3 tips for avoiding burnout

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Last Monday my ops manager told me she’s burnt out and thinking of quitting. Messages from cleaners, customers, and even from me are like nails on a chalkboard.

I get it. This is a tough business.

Strict deadlines, coordination overload, constant schedule changes, etc. But let’s be real. This is a complete failure by management (hi, that’s me)

The pressure to move faster, grow bigger, etc takes its toll on the people working with me.

So, how could this have been avoided? How can you prevent this same thing from happening to your team?

I clearly don’t have all the answers, but I have a few ideas what I would have done differently:

Enforce strict working hours for cleaners, hosts, management, etc.

Every business should have true working hours. And if not, it at least needs to have staff that is scheduled to work after hours.

My manager (and myself) have been guilty of checking email, responding to texts, working on the schedule, etc. up until late at night. This sets an unhealthy precedent that we can be reached at any time.

Split up responsibilities.

Just because you have an operations manager does not mean they are capable of doing everything your business requires. Hire additional help if you can afford it and automated repetitive tasks like supply purchases, notifying cleaners when the property is vacant, hiring a bookkeeper, etc.

Doing this ensures that you can spread the workload and weight of a cleaning business across multiple areas and avoid burnout.

Remove non-value add services.

One of the frustrating responsibilities was trying to find cleaners to complete tasks that were underpaid.

For example, we offer trash services to a property that is 30 minutes away from our closest cleaner. But we simply don’t charge enough for any cleaner to accept the job. So it doesn’t get done and causes stress for my manager. We have since removed that task from our plates and stopped offering it to our customer.

Take a moment to reflect

Airbnb cleaning is a tough business. Take the steps now to avoid burnout among your staff before it’s too late. Take a look at how you’re operating your business and see what changes you can make. Let me know by responding to this email what you decide to do!

Until next time,

Logan