Housekeeper
Housekeepers play a vital role in maintaining cleanliness and order in both commercial establishments, such as hotels, and private residences. Their responsibilities include cleaning guest rooms and common areas, changing linens, organizing kitchens, and ensuring bathrooms are sanitary. In the hospitality industry, housekeepers follow strict guidelines to maintain uniform quality across guest accommodations, while private housekeepers may tailor their services to meet individual client requests.
Typically, housekeepers do not require formal education, as most training occurs on the job, making this profession accessible to individuals from diverse backgrounds. The work environment can vary widely, encompassing hotels, private homes, and even commercial spaces after hours. While the job can be physically demanding, requiring repetitive tasks and handling of cleaning products, it offers a pathway for advancement into management roles for those willing to pursue additional training. Overall, housekeeping is a crucial occupation that supports the hospitality sector and home management, appealing to a wide array of job seekers.
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Subject Terms
Housekeeper
Snapshot
Career Cluster(s): Hospitality & Tourism, Human Services
Interests: Maintenance, working with your hands, helping others
Earnings (Yearly Median): $33,450 per year
Employment & Outlook: 0% (Little or no change)
Entry-Level Education No formal educational credential
Related Work Experience None
On-the-job-Training Short-term on-the-job training
Overview
Sphere of Work. Housekeepers are responsible for general maintenance tasks both in the commercial hospitality industry and in private residences. They tend to perform basic room tasks, such as collecting trash and soiled linens, changing bedsheets, and cleaning toilets, showers, and sinks.
In the commercial hospitality industry, housekeepers are regulated by strict guidelines so that the quality and appearance of guest rooms are maintained in a uniform manner throughout an establishment. Private housekeepers are often responsible for dealing with the particular requests of their individual clients. Many housekeeping professionals are independent contractors who have a variety of clients. Some private housekeepers are live-in residents in their places of employment.
Work Environment. Housekeepers work primarily in guest quarters that are inhabited by hotel guests on a short-term basis and in the bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms, and other rooms of private residences. While large hospitality establishments separate housekeeping duties into particular tasks, employing teams comprising bed makers, linen cleaners, and bathroom cleaners, smaller establishments require housekeepers to perform all of the duties necessary to complete a guest room’s required daily maintenance.
Occupation Interest. Housekeeping attracts individuals from several professional and educational backgrounds. Since little to no formal education is required and much of the training for the position is done on the job, job seekers of all ages and skill sets are frequently employed as housekeepers.
A Day in the Life—Duties and Responsibilities. Housekeepers spend their days cleaning private rooms and common areas in hotels and private residences. In addition to daily maintenance, such as the removal of trash and soiled linens, housekeepers are also in charge of sweeping, vacuuming, organizing kitchen spaces, and mopping floors. Housekeepers who are employed by hotels and other commercial establishments are also responsible for replenishing toiletries and furnishing fresh linens, in addition to cleaning and maintaining public spaces such as elevators, lobbies, and business centers. Those employed by individuals or private residences may be charged with a variety of specific duties, from preparing meals to tending to laundry and other household chores.
Butlers (309.137-010). Butlers coordinate the activities of the household workers and receive and announce guests, answer telephones, deliver messages, serve food and drinks, chauffeur, or act as personal attendants.
Cooks (305.281-010). Cooks plan menus, cook meals, clean the kitchen, order groceries and supplies and may also serve meals.
Personal Attendants (309.674-014). Personal Attendants perform personal services for the employer in the home setting.
Companions (309.677-010). Companions care for older adults, disabled persons, or persons recovering from illness or injury in the home setting.
Caretakers (301.687-010). Caretakers do heavy housework and general home maintenance. They wash windows, wax floors, and hang draperies. They maintain heating and other equipment and do light carpentry and gardening if the household does not have a gardener.
Child Monitors (301.677-010). Child Monitors attend to children in a private home.
Work Environment
Immediate Physical Environment. Housekeepers work in hotels, private residences, and private clubs. They may also clean any number of different businesses after their hours of operation, including banks, schools, museums, and other public and commercial establishments.
Human Environment. While most housekeepers work alone, they may also work in concert with small teams of other housekeeping staff members.
Technological Environment. Housekeeping does not require extensive technical expertise, although some of the tools and supplies used by housekeepers require precautionary safety measures. Should a person working as a housekeeper wish to incorporate their services with an eye on advancing to a management position, they should become familiar with office suite and accounting software as well as Internet communication tools.
Professional housekeepers should also be aware of some of the inherent risk of their occupation. They are subject to repetitive motion injuries (RMI) because they do the same tasks over and over, and may also suffer injuries due to lifting heavy objects, such as mattresses and laundry baskets. The extensive variety and amount of cleaning products used on the job can also create additional health risks for housekeeping professionals, and care should be taken to minimize these risks.
Education, Training, and Advancement
High School/Secondary. No formal educational training is required to become a housekeeper. Workers who are new to the field are trained on the job by experienced or senior staff. Professionals enter the field of housekeeping from a variety of different professional backgrounds, including building maintenance, food service, and other custodial positions. High-school-level coursework related to home economics can be beneficial.
Postsecondary. Individuals interested in a career in housekeeping management can benefit from associate- or certificate-level coursework in food-service management, hospitality management, or small-business management. Many housekeeping managers for large commercial establishments gain experience as small-business owners prior to seeking management opportunities at the large-scale commercial level.
Related Occupations
− Janitor
Bibliography
“Data for Occupations Not Covered in Detail: Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners.” Occupational Outlook Handbook. Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor, 4 Apr. 2023, www.bls.gov/ooh/about/data-for-occupations-not-covered-in-detail.htm#. Accessed 24 Aug. 2024.
"Hotel Housekeeping." Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/occup‗workplace/hotel‗housekeeping.html#section-2-hdr. Accessed 24 Aug. 2024.