How to Train A Maid Efficiently

When you provide your staff with the opportunity to develop their skills, they will also develop the confidence to conquer any task! Click To TweetYour maid is a human being. Human beings relish positive critique and the ability to make their employer happy! Regardless of your maid’s cultural background, once you have employed them in your home or hotel, you can give them additional training to help them settle in, and most importantly stay for many years to come!

Treating your maid fairly, and with a strong routine and guidance from the offset is important. It will create a positive working environment.

It’s a time-consuming process to recruit a maid. Now that you have one -make sure to train them efficiently. So that you will get the best out of your maid for years to come.

So how to train a maid efficiently?

What are the steps you should take to train your maid?

1. Consider their background and qualifications to date. Is your maid working around children or animals and you feel they need additional training in this area. Perhaps they need an up to date paediatric first aid, or some specific animal training in ways to manage your pets?
2. Discuss rota and schedules. Have you updated your rota and schedule since the new maid started? Either way your new maid will need some time to read and understand the paperwork, and it is prudent to go through the paperwork with them to ensure that they are clear. Sometimes things can get lost in translation so its vital you all start on the same page.
3. Introduce the tools. Your new maid may be extremely familiar with your specific products and tools in the property or hotel, or they may need some additional support to learn how to use the facilities. You may prefer to use organic products in the property as opposed to strong detergents, or you may have a new iron or press that the maid hasn’t used before and want to make sure they use it correctly.
4. Expectations. It might seem obvious to you, but everyone has different levels of expectations. What might seem obvious to one person can be completed different to another. Outline your clear expectations and encourage your maid to ask if they have any specific questions. Explain you will give them feedback and to not take this as a criticism but to take it as a way to improve and grow in the role.
5. Safe and Legal Environment. Depending on which country you are living in, your property or hotel should follow the local employment laws. It is therefore important that as an employer you have your insurance (such as public liability) in place, and that you are following health and safety and fire safety laws. Is your maid handling food? If they are, then perhaps considering enrolling them on a food hygiene course to ensure that they handle all foods in a correct and safe manner.
6. Reward. Like training an animal, human beings enjoy rewards! So after training or teaching your maid – be sure to reward them when they do a great job! You can do this in a form of a bonus, a gift or just a heartfelt thank you. A thank you goes a long way!

What are the issues you should avoid when training your maid?

1. Style of communication. Remember to keep things polite and formal. You may have a maid in your private home, but this doesn’t mean you can speak to them like a member of the family! Always be polite and formal, with a friendly and warm approach. You’ll find this makes for easier communication, with respect from both sides.
2. Specialised training. If you feel your maid needs specialised training, for example first aid or food hygiene training, ensure that you arrange to have this training conducted by a recognised training body. You should be willing to cover the costs of this training, but your maid should be willing to give their time to do it. Don’t attempt to undertake specialised training on your own, as this could lead to mistakes down the road and potential liability on your side.
3. Unrealistic goals. They may seem realistic to you, but think carefully when setting goals. Do you expect your maid to be fully clear on all schedules and rota within a week? Do you expect them to have detailed knowledge about every problem and how to fix it? It is unlikely (as unless you’ve hired a robot!) the maid need to learn the ropes and settle into the role. Consider how you would feel starting a new job, how many days or weeks it would take for you to learn the procedures – have empathy that people learn at different speeds. Your maid may not be as formally educated as you are, so be patient.
4. Shadowing. Sometimes an employer will use a previous member of staff to show the new maid the process. This can be a positive, but it can also be a negative as bad habits can be taught to the new member of staff. Make sure you only use this technique if you are 100% confident on your other maid’s skills and ability to teach your new maid the correct procedures.

What are the benefits the employer can receive when having their maid trained?

1. Settling in. The immediate benefit of good training is that your maid will settle in quickly and efficiently into their new role. The quicker the maid settles in, the quicker they can get on with doing a great job for your home or hotel. Win-win!
2. Confidence. Your maid will be more confident that they are doing the right things. And this early confidence will allow them to develop quickly into the role. You will iron out any problem areas early on. A maid who lacks confidence will make more mistakes. They, therefore, might fail their probationary period. So as an employer you’ll receive countless benefits if they are confident with their targets and goals.
3. Greater skill set. By training your maid you’ll be able to help them develop additional skills in areas they might not already have. Perhaps you want your maid to be able to provide Silver Service or food and drink service, perhaps you want your maid to have a greater understanding of household management. As an employer you will directly benefit from the training your maid has undertaken.

How Polo & Tweed Training Can Help

Polo & Tweed provide a varied and tailor-made training programme to help your maid. If your maid is working in a private home or in a hotel setting, no problem. We can adjust our training programme to make it suit your needs. Statically, employers who train their maids have a lower turnover of staff and improved staff productivity. This can improve your bottom line if you are running a business. And save you costly fees in recruitment as a private homeowner.

Why not get in touch with us today to discuss your specific needs and how we can help you further?