Welcome to our fourth issue of More Grime Than Time’s newsletter, designed for our clients to help keep you informed of our policies and procedures, to keep you up-to-date on recent happenings, and to offer tips to help us help you maintain your clean home!
Our New-ish Office! 865 S. Main Street, Suite 1, Plymouth, MI 48170
Sandy’s Finally Moving Out of the House
After running MGTT from my home office since, well, forever, I stumbled upon an office vacancy, right in the front part of the building of one of my long-time clients, Jason Loiselle of Loiselle & Associates. I have known Jason, who is both a valued client and my CPA, and his delightful wife Stephanie, for many years and his dad, Ron, who owns the building, for even longer. It was a big leap of faith to add this building cost to my overhead, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do and I thought if anyone knew if I could feasibly do so it would be Jason! Together we’ve done some updates to the building; the sign, some paint and siding, and I added an awning. I think it looks pretty darn nice. Jason and Stephanie and their entire staff are so friendly and pleasant to deal with – great neighbors. Hopefully, they can say the same! Feel free to stop in if you’re nearby.
Rachel and I are in most mornings. If you see my Grime Mobile (as my kids call my blue Honda CRV with my Logo) or Rachel’s gray Jeep, you’ll know we’re inside. The office is located on the east side of Main Street about halfway between Ann Arbor Road and Ann Arbor Trail. We got very accustomed and good at working from home during the COVID shutdown, so just because we’re not in the office doesn’t mean we’re not reachable. We can both handle email communications from our respective homes, and if you call or text our main phone line (734) 459-9866, we can both see the call and respond to texts. Sometimes the connectivity of our remote phone calls is flaky for lack of a better term, so if you leave a message and we don’t respond in a timely fashion, please text or email us as we constantly check for them.
The Employee Challenge!
As I’m sure you are aware, this past couple of years have seen some unique challenges for small businesses, especially in regards to staffing and, unfortunately, More Grime Than Time has not been exempt from those challenges.
We are fortunate to have many long-standing staff members who have cared for the same homes consistently for years, and that is indeed our goal. However; we have many clients who have been a “victim” of the volatile workforce and the turnover that is an unfortunate result. I have been the owner of MGTT since 1996, running it as a small business since the early 2000’s, and I have never before experienced such a reluctant and fickle workforce.
We’ve increased our staff’s pay so they’re above what they may get at other cleaning companies, yet still attracting and retaining new employees has been a huge challenge recently, and very frustrating for me, Rachel, and especially those of you who have had their schedules and cleaners changed repeatedly.
We have interviewed, hired, and trained over 50 cleaners since the shut down in March of 2020, and 10 of them are still working for us. We also have the natural attrition of any entry-level workforce.
I have speculated along with other business owners the cause of this worker shortage and it seems to be many things. I believe many people have discovered during the shutdown how much they can do without and still get by, perhaps allowing them more family time (and less daycare) by eliminating a job. I’ve heard people mention the “free money” aspect and the “laziness” that could have been a result. While this may have been true at one point, I’m sure that extra money has dried up by now. I think one huge cause of the worker shortage is the number of job openings caused by people leaving the workforce by retiring early or leaving/changing careers. Because of all of the additional job openings, job seekers have their pick of several different opportunities, many of which aren’t as physically taxing as house cleaning! And working part-time for a small business does not allow for health care options and other benefits that bigger companies may be able to provide, even for part-time workers.
While I appreciate referrals, we currently have a literal waiting list. We also have had cleaners on leave for various reasons (elder care, pregnancy, etc.) as well as cleaners who just weren’t doing good work and/or were unreliable and in violation of our attendance policy. While we try to be understanding of circumstances that may prevent a cleaner from working on a given day, we must maintain a level of professionalism that our clients expect, and last-minute cancellations do not reflect the kind of service we strive to provide.
For those of you adversely affected by the staff changes I’ve described, I am truly sorry. No one’s more frustrated about it than me and Rachel who waste precious time and resources bringing people on board only to have them leave within a few short weeks. I appreciate your patience and hope you will trust that we are trying our very best to find consistent and reliable cleaners who do a good job and have a desirable demeanor.
Please reach out if you have questions, concerns, or suggestions, or if you happen to know someone who likes cleaning and needs a good-paying, flexible job!
Employee Spotlight | Introducing: Alyssa Givas
“Some of you may know me as I’ve been working for More Grime Than Time for almost 7 years now. I’m a part-time nursing student who loves to cook, camp, climb and take care of animals. I’ve recently purchased my first home, and this will be the first year I get to plant my own garden, which I’m so looking forward to. Thanks for getting to know me!”
And for those of you who do know Alyssa, you likely treasure her for her consistency, reliability, efficiency, but mostly for her kind, friendly, supportive and loving nature. She truly is a valued member of our team, and Rachel and I always enjoy the repartee whenever Alyssa stops into the office.
Thanks to those of her clients who were very kind and willing to rearrange their cleaning schedule so that Alyssa could pursue her nursing career. It’s an exciting time to become a nurse, as there is such a great need and many incentives to help students achieve this worthwhile and very necessary livelihood. We wish Alyssa the best of luck and will support her throughout the pursuit of her dreams!
A Carpet Cleaner Worth Recommending!
We are very happy to announce a new carpet cleaning company that we can highly recommend. Chris Swickard owns Steam Team Carpet Cleaning, and is ready to help you clean and freshen your carpeting. Please either call him at (248) 840-8409 or email him at chris.swickard@facility-resources.com. Tell him MGTT sent you!
Good Reviews Rock!
We love, love, love good reviews! While you’re using Google Maps to locate our new office, or you’re online checking out our attractive website, or visiting our Facebook page, please consider writing a nice review for More Grime Than Time. As you know, sometimes only dissatisfied people will write reviews – we’d love to tip the scales to more accurately reflect how many happy clients we have. Some of the many ways to give us reviews include
- Google Reviews: Go to Google Maps, search for More Grime Than Time, then scroll down to enter a review.
- Facebook: Please check out our Facebook page. Just type in More Grime Than Time in the search box at the top of your Facebook page. Once you’re on our page, you can “like” the page, and if you look to the left side of the page you’ll see a section for Reviews. Your kind words are very much appreciated.
- Nextdoor.com: If you have a nextdoor.com account, you can search for More Grime Than Time’s company page and write us a review there, or, should you notice someone looking for a good cleaning service, spread the word! In fact, did you know that we’ve been a “Neighborhood Favorite” several years running? Yes indeed!
Love Easy Money?
Your reviews mean so much to us that we will give you $5.00 off your next cleaning once we see a review you’ve posted. Thanks in advance for your support!
