Imagine a situation where you have a beautiful house, and you’ve just hired a batch of household staff to take care of it, but not all of them can do things to your standard. A lot of household staff do not have the proper training (or any at all) to carry out their expected duties properly. This is especially so in luxury homes. So, if you find yourself with any of them, you have to train them so they can perform their duties better and to your specifications.Training household staff does not happen overnight. You need a lot of patience when they make mistakes. Several factors come together to make the training process possible, and some of them are discussed below.
Always Follow Through With Onboarding
After hiring, be sure to follow proper onboarding processes and state every detail about the job in clear terms. As much as possible, hire staff you can work with, or staff that has an understanding of what is expected of them.
Have a Training Program Specific to Your Home
People work better when they have someone guiding them, especially at first. Knowing this, you can pair up experienced staff with newer staff so they can learn the ropes directly from them. You can also have them trained in other soft skills and areas they need to build themselves up. A house manager may also come in handy in this case if you don’t have to oversee every training.
Assign Checklists
Nothing says “organized and committed to succeeding” like a checklist or a to-do list. Create a list of tasks that the staff needs to carry out per time, and make sure every staff has their copy. That way, they have a constant reminder of what to do, a schedule, and guidance on how to carry out their tasks.
The checklists should be made easy enough for them to understand and should have enough details so they do what you want the way you want it done.
Hold Regular Meetings
Put aside a convenient time to meet with all the members of your household staff, as a part of their training. These meetings must be regular as they will help encourage communication between you and your staff. During the meetings, you can exchange ideas with them, track their progress, and make corrections and adjustments where necessary.
How to Retain Household Staff
Having the staff is one thing, and training them is another thing. Keeping them around, however, is also a whole other ball game. As a lot of hired household staff either lose or quit their jobs barely a month after they are hired, you have to make sure yours stay. The following tips might help:
- Be clear about the work hours and conditions right from the start.
- Be nice to your staff, they’re people too.
- Give them time to themselves, and encourage them.
Get an Agency to Provide Already Trained Staff If you don’t have the time or energy to train new people who aren’t certain they will stay, consider hiring household staff through our recruitment agency.
