How to hire trustworthy domestic staff

There’s no doubt domestic workers are needed at some point in our daily life, especially for busy parents who find themselves juggling work, kids, and household chores. Getting the service of domestic staff such as nannies, drivers, cooks, etc. can be a great resource to get everything needed in your home, sorted.

However, it’s important to get it right when hiring domestic workers or service providers to ensure you get the best out of the arrangement. For instance, in a place like Nigeria, there are reservations around trusting domestic workers. Most homes that need domestic services are sceptical about employing domestic workers due to the awful experiences of customers who have dealt with them in the past. Even social media platforms have rendered no help on this issue with stories and videos shared to amplify these experiences with domestic workers.

How can you hire a trustworthy domestic worker? And how can you be certain that the person you’re allowing into your home has a great professional record and can be trusted with your home and family?  Here are some things you should consider:

Background and credibility checks

These checks are key and it is preferable that this is carried out by a professional who has experience. This should include address verification, guarantor check & past employment verification. An example of such a service is SweepSouth Connect that has partnered with one of the best cleaning agencies in Lagos and Abuja to bring you a service you can trust, taking out the hassle of pre-vetting a domestic worker and other cleaning services yourself. 

All Pros featured on the platform are required to submit three references from past customers to be checked. Pros must also keep a quality standard and receive an average of 4 stars or more from references to remain activated on their platforms. Ratings and honest reviews are also encouraged by the community to ensure customers receive reliable & and vetted home services.

Customer ratings and reviews

Beyond documentation, customer ratings need to be taken very seriously. This is a direct channel of communication between customers and service providers, allowing them to better understand where they can improve. It allows you to rate the services rendered by the domestic worker or cleaning service you’ve hired if the person understands your needs, your specific requests, and their overall contribution to your home. Any domestic worker or service provider with low ratings should not be considered for hire. Aside from ratings, a collection of customer reviews about the level of the service of a domestic worker or domestic service provider will also help to know the right and trustworthy candidate to hire.

Customer reference

This is more critical today than ever before. Customers today want to see robust information about the product or service before buying it and they would rather hear from a trusted peer than someone from a company’s sales department. Customer references, especially from past customers, help because it allows you to see what is great about the service provider or domestic worker you’re about to hire.

Personal meeting

Interviewing a domestic worker or domestic service provider is a crucial task in your quest for a trustworthy and capable domestic helper. This step of the hiring process is difficult to outsource as it depends on your fit with the candidate and intuition, and because the domestic worker or cleaning service provider will take care of your children and your home. It is advisable to connect with them first by requesting their services for a day and spending time with them at your home to see if they will be a good fit for you and your family.

Social media profile check

Almost everyone has a sizable social media presence from well-known platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, to more niche services like gaming sites. Reviewing the profile of a domestic worker or service provider's social media footprint provides a wealth of information about the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviour of a person.

Professional, trustworthy, and honest domestic staff or cleaning service providers might be hard to find, but with the help of apps like SweepSouth Connect, a solution is only a few clicks or taps away.