Demand for housecleaners and housecleaning has seen the industry more than double in size since COVID and there is no sign of this slowing down. Aaron Watson, Director of Business Development at industry leader Molly Maid says that their Franchisees have ridden a wave growth that is unlike anything he has seen in his 16 years with the company. "A combination of the growth in the industry overall and the huge awareness of our brand have both definitely played a big part in this growth, but even more important is that we have been able to attract staff when many others haven't."
The company has been going strong for 41-years and learnt a thing or two about what it takes to be both a leading business and one that can attract and retain staff who will care for the thousands of homeowners who depend on them for their housecleaning needs. "People choose Molly Maid because they can depend on us and trust us in their home, so our cleaning teams are invaluable in delivering our high-quality service each and every time", adds Watson.
The company's thousand strong cleaners are employees and paid on a PAYE basis, trained on the small details of the Molly Maid cleaning system, get use of a company car, paid travel time and enrolled in each Franchisee's pension scheme. "And most importantly we care about our staff - as my nan would say, we treat them like we would want to be treated ourselves. "We are the best employers in the industry and always have been", says Watson.
A few years ago, Molly Maid identified the key criteria of their employment practices that make them the best employers in the home cleaning industry and then designed an instantly recognised brand to showcase this to potential employees. Their ‘Best Employer in Home cleaning' branding has been embraced by Franchisees and is now used across all their staff adverts helping them to triple their staff enquiries when others are struggling to attract staff. And with the recent changes in the visa and immigration rules for foreign born workers, Watson says this competitive advantage is going to be an even more important part of the Molly Maid system that will help Franchisees to build a successful business. "The size of the market is actually not as important as the staffing side of a cleaning business - if you can't attract and retain good staff, you won't be able to build a great business."
The company has also spent more time with Franchisees over the past few years on the best employer elements they have identified. "We bring our Franchisees together in January, and again in the Spring and Autumn to share the best practices to manage their business and at each one we are always discussing the elements that make us the ‘Best Employer'."
The results speak for themselves. Molly Maid has been recognised with a 5-Star Franchisee ranking by their Franchisees for the past five straight years, is always the highest ranked domestic cleaning Franchise in the annual Elite 100 ranking, cracking the top 10 in each of the past two years, and their business has increased by an astounding 65% since 2020. It adds up to a company who knows when it helps Franchisees to build their business, success follows.
For further information please visit Molly Maid
