- An understaffed cleaning company in Oregon says it's had to turn down some customers.
- Owner of Sakred Space told KTVZ that he'd been struggling to hire the right staff.
- "Not a lot of people want to go back to work at this point, still," he said.
The owner of a cleaning company in Oregon says he's had to put some customers on waiting lists for house cleans and turn down others because he can't get enough staff.
Zachary Avis, who owns cleaning business Sakred Space in Central Oregon, told local media outlet KTVZ that business is booming as the holiday season approaches but that the company is looking for at least two more members of staff.
Alongside himself and his wife, he currently has just two employees, he said. KTVZ reported that some Avis employees left during the pandemic, without elaborating.
Avis said that it was "just really difficult getting people to come in, good reliable people to come in."
"In order for us to grow, we need more employees," he said.
Avis said that the business is booked up until the New Year but that he can't take on new customers unless he gets more staff.
"Unfortunately, due to current staffing shortages, our company has had to downsize in clientele," Sakred Space posted on Facebook in November. The company said that it had held interviews but had high standards on who it hired and was waiting until it could find "the right fit."
Other cleaning companies previously told Insider that they're having to slash the number of houses they can clean because of a lack of labor, despite soaring demand for their services.
"Not a lot of people want to go back to work at this point, still," Avis told KTVZ.
It's a rhetoric that many business owners have repeated during the pandemic. But Americans overwhelmingly say that they do want to work, just for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. Some workers say that there is a wage shortage, not a labor shortage.
Workers say that the current imbalance in the labor market means that they're able to hold out for better jobs. Some workers have also been quitting to return to education, switch industries, or retire early.
In a job listing for cleaning techs posted on Facebook in October, Sakred Space said it paid staff between $16 and $18 an hour and said hires would have flexible schedules and wouldn't work weekend and evening shifts. Staff also get monthly professional massages, 30 days of training, and holiday bonuses, it said.
Some cleaners are going independent
Avis told KTVZ that he'd seen a rise in independent cleaners who offer lower prices to customers.
Ashley Lindell started working as a cleaner in Orange County, New York during the pandemic after quitting her full-time union job to become a caregiver. She told Insider that she'd struggled to find roles with both good wages and flexible schedules to fit around looking after her father and kids.
Lindell said that she started off making $28 an hour for gigs she got through a cleaning-services site she's listed on, and working some independent shifts on the side, before going fully independent in July. She now makes between $30 and $45 an hour, she said.
Lindell said she was able to schedule her work around school and appointments, and worked between 20 and 35 hours a week.
"I work to live, I don't live to work," she said.