I hired a few day workers last month and thought I would share the details. It was so easy and I’m thrilled with what they got done.
First thing to do is go online to the Day Worker Center of Mountain View and find the “reserve a worker” button. Answer their questions about your job. Don’t be too picky about how well they speak English (that’s one of the questions). All of them can understand you, and some of the best workers might now be able to respond to you in perfect English, but they’ll be great at the task at hand.
I picked up my employees the next morning and brought them to my house. I hired two different employees, one at a time, a few weeks apart. The first one did most of what I asked him to in the 4 hours that he stayed at my house. The second worker, a few weeks later, flew through the work and even suggested more tasks that he was able to do. Really, the second he walked into my backyard, he said, “wow, there’s a lot that I can do here for you. I can paint the deck and fix the fence and repair the broken gate.” That’s how you can tell that they’re going to be good, when they start telling you what needs to be done without you having to point out everything. His name is Jose Sanchez and I’ll definitely be hiring him the next time I need help.
There’s a list of the workers and when someone is hired for more than 4 hours, their name goes to the bottom of the list so that everyone gets hired eventually. If you find one of the workers that you really like, you can request that person.
My husband works from home, and he was there the entire time, although now that I’ve met Jose, I would not hesitate to hire him again, even if I was home alone.
The more information you give the Day Workers Center, the better they’ll be able to do at matching you with the perfect employee. If you want to call them, instead of filling out the online form, that would work great too. They know their workers and they know what each person is capable to doing.
I paid them 20.00 per hour, cash, and I tipped each of them because I would tip anyone who is providing a service to me. I had each of them do yard work. Jose asked for different tools than the ones I had on hand, and I didn’t own the exact kind of rake he wanted, so I ran over to the new ACE Hardware and got what he wanted. I left him working in my yard while I ran the errand.
My office, the Chamber of Commerce, needs a few things done and we’ll be hiring Jose before we have our Holiday Open House. I feel relieved about finally finding an employee that I want to hire again and again.
You don’t have to do everything yourself, whether it’s in your home or office. There are plenty of day workers who would love to help you rake, clean, make repairs, put up holiday lights, move furniture, paint, whatever. It’s such a relief to find reliable help!