Home cleaning franchisor overjoyed with ‘amazing’ PR coup.
Molly Maid were thrilled to discover they had been praised by the Government, over the way they had dealt with business during the on-going Coronavirus pandemic.
Although Molly Maid had no choice but to temporarily stop trading following the Government’s decision to enforce a lockdown in March, the company – which specialises in home cleaning services – have since shown their flexibility by changing the working habits of their UK employees.
And this was illustrated on the Government’s own website where the Department for Business used Molly Maid as a case study, highlighting how the company had changed its working practices in order to comply with lockdown rules and so begin trading again.
In the feature, Molly Maid’s president and CEO Kevin Hipkins explains how the company have tackled the difficulties of Coronavirus head-on, and says: “By the end of June we project we will have around 75% of our staff back on a full-time basis.”
Aaron Watson, Molly Maid’s director of business development in the UK, explained: “This is amazing PR, with the Government’s Department of Business undertaking a case study on how we have adapted our systems which has enabled us to resume service.”
Founded in Canada more than 40 years ago, Molly Maid is one of the world’s largest home cleaning services, employing more than one thousand people in the UK, across 72 franchises.
CEO Kevin Hipkins added: “A comprehensive manual has been developed which staff need to become familiar with before returning to work.”
Among the changes adopted by the company, and illustrated in the feature on www.gov.uk, are:
1) Molly Maid employees must travel to a customer’s home wearing face masks, with no more than two people in the same vehicle, and sitting as far apart as possible – one in the back, one in the front, and on either side of the car too. Windows must be left open for ventilation. The company says the same two employees should travel together for as many journeys as possible, rather than continually interchanging with other members of staff.
2)Every day, before start of work, all maids must contact head office to confirm they are free of Covid-19 symptoms. If not, they must remain at home.
3)Franchise owners and maids must contact customers to confirm their clients’ households are free of symptoms, and that no one in the home has come into contact with anyone presenting symptoms. Otherwise, a new date is arranged.
4)Once in the home of a customer, and before starting work, staff must first wash or sanitise their hands in the kitchen using a specialist anti-microbial cleaner.
5)Maids must reinforce the message to customers that the two-metre social distancing requirement is in existence. This is confirmed in a phone call which notifies the customer of the maid’s expected arrival time.
6)Customers must depart their home for the duration of the work or remain in a room which is not being cleaned. Maids and customers must not come into contact with each other.
