What is Good Housekeeping?
What is good housekeeping? Is your housekeeper well versed in all aspects of home care or are you demanding too much? Here are some guidelines on good housekeeping from the experts. Click To TweetGood housekeeping is not just about cleanliness. It includes all aspects of organisation, tidiness, maintenance, and safety of the household. Your house can be sparkling clean and germ-free, but without overall good housekeeping practices, you may find that housekeeper isn’t quite up to scratch.
Why is Good Housekeeping Important?
Good housekeeping is important to ensure that your household runs smoothly. Your housekeeper is in charge of keeping your home clean, but do they know how to organise, maintain and ensure safety in your household?
Good housekeeping can help to ensure the following things:
- Your house is kept organised and everything has a place to be put away
- Food, cleaning supplies, and other household items are kept in stock
- Everything is working and if things are broken or missing you should be aware of it
- Your house is a safe environment for yourself, your family and your staff
How to Make a Good Housekeeping Plan?
Therefore, it is important that you work with your housekeeper to create a “good housekeeping plan”. Here’s top tips for putting this plan into place:
Organisation
Ensure all items have a place to be put away. Your housekeeper should be aware of where everything goes so that they can tidy up properly. It may take them a while so a written guide could be useful, but as they work they should get the hang of it and after a week or so will easily remember where everything belongs.
Maintenance of supplies
In order to maintain supplies within the household, a good housekeeping tip is for your housekeeper to keep an inventory. They should know exactly what they are in charge of.
So is it the housekeeper’s responsibility to ensure the fridge is stocked, or should they just keep track of the cleaning supplies?
It’s important that your housekeeper is clear on this to be able to track and maintain important stock in the household.
General Maintenance
It shouldn’t be your housekeeper’s role to do any DIY, fix things or change light bulbs. However, it is important that the housekeeper notifies the correct person of any maintenance issues. After all, they are regularly working around your house, so should easily spot something that’s broken and needs repair.
A good housekeeping tip is to ensure that all of your members of staff know who is responsible for what, and who they should report maintenance issues.
The last thing you want is for everyone to think it’s someone else’s job!
Safety
Do you have procedures in your household to ensure safety?
If you have a large, fully-staffed household, then maybe it is your house manager’s responsibility to ensure everyone is aware of safety procedures.
For good housekeeping, your housekeeper should be aware of things that could cause hazards. For example, a wet floor after mopping, or a hoover left out in the hallway. Being aware of hazards around the house can ensure safety and good housekeeping.
How Can Polo & Tweed Help?
Does your housekeeper need a little extra training to improve their “good housekeeping” skills?
Polo & Tweed offers both group courses and private training courses in housekeeping to help your housekeepers reach the highest standards. Get in touch with us today to find out more about our housekeeping training courses.