Keeping your distance ~ or when employees want to be your friend.

[Morticia]

Pay hourly and see how much talking they will do...plenty. Pay by the job and that will get them into gear much faster.
The last thing I want is someone to talk BEFORE they get to work and get the job done, its called wasting time. Like "clocking in" and standing around to talk, it is stealing from the employer to be paid to talk when they have a job to do. We are not discussing an office here, we are talking about an Inn. I know it sounds harsh, but if someone is paid to come and do a job, they are not a full time employee, so the job needs their attention. They can socialize afterward, not chew the ear off the BOSS..

Then again, there are the days when NO ONE checks out until 11 and the housekeeper is standing around twiddling her thumbs because she can't clean the living room- guests are lounging; she can't clean the porch- guests are lounging; can't do any rooms- guests are lounging; can't do the dining room- guests are lounging. Ugh.
We try to save the towel-folding for the morning but it only takes so long!
But, if there is nothing to do, we pay her for 2 hours to stand around and talk. And then 4 more hours to clean.
And there is nowhere she can go but right there in the kitchen where the guests see her sitting and twiddling.

 

[Innkeeper To Go]

Pay hourly and see how much talking they will do...plenty. Pay by the job and that will get them into gear much faster.
The last thing I want is someone to talk BEFORE they get to work and get the job done, its called wasting time. Like "clocking in" and standing around to talk, it is stealing from the employer to be paid to talk when they have a job to do. We are not discussing an office here, we are talking about an Inn. I know it sounds harsh, but if someone is paid to come and do a job, they are not a full time employee, so the job needs their attention. They can socialize afterward, not chew the ear off the BOSS..

Then again, there are the days when NO ONE checks out until 11 and the housekeeper is standing around twiddling her thumbs because she can't clean the living room- guests are lounging; she can't clean the porch- guests are lounging; can't do any rooms- guests are lounging; can't do the dining room- guests are lounging. Ugh.
We try to save the towel-folding for the morning but it only takes so long!
But, if there is nothing to do, we pay her for 2 hours to stand around and talk. And then 4 more hours to clean.
And there is nowhere she can go but right there in the kitchen where the guests see her sitting and twiddling.
.

Then again, there are the days when NO ONE checks out until 11 and the housekeeper is standing around twiddling her thumbs because she can't clean the living room- guests are lounging; she can't clean the porch- guests are lounging; can't do any rooms- guests are lounging; can't do the dining room- guests are lounging. Ugh.
We try to save the towel-folding for the morning but it only takes so long!
But, if there is nothing to do, we pay her for 2 hours to stand around and talk. And then 4 more hours to clean.
And there is nowhere she can go but right there in the kitchen where the guests see her sitting and twiddling.

Sounds like you need to consider a different start time for your housekeeper. For a small inn with an 11 o'clock checkout time, 9 o'clock would be way too early for housekeeping to start.
Unless you can afford to keep paying someone to sit around, that is.
A few minutes waiting to get into rooms or into the common areas, I can understand. But if it's 2 hours, it's generally because the scheduling is just way off to begin with.

 

[Morticia]

Pay hourly and see how much talking they will do...plenty. Pay by the job and that will get them into gear much faster.
The last thing I want is someone to talk BEFORE they get to work and get the job done, its called wasting time. Like "clocking in" and standing around to talk, it is stealing from the employer to be paid to talk when they have a job to do. We are not discussing an office here, we are talking about an Inn. I know it sounds harsh, but if someone is paid to come and do a job, they are not a full time employee, so the job needs their attention. They can socialize afterward, not chew the ear off the BOSS..

Then again, there are the days when NO ONE checks out until 11 and the housekeeper is standing around twiddling her thumbs because she can't clean the living room- guests are lounging; she can't clean the porch- guests are lounging; can't do any rooms- guests are lounging; can't do the dining room- guests are lounging. Ugh.
We try to save the towel-folding for the morning but it only takes so long!
But, if there is nothing to do, we pay her for 2 hours to stand around and talk. And then 4 more hours to clean.
And there is nowhere she can go but right there in the kitchen where the guests see her sitting and twiddling.
.

Then again, there are the days when NO ONE checks out until 11 and the housekeeper is standing around twiddling her thumbs because she can't clean the living room- guests are lounging; she can't clean the porch- guests are lounging; can't do any rooms- guests are lounging; can't do the dining room- guests are lounging. Ugh.
We try to save the towel-folding for the morning but it only takes so long!
But, if there is nothing to do, we pay her for 2 hours to stand around and talk. And then 4 more hours to clean.
And there is nowhere she can go but right there in the kitchen where the guests see her sitting and twiddling.

Sounds like you need to consider a different start time for your housekeeper. For a small inn with an 11 o'clock checkout time, 9 o'clock would be way too early for housekeeping to start.
Unless you can afford to keep paying someone to sit around, that is.
A few minutes waiting to get into rooms or into the common areas, I can understand. But if it's 2 hours, it's generally because the scheduling is just way off to begin with.
.

MOST of the time, everyone is gone by 9:30. It's rare we get the 11 AM check out crowd, but when we do, it's ALL of them! I have a list of things to do when there's nothing to do (yes, that's the actual name of the list) but when guests are occupying ALL the rooms there's not much to do. Weeding is on the list but the person needs to know a weed from a plant and not many do.
The housekeeper HAS to be done by 1 PM as I cannot STAND to have no time to myself between her leaving and guests checking in. It's ALMOST worse to have a housekeeper who is here all day than to do the work myself.
To clean 7 rooms really does require the full four hours I allot. Even so, there is still work for me to do when the rooms are done and I need to be able to get in and out of the laundry room unimpeded by housekeeping. (It's really just a bathroom, so no room for 2-3 people to be in there.)

 

[One Day]

Do not......under any circumstance be their friend.......you are their employer/boss.
If you work along side them........fine to exchange a joke or two.....Ok to keep a light atmosphere.......OK to listen and work out life situations.
Not OK to become friends
This counts for 99% of the people you will have working for/with you.....there is always that rare person.......who can be all that.
Remember though........all things change.........the only thing constant is you.