Episode 126

Quitting at 4am

If you’ve owned a cleaning company for more than a minute, you’ve probably lived through the 4 a.m. “I quit” text. Recently, one of my consulting clients shared that they woke up to their phone “blowing up”. Those messages were not from the employee. They came from the customer. Shouting into the phone, he wanted to know where the cleaning team was and why his building had not been cleaned last night.

Obviously woken from sleep moments before, my client had nothing to report other than, “I’m sorry and I’ll find out.” This is not a great 7:00am-start to your day. Looking into their messages, my client found that explanation. The employee had “given notice,” all right. A three hour notice. This is where my client paused.

Quitting Wears Your Down

I could feel the weariness in that voice. Another resignation on short-notice. The only reason my client had slept to 7:00 am was that he had spent the night before cleaning. That account had perviously been covered and that front-line cleaner had quit via a no-call no-show. This left the company short-handed and stretched, again. That’s the reality many of us face in this industry.

COVID and Quitting

Since the pandemic, the two-week notice has become the exception, not the rule, across many industries. In commercial cleaning, staff turnover often reaches 400–500% annually. If you feel like you’re constantly hiring, you’re not crazy. And I want to be clear that this is not a failure. It’s a signal. If this is you, please listen. It’s time to build systems that account for the messy, human, unpredictable nature of frontline work.

Dealing with Quitting  & Disrespect

What do you do when the phone pings at 4 a.m. with a quit text you don’t see until 6 a.m.? First, you roll out of bed and head to the site. Owner coverage isn’t a strategy, but it is a necessary emergency valve. On the drive, you start calling your on-call bench, per diems, and your “ready list”. These are people you’ve already interviewed and qualified who can be slotted in quickly. That list doesn’t build itself; it’s the outcome of consistent recruiting, pre-screening, and staying in contact with candidates, not just when you’re desperate. Then, you zoom out.

Start Planning for No-Shows

If you’re always reacting, your business is training you—instead of you training your business. Stabilize with these pillars:

• Build a relief bench. Have dedicated floaters or per diems whose job is to ask, “Where do you need me today?” Even better when they get assignments a day ahead. If that’s not possible today, try to get there. I can show you how. This part of your team already expects variability. That makes them valuable to you!
• Maintain an active pipeline. Keep interviewing and pre-qualifying weekly, even when fully staffed. Turn “open req” hiring into a standing process.
• Systematize cross-training. The more sites and tasks your people can cover, the faster you can plug gaps without panic.
• Treat complaints as training moments. Don’t weaponize a customer’s frustration. Do a root cause analysis: Was this failure due to training? Supplies? Equipment maintenance? Access issues? Solve the cause, not the symptom.
• Protect your culture, especially when under pressure. Your team hears more than your words. They hear your teeth grinding attitude. If you transmit panic, blame, or resentment, your people won’t pick up your call the next time. If you transmit clarity, appreciation, and purpose, you’ll get helpers.

Develop a Responsive Culture

This industry can feel negative because the job is to remove what’s wrong. Flip that script to your advantage. When someone helps you cover a site last-minute issue, praise in public, reward in private, and document the save. When a mistake happens, frame it as “we created a training moment.” People stay where they feel seen, supported, and set up to win.

Good Leadership Never Quits

Remember that leadership and positive integrity show up when nobody is watching. And developing that for yourself and your team is like sports-training. When it becomes a habit,  everyone will see it. Your response at 4 a.m. becomes your team’s memory of you at 4 p.m. The goal isn’t to avoid every emergency. It’s to make each one smaller, rarer, and more predictable through systems, training, and culture.

Quit Quitting – Start Planning & Doing

If you’re a cleaning company owner who’s had enough of firefighting at 4 a.m. call me. I help my clients develop a calmer, more profitable operation. My mentoring clients value that I coach them on building benches, pipelines, and cultures. Once in place, these keep clients happy and teams engaged. Reach out to schedule coaching and transform the way your company runs.

 

This Week’s Podcast transcript can be downloaded here for free.