Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 25th April 2024 Issue no. 1111

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New survey of house cleaners reveals cleanest and most respectful nations

A new survey of over 3,000 London-based independent cleaners reveals attitudes towards home cleaning and cultural differences. Cleaners were asked to vote on the most respectful, least respectful and cleanest nations as well answer questions on the cleaning habits of customers.

Overall, 98% of cleaners feel valued by their clients and 85% believe that that their customers are generally clean and tidy. However, according to respondents, 56% of householders do very little or no cleaning between scheduled sessions.

The British are regarded as the most respectful and cleanest customers with Americans coming second. Clients of Indian heritage fared worst in the survey.

Ana Andres, co-founder of TidyChoice who commissioned the survey commented on the main findings:

"The survey indicates that there are cultural differences in attitudes towards cleaning so it makes sense to hire a cleaner from a similar background. In practice, we often see customers choose cleaners from the same country.

“Notwithstanding some partisan voting, we are really surprised by the number of votes British clients received for both respectfulness and cleanliness. We have such a diverse range of customers and cleaners that we expected the voting to be much more evenly spread.

The survey also gives insights into our worst cleaning habits. The biggest complaints from cleaners are leaving dishes in the sink and leaving dirty clothing lying around on the floor."

Notable findings…

• British voted tidiest (54% total votes) and the most respectful (67% of total votes)
• Clients of Indian heritage voted dirtiest (36% of total votes) and least respectful (37% of total votes)
• 98% of respondents felt respected and valued by their clients
• 85% of respondents thought that their customers were generally clean and tidy
• 56% of respondents thought that their customers did little or no cleaning between visits
• Leaving dirty dishes in the sink and leaving dirty clothes lying around are the worst habits
• Respondents thought that bathrooms (43%) and kitchens (40%) became the dirtiest between visits

Cleanest and most respectful nations…

British customers are deemed to be the most respectful accounting for a whopping 67% of votes. “Even taking not account partisan voting this is a ringing endorsement of the respectfulness of the British,” says Ana.

“We also asked cleaners to vote for the most disrespectful nationalities. Clients of Indian heritage topped the poll with 36% of total votes whilst the British came third with 15%.”

Client cleaning habits…

What do cleaners think about our cleaning habits? In general, cleaners think that we are clean and tidy.

However, once we hire a cleaner, we rely on them to do the bulk of cleaning work in the house. According to cleaners, 56% of us do little or no cleaning between visits.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the rooms that get the dirtiest between visits are the bathrooms and kitchen.

What are our worst cleaning habits?...

TidyChoice asked respondents to give their worst cleaning experience. 18% of those surveyed said that they never had a bad cleaning experience. Of the remainder, the most common bad experience is not having enough booked time to clean very dirty properties (36% of total experiences). The second most common bad experience for cleaners is cleaning bathrooms and toilets.

In terms of cleaning habits, the worst habits are leaving dirty dishes in the sink and dirty clothing on the floor. Another prominent theme is not providing proper cleaning equipment and supplies.

Attitudes towards cleaners…

When asked if they agree that their clients treated them with respect, the overwhelming response was that we do. Londoners seem to value the work that cleaners do.

T: 0208 1331830
W: www.tidychoice.com

6th February 2020