My mother taught me to never clean my own house if I was working full time and could afford to pay someone to do it, and far be it from me to go against my mother’s advice, so I’ve had people cleaning for me for forever & ever.
Up until this year, it’s always been single people, or a family (husband & wife team, more often woman & teenage kids). I’d find a person through word-of-mouth and hire them to come clean for me. Around Christmas time, I’d typically give them a bonus.
This time around, though, we opted to go with a cleaning service rather than an individual. So now I contract through a service, and pay them, not the cleaners directly. We’ve only had them a few times so far, and so far, so good. Most of the time (but not all) the same two women show up to clean.
So… do we give Christmas bonuses? I’m thinking no, because 1) they don’t work directly for me, the work for a company and the company is in charge of any bonuses and 2) I’m not at all sure how to deal with not always having the same people show up to clean.
Since it’s a service, I’d suggest contacting the main office and see how they handle tips. Community pot? Divide according to how often one cleans the tipper’s place? Pocket it all?
I would maybe fudge this a little. As you say, their employer is responsible for their bonus.
But, it might be nice to have something on hand, for example Dunkin donuts gift cards sort of thing, and be ready to give it to the ladies if it is in fact the same two women who arrive for that scheduled cleaning day.
What ended up happening is that Mr. Athena took the lead, and for this year, we’re not worrying about Christmas bonuses. A lot of it is that they’ve only cleaned for us a few times so far, and we’re not 100% sure we like the quality yet.