The Housekeeper Company is delighted to offer our clients Nationwide a broad range of first class housekeeping services. We are able to supply full or part time daily help and full time live in help anywhere in the UK.

With unrivalled access to highly sought after British, European, Filipino, Asian and other overseas staff, we are able to provide the very best housekeepers, housekeeper / nannies, housekeeper / cooks, mother’s helps, housemen / handymen /drivers, housekeeping couples and security staff.

Established since 1998, we are one of the biggest UK domestic staff agencies and have over 6,000 clients registered with us.

As self styled “domestic head hunters”,we offer our clients a unique targeted approach to home based recruitment and we are the only UK Agency who offers this service.

As we are able to offer our clients the full spectrum of domestic help, from housekeepers, cooks and nannies, through to chauffeurs and security staff, rather than just tell you who we have currently registered with us, we listen carefully to exactly what you are looking for and offer our impartial advice on what the best solution would be for your needs.

We then go about recruiting for your specific position,interviewing & checking that all the applicant’s details and references are in order. We only put forward applicants who match your exact criteria – we won’t waste your time with applicants who are the wrong fit.

There is no registration fee and no additional charge to use our head hunter service, we only charge a fee once you have agreed to hire one of our candidates.

We offer a totally bespoke and professional service, working to the very highest standards and pride ourselves on our exceptionally personal client service.

We are proud of the fact that many clients return to us time and time again to meet their needs, as their personal circumstances alter and more than 70% of our clients have used our services on more than one occasion.

Careful evaluation of both your needs and those of the applicant allows us to successfully match candidates to positions. We hand pick only applicants who suit your individual requirements and we won’t waste your time with inappropriate candidates. Indeed our feedback has demonstrated repeatedly that both client and applicant are generally extremely happy with our placements and also the way we deal with any problems or issues that may arise post placement.

Candidates usually range from 20-55 years old and we do our best to ensure they have cheerful, hardworking, flexible and reliable attitudes. We interview and check all our applicants.

All of our applicants are legitimately allowed to work in the UK, either as UK or EU citizens or as holders of Domestic Workers, Indefinite Leave to Remain or Spouse Visas.We do never deal with illegal foreign workers.

When looking for live-in domestic help around the home, it’s important to feel confident that your chosen agency completely understands the type of applicant who would best suit your household’s particular needs.

We fully understand that it’s sometimes difficult to decide exactly what type of domestic help would best suit your household, or your family’s needs. We are here to answer your queries and help you to make exactly the right choice.

The Housekeeper Company aims to make the whole process of recruiting housekeeping staff as easy as possible and we look forward to being of service to you.

Duties:

You can expect your housekeeper to do a combination of the following:

• Household duties: Cleaning, vacuuming, dusting & polishing.
• Laundry: Washing, ironing, making and changing beds.
• Cooking, food preparation and clearing up.
• Assist with shopping, run errands and put shopping away
• Help look after the children, school runs
• Babysitting
• Driving related duties, e.g. running errands and the school run. (Not all housekeepers are able to drive)

You can expect your Mother’s Help to do the following:

•  Housekeeping duties as above, but to a lower standard than a housekeeper.
• Driving related duties, e.g. running errands and the school run. (Not all mother’s helps are able to drive).

You can expect your Houseman / Handyman / Driver to do the following:

•  Driving duties, school runs etc
• Gardening
• Helping around the house
• Doing odd jobs & basic maintenance
• Swimming pool maintenance
• Running errands

You can expect your Housekeeper Couple to do the following:

•  Housekeeping and houseman / driver duties – as above.
• We offer different calibres of couples, this is reflected in the salary they command.

You can expect your Chauffeur / Driver to do the following:

•  Driving duties, school runs, clean and maintain cars to a high standard, run errands.

