Housekeeper Job Description

Maids and housekeeping cleaners perform any combination of light cleaning duties to keep private households or commercial establishments, such as hotels, restaurants, hospitals, and nursing homes, clean and orderly. In hotels, aside from cleaning and maintaining the premises, maids and housekeeping cleaners may deliver ironing boards, cribs, and rollaway beds to guests’ rooms. In hospitals, they also may wash bed frames, make beds, and disinfect and sanitize equipment and supplies with germicides. Janitors, maids, and cleaners use many kinds of equipment, tools, and cleaning materials. For one job they may need standard cleaning implements; another may require an electric floor polishing machine and a special cleaning solution. Improved building materials, chemical cleaners, and power equipment have made many tasks easier and less time consuming, but cleaning workers must learn the proper use of equipment and cleaners to avoid harming floors, fixtures, building occupants, and themselves.

• Clean rooms, hallways, lobbies, lounges, restrooms, corridors, elevators, stairways, locker rooms and other work areas so that health standards are met.
• Clean rugs, carpets, upholstered furniture, and/or draperies, using vacuum cleaners and/or shampooers.
• Empty wastebaskets, empty and clean ashtrays, and transport other trash and waste to disposal areas.
• Sweep, scrub, wax, and/or polish floors, using brooms, mops, and/or powered scrubbing and waxing machines.
• Dust and polish furniture and equipment.
• Keep storage areas and carts well-stocked, clean, and tidy.
• Polish silver accessories and metalwork such as fixtures and fittings.
• Remove debris from driveways, garages, and swimming pool areas.
• Replace light bulbs.
• Replenish supplies such as drinking glasses, linens, writing supplies, and bathroom items.
• Sort clothing and other articles, load washing machines, and iron and fold dried items.
• Sort, count, and mark clean linens, and store them in linen closets.
• Wash windows, walls, ceilings, and woodwork, waxing and polishing as necessary.
• Assign duties to other staff and give instructions regarding work methods and routines.
• Request repair services and wait for repair workers to arrive.
• Deliver television sets, ironing boards, baby cribs, and rollaway beds to guests' rooms.
• Disinfect equipment and supplies, using germicides or steam-operated sterilizers.
• Hang draperies, and dust window blinds.
• Move and arrange furniture, and turn mattresses.
• Observe precautions required to protect hotel and guest property, and report damage, theft, and found articles to supervisors.
• Plan menus, and cook and serve meals and refreshments following employer's instructions or own methods.
• Prepare rooms for meetings, and arrange decorations, media equipment, and furniture for social or business functions.
• Take care of pets by grooming, exercising, and/or feeding them.
• Wash dishes and clean kitchens, cooking utensils, and silverware.
• Answer telephones and doorbells.
• Care for children and/or elderly persons by overseeing their activities, providing companionship, and assisting them with dressing, bathing, eating, and other needs.
• Carry linens, towels, toilet items, and cleaning supplies, using wheeled carts.
• Purchase or order groceries and household supplies to keep kitchens stocked, and record expenditures.
• Run errands such as taking laundry to the cleaners and buying groceries.

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-09 Edition, Building Cleaning Workers, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos174.htm