Onboarding a New Cleaner on the Team App in One Day
A new cleaner's first day is mostly about cleaning: how your company does a bathroom, what “done” looks like in a kitchen, how the team splits a home. The app should be the smallest part of that day, not a second training course. With a team app built around a few taps per home, it can be learned in one ride-along.
Before Day One: The Office Setup
Team GPS lets the office see where every team is, as covered in Team GPS on the Office Map: Knowing Where Every Cleaning Team Is. A new cleaner shows up on that map, and on everything else, only once the office has set them up.
Do this the day before:
- Add the employee. Name and contact details in the employee list.
- Give them a PIN. A personal PIN that nobody else uses.
- Assign a team. Put them on the team they will ride with, such as Team 2.
- Send the link. Text them the team app link and your company login, and tell them their PIN privately.
Ask them to open the link that evening if they can. If it loads, half the setup is done before they arrive.
Morning: Install and Log In
At the start of the first day, before the team leaves:
- Install the app to the home screen on their phone. On iPhone that is Safari's Share button and Add to Home Screen; on Android, the Chrome menu and Install app or Add to Home screen.
- Log in with the company login and their PIN.
- Clock in, so the first thing they learn is the first thing they will do every day.
- Open today's list and point out that it is the team's homes in route order.
Five minutes, and they are ready. If the phone cannot run the app, sort that out now and have them follow the team lead's phone for the day.
The First Home: Watch
At the first home, the new cleaner watches the team lead run the app out loud:
- “Here is the card. Recurring Maintenance, 3 bed, 2 bath, dog. Plus change linens.”
- “Entry notes say lockbox on the back door, alarm panel in the garage, skip the office.”
- “We're in. I tap Start. Now a couple of before photos of the kitchen and main bath.”
- After the clean: “After photos from the same spots, check the linens are done, tap Complete.”
Talking through it is the training. The new cleaner sees that the app is just the beginning and end of each home, not something they wrestle with during the clean.
The Second and Third Homes: Do
From the second home, hand the app to the new cleaner. They read the card aloud, tap navigation, tap Start, take the photos and tap Complete, with the team lead watching. Mistakes here are cheap and easy to fix.
Things to point out along the way:
- Extras are the checklist. If it has a plus, it gets done. If it does not, it does not.
- Read past notes. What the last team learned about this home.
- Skip needs a reason. Show what a good skip note looks like even if nothing gets skipped.
- Lunch and breaks go on the clock. Tap out and back in.
- Customers text the office. They do not need to give out their own number.
End of Day: Clock Out and Questions
Finish with the last Complete, then clock out together. Ask the new cleaner what was confusing. The usual answers are which button to tap first and where to find the entry notes, both of which settle by the end of the first week.
Give them a short written reminder too. Five lines on a card works: log in with PIN, clock in, read the card, Start then photos, after photos then Complete. Many teams keep that card in the supply caddy for the first couple of weeks.
The First Two Weeks
Keep the new cleaner on the same team for at least the first two weeks. They will see the same homes come around on their recurring schedule, and the notes will start to make sense as they meet the homes behind them. The team lead stays the one tapping Complete at first, until the office is comfortable with the new cleaner's photos and notes.
The other half of onboarding is the person who never wanted an app in the first place. If that is your new hire, read A Maid Service App for Cleaners Who Hate Paperwork. And if you are bringing a whole company onto the app at once, see Mistakes to Avoid When Rolling Out a Team App to Your Cleaners.
To see everything a new cleaner will use on day one, visit the MaidBossPro maid service app page.
New Cleaners, Ready on Day One
MaidBossPro gives each cleaner a personal PIN and a short, clear app they learn on a single ride-along.
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