You can expect your Security Staff to do the following:

•  Protect and patrol your home

 

Interviewing, Availability and Trial Period

Some of our candidates are looking for immediate employment so we would advise you to act quickly when you receive an applicant’s details from us to avoid disappointment. We recommend that once we have short listed potential applicants for you, you have an initial conversation with them, over the telephone or on Skype or Facetime, to help decide who you would like to see for either an interview, a short trial (if possible) or to offer employment to.

Please bear in mind that English may not be the first language of many of our applicants, so whether by telephone or in person interviews should be informal and questioning should be uncomplicated e.g. asking about their families and interests, why they are working in the UK, what aspects of domestic work that they do best etc.

With permanent positions only, where the applicant is available, we are sometimes able to offer you a no obligation, short trial period (up to 1 week) so that you can get to know your potential housekeeper, houseman or couple and see them in action. You would have to pay the employee(s) for the week’s work, along with their travel expenses, but no Agency fee becomes due until after the trial has ended. If you feel the candidate is not for you then no fee is payable to The Housekeeper Company.

Our client’s find that the trial period offered, can be a good way of assessing an applicant’s capabilities and suitability for employment within the home. After all if you are choosing someone to be an extension of your household you need to be certain that not only are their credentials right for you, but that you gel with their personality.

If the candidate is still employed elsewhere then they may be able to do a trial day on their day off. I am sure that you can appreciate that an applicant won’t give up their permanent current job to do a trial week, but will want a firm job offer instead. In this instance it is not possible to offer a trial period, but we do offer a 12 weeks free replacement guarantee, where the 12 weeks starts from the date of commencement, not the date of acceptance and invoice.

Following a successful appointment, and upon receipt of the agency fee, within 7 days from the date of invoice, we are happy to offer a 12 weeks’ guarantee, during which time we will do our best to replace the employee if you are not completely satisfied with them. Please note that we invoice on placement of the applicant not on the start date.

If you do not find a suitable candidate after trying two applicants for a trial week, the agency charges a temporary fee of £100 per week, for each further applicant. This is a nominal fixed fee to cover our administration overheads. If you wish to retain your housekeeper for a second week’s trial, the weekly temporary fee of £100 per week, becomes due.

 

Holiday Entitlement

We recommend that you work to the Government guidelines, regarding statutory holiday entitlement, as all employees working in Great Britain are entitled to statutory paid holiday per annum.

For more information please follow the following link:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/Timeoffandholidays/DG_10034642

New full time staff accrue holiday allocation of approximately one week per three months worked for their new employer, but whomever you get to do your payroll will be able to advise you of the exact breakdown.

Bank and Statutory Holidays are included as part of their annual paid holiday, and are not taken as extra days above and beyond the annual entitlement.

The Agency does recommend that the employer maintain a degree of flexibility and understanding with regard to time off for any religious festivals, for example Easter and Christmas.

Employees are entitled to remuneration during their employer’s holidays, as these would be normal working days for the employee, unless they coincided with their own holiday leave. It may be helpful to communicate with your employee, with a view to them planning their holiday leave during a similar period – if mutually convenient.

Unpaid leave is discretionary and should be agreed between employer and employee.

On leaving your employment, your staff would be entitled to holiday pay in lieu of any holidays not taken.

 

Travel Arrangements.

Candidates that are already in the UK are happy to come for an interview or trial period. You would need to reimburse either the Agency or the applicants for their travel expenses. We can arrange the interview or trial for you at a mutually convenient time.

The EU applicants, not already in the UK, will pay for their own travel costs to the UK, once you have agreed to employ them. However, if you require them to come to the UK for an interview only, you will need to reimburse them for all their travel costs.

All applicants will need to be collected from the relevant airport, bus or railway station.

 

Contract of Employment

It is a legal requirement for you to issue a Contract of Employment within the first three months of employment. This protects you as much as the employee(s).

Along with many other pieces of useful information, concerning the employment of your staff, the Agency will give you a draft contract, and is happy to offer advice on the appropriate content.