to do all the work to find someone new and figure that out around the schedule for the current Hk

Why is this on you? Why can’t your dh do some of the legwork since he is not happy with the current housekeeper?

[Anonymous]

Have you talked to her and done a performance review? Have you asked what areas she needs help with and if there's anything she struggles with and then proceeded to help her manage these tasks better? If yes, and everything remained the same I'd say you two are indeed not a good fit. It happens.

[Anonymous]

A housekeeper should know enough not to put bleach on a dark sweater. What else is she screwing up due to stupidity? I’d look for someone with sense. My once a week housekeeper knows enough to google or ask about treatment of stains, how to clean stainless steel, or new recipes, it doesn’t sound like yours can be relied on for that and will just destroy your house over time.

[Anonymous]

How good a cook is she? If she is decent in this area plus she is nice, reliable, eager to please, you may find that with some investment over the next 3-6 months in showing/teaching her laundry and other processes, she could grow into the job.

But if you think her intelligence is just not high enough to be effective and efficient ever, then you need someone else.

Of course someone much smarter who does the job easily isn’t is likely to stay for years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you talked to her and done a performance review? Have you asked what areas she needs help with and if there's anything she struggles with and then proceeded to help her manage these tasks better? If yes, and everything remained the same I'd say you two are indeed not a good fit. It happens.

OP - yes we’ve talked to her, she agrees to everything but then she forgets… she’s also just not very smart so we have to explain the same things over and over

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How good a cook is she? If she is decent in this area plus she is nice, reliable, eager to please, you may find that with some investment over the next 3-6 months in showing/teaching her laundry and other processes, she could grow into the job.

But if you think her intelligence is just not high enough to be effective and efficient ever, then you need someone else.

Of course someone much smarter who does the job easily isn’t is likely to stay for years.

OP - she only cooks for the kids so it’s very simple stuff. Because DH and I work we’re not home enough to give her feedback on a lot of stuff. We really need someone who’s more independent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A housekeeper should know enough not to put bleach on a dark sweater. What else is she screwing up due to stupidity? I’d look for someone with sense. My once a week housekeeper knows enough to google or ask about treatment of stains, how to clean stainless steel, or new recipes, it doesn’t sound like yours can be relied on for that and will just destroy your house over time.

She misses a lot of stuff. She’ll spend hours cleaning the kitchen but we get home and the fridge or oven haven’t been touched. It’s hard to explain