April Newsletter 2020

Let’s Get Safely Back to Work

Our March newsletter seems like an eternity ago! So much has happened in the month that has passed. As you know by now, we decided to cease operations for April in conjunction with the statewide Stay at Home Order that was mandated by Governor Polis.

The recent news of the lifting of this order is our signal to get back into your homes and get rid of all the germs. We have spoken with many of you and we know you need us.

We need you too.

Currently, there is a ton of confusion about when and how housecleaning can resume. Statewide, we believe that the lifting of the order will allow us to work beginning on the 27th. We also must obey the orders of the city of Denver, and those differ from the state order.

Bottom line? We are hopeful that we can begin work as soon as Monday the 27th. The next possible date would be an opening on May 1st. Should Denver, or other local municipalities that we operate in vary their dates, we will be complying with those as well.

Meanwhile, Angela will be communicating with each of you, and if you need to reach her directly with questions, you may do so easily here.

When we do get back to work, we have implemented numerous safety protocols that we wish to share with you here, so that you will be comfortable knowing we are taking every precaution we know of.

Procedurally, Angela will be reaching out to each of you this week to gauge your interest in having us back. We realize some of you won’t be ready, nor comfortable yet. In that spirit, we want to cover what we are doing to make sure you are safe, and that we are safe as well. Here goes:

1. We have implemented strict social distancing in our office space. Our processes for loading vehicles, interacting with office staff, etc. have all been modified to minimize contact. In fact, the only contact our people will have is with the other persons on your cleaning team. We are controlling this as much as possible, as you will read below.

2. We will be taking each associate’s temperature every morning and logging it. We have taken temperatures of all of them this week, so we have a baseline number for each. Anyone with even a slight spike will be sent home as a precautionary measure.

2. PPE will be worn by each associate in your homes. In our world, this means gloves and masks, at all times. These will be disposed of after each clean, and a new set put on before entering your home.

3. We also have a cool product called Theraworx Protect that we feel will significantly improve our safety. More details below, we think you will like it.

4. All previous safety protocols (see last month’s newsletter) regarding equipment usage, disinfecting, etc. are also still in place. If you would like us to use your equipment, we are happy to do so.

There is no reason for our associates to get within six feet of you or your family. If you have any reason to discuss what is needed, just reach out to Angela and she will make sure the team takes care of it.

Finally, it is important to communicate that we are not forcing any associate to come and work. Anyone that is high risk or caring for someone high risk will be staying home until the situation changes. They will be paid for this time, thanks to the SBA payroll protection loan which we were able to obtain.

We are so excited to get back to doing what we do best. It is our mission to make your home as germ-free as possible and help us all get back to some sense of normalcy.

Thank you so much for your patience, your understanding, and most importantly, your loyalty. We hope to be here for years to come, helping you and your home stay clean and happy as we have since 1998.

Theraworx Protect

What if we told you there was a product that you could apply to your hands, face and all sensitive areas that would barricade you topically from Coronavirus for 4-6 hours?

Oh, and you don’t need to wash your hands while it’s on.

It exists, and it is called Theraworx Protect.

We have a friend that is in HAZMAT, former military and is now in the private sector teaching people about biohazards, chemical impacts, etc.

He recommended this product to us and we enthusiastically ordered some while we were away.

Each of your team members will not only have the above-mentioned PPE and precautions in their repertoire but they will each be covered in Theraworx.

Clinical studies all back this up and we are so excited to use it in the field.

We hope this gives you further confidence that we are taking every step of this reopening seriously.

To learn more about Theraworx Protect, visit them here. They have a bit of a lead time issue, as you can imagine, but the product is endorsed widely by the pros in the HAZMAT space.

Our Kind Clients

Wow.

The last thing we expected during this tough time was the outpouring of care and concern for our people by our wonderful clients.

The list is too long (and frankly most of you wouldn’t want the credit anyway) of clients that offered to pay for their cleans while we were closed. Many of you did.

Some of you sent big tips and/or wanted to compensate your team directly and that is appreciated too.

As we mentioned above, we were able to secure SBA funding for the Payroll Protection Act, and we have been paying our associates immediately upon receiving these funds. They won’t miss a check, thankfully.

There was, however, a window there where we had no revenue and a lot of concerned folks, so everything you did is and was greatly appreciated.

I am certain that you will see that gratitude in the faces of your team when they hit your homes soon.

Not only do they express their thanks but we as a company do as well. At a time when so many are being selfish and have lost focus on humanity, you have given us all reasons to believe in the goodness of people.

Thanks to all of you for sticking with us, we will see you all soon.

We love you.

How Does Your Home Make You Feel? 

What exactly does that mean?

For most of you it has changed a lot lately, as you have likely been spending way more time there than you are used to.

In our world, we have noticed things that maybe we had not before.

Our wonderful friend at Designer Premier, Marina Dagenais, published a good article on this in her newsletter this month.

She asks, “Is my Home Environment Affecting my Mental Well Being?” We dove in and loved what she had to say about architecture, natural light, colors, etc.

We aren’t sure what positive things will come out of this (we have some ideas in the column right of this) but we know reconnecting with our homes is one of them.

The article can be found here. We can only imagine the interior design business is a little slow right now, so when it comes time to get some pros involved, please reach out to Marina at Designer Premier.

Life After a Pandemic

Yes, we know this is far from over.

But why not take a minute to think about what good might come of this? There must be something?

We can come up with all the negative things about this time….but those are easy to find.

How about a short list of good things that will come out of this?

Air quality is better. Fewer traffic accidents for sure, at least for the moment.

More interpersonally, how about the value of a handshake. A hug? Being outside? For us, our appreciation of these things is now much higher than ever. The next hug we give might last 30 seconds.

Awkward.

Anyway, a cool, quick article on Medium.com, about the positive changes we might be able to take away can be found here. 

For those cerebral types in our readership, we found a deep rabbit hole to go down relative to the economy.

The main premise involves looking at other pandemics in the past and seeing what worked and didn’t work.

The controversial headline is that social distancing might not just save lives but could actually be good for the economy.

Make sure you have a cup of coffee before you dive in, but if you are interested the article can be found here.

Monthly Award Winners

Sadly, we will not have any award winners since it was a partial month and things were very different around here.

I will use this space to say thanks publicly to all our people that have risked and will be risking their safety to make sure your homes are clean.

While we are taking every precaution, leaving one’s home increases the risk above zero regardless of what one is doing.

So today, I salute our awesome people for taking pride in what they do.

They miss you as much as the company does, and I know they are excited to help improve your lives, even in little ways like making sure your home is clean.

Thank you ladies!

Queen Bee Corner

by Angela

It feels good to reach out to our clients again, even if it is in the form of my monthly Queen Bee Corner.  Seems like forever since we have seen you all.

I have received quite a few client texts over these past few weeks, anxious to know when we are coming back. When the stay at home order is lifted is the answer, and it can’t be soon enough for us either!

I am still working, albeit from home, planning our strategies for entering a new world when we come out on the other side of this. So, feel free to text or call if you want to touch base.

I need to take a moment to thank all our clients for the incredible generosity you have shown to our ladies during this time.   Generosity of spirit, monetary generosity, and overwhelming generosity in your concern for their health and welfare.  My heartfelt thanks to you all!

Be safe,

Queen Bee