Customer Waitlist Update
We created a waitlist in the Fall of 2020 and anticipated “catching up” within a few months. I’m sorry to say that a few months has come and gone and we have made very little progress. This is incredibly frustrating for us, as we’d love nothing more than to bring our service into more families’ homes. It must be all the more frustrating for all of you who are waiting!
While we have been able to consistently and reliably serve existing customers, we haven’t been able to add any new customers for over a month now.
It is my sincere hope that we can begin to grow our ranks more substantially in the near future. There are enough of you waiting for service for us to hire 6 full-time people today! We just need to find those people.
But alas, hope is not a plan, and I can’t promise a breakthrough on the staffing front anytime soon.
So, while we are working hard behind the scenes to get good, quality people trained to clean homes the Green Clean Maine way, all I can tell you is that we are thinking of you, our patient wait-listed customers. We will get to you as soon as we are able. I just can’t give you a timeline.
Why All the Waiting?
It is possible that we may not get through our backlog until something shifts on the labor front at a larger scale. There are several theories as to the cause of this unprecedented labor crunch, but if I were the betting type I’d put my money on three main reasons:
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People are scared.
Many would prefer to stay with the employer they know, or to stay home while we are still in a pandemic stage and until more is known about the vaccines.
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Lack of childcare.
Many schools are still remote at least part of the time, and daycare availability is still spotty. Based on conversations we’ve had with former staff and community members, many are opting to just stay home until the fall when school starts up again. Since many of our prospective employees are the primary caregiver to their children, this factor has a disproportionate effect on our company.
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Enhanced unemployment benefits.
While I don’t think that the enhanced benefits spell the end of the American work ethic, as some have suggested, I do believe that it makes more economic sense in many cases for workers to stay home rather than work. Decades of poverty-level wages mean people can make more than they ever have by staying home. I believe that until these benefits end, we will see an adverse effect on labor availability.
Can You Refer Me to Someone Else?
Unfortunately, all the good, reliable cleaning services we know in the area are in the same boat. Waiting lists have become common. Some folks have had luck on sites like Thumbtack and HomeAdvisor, but results there have been hit or miss.
Again, please accept my apologies for the long wait. We look forward to being in touch when we are able to begin moving through our list again. I’m sorry we can’t be of service at the moment.
Be safe and well,
Joe Walsh
Founder & CEO
