The Cleaner’s Guide to Getting Tips Without Cash

MoMost customers would happily tip their cleaner, but almost nobody carries cash any more, so the tip never happens.

If your company sends invoices and takes card payments online, there is a simple fix: let customers add a tip when they pay. It takes seconds for the customer, it goes to the people who did the work, and it does not cost you a penny.

This post is for cleaners and for cleaning business owners, including owners who still clean jobs themselves. It explains how online tipping works with ProCleanerUK, what to say to your boss if you are a cleaner, and why it is worth switching on if you run the business.

How online tipping works

When a customer pays an invoice online, by card through their customer portal or from the payment link sent by text, they see a simple tip choice before they pay. They can pick a preset amount or type their own.

We see customers pay more than the preset amounts quite regularly, typing in their own figure because they want to say thank you properly. Over a week or a month, that can make a real difference to your wages.

Here is what happens next:

1. The customer pays and adds a tip. The tip is kept separate from the invoice, so it never changes what the customer owes.
2. The tip goes to the staff on that job. If two or more cleaners worked the job, they share it equally.
3. You are told about it. You get a notification, and your own tips show on your staff dashboard so you can see what you are owed.
4. You are paid with your normal pay. Your boss pays it out through payroll or your staff invoice, and it is marked as paid so nobody is paid twice.

Your boss controls all of this from one place, the Tips page, which shows every tip, who it belongs to, and what is still owed to each person.

If you own the business and clean jobs yourself, the same rules apply to you. When you are on the job, the tip is yours, and it is tracked the same way as everyone else’s.

What to say to your boss

Keep it short and friendly. Something like this works:

“A lot of our customers say they would tip but have no cash on them. There is software that lets them add a tip when they pay the invoice online. The tips go to the team, it costs us nothing, and customers like being able to say thank you. Could we look at it?”

Three points that help your boss say yes:

• It costs the business nothing. The tip is the customer’s money, passed on in full to the team. It is not added to the invoice or taken from the company.
• It is good for keeping staff. Cleaners who feel appreciated, and who can see what customers think of their work, tend to stay. Recruiting and training someone new is far more expensive than a small tip.
• It does not make extra work. Tips are tracked and split automatically, so there is no cash to count and nothing to remember at payroll time.

If you run the business or clean yourself

Online tipping is just as good for you as it is for your team.

• Extra income on every job you do yourself. Customers add a tip when they pay, and when you are the one who did the job, it comes to you. We see customers pay more than the preset amounts quite regularly, so it adds up.
• A better deal for your staff, without raising wages. If you have a team, their tips are on top of their pay. That helps you keep good cleaners and makes recruiting easier.
• No cash to chase or count. Every tip is recorded against the invoice and the job, and split automatically.
• Nothing falls through the cracks. If a tip comes in on a job with no cleaner assigned, you can give it to the right person from the Tips page.
• A nicer customer experience. Paying and saying thank you takes seconds, and it makes your business look modern and professional.

To be clear about how it works: tips belong to the person who did the work. If you have staff, their tips go to them. If you clean the job yourself, the tip is yours.

What else your boss gets

Tips are one part of ProCleanerUK, which is software built for UK cleaning companies. Your boss also gets:

• Invoicing and online payments. Customers pay by card from a link or their own portal, so there is less chasing and fewer late payers.
• Payroll that matches the work done. Hours, arrival and departure times and tips all feed into pay, which means fewer mistakes and fewer queries from staff.
• A staff app for the team. You see your jobs and your tips in one place instead of ringing the office to ask.
• Jobs, customers and invoices in one system, instead of spreadsheets and paper.

That is the real pitch: tips make you happier, and the rest makes your boss’s week easier.

Questions cleaners ask

Will tips be guaranteed? No. Tips are up to the customer. Online tipping makes it easy to give one, but nobody is forced to.

Do I have to do anything? No. Your boss switches it on once in the settings. After that it works by itself.

What if the job has no cleaner assigned? Your boss can give the tip to the right person from the Tips page, so it is not lost.

How do I know I got my share? It shows on your staff dashboard, and your boss marks it as paid when it goes out with your pay.

I own the business and clean myself. Do I get the tips? Yes, when you are on the job. Tips go to the person or people who did it.