HOSPITAL AND LODGING HOUSEKEEPERS California Occupational Guide Number 551 Interest Area 5-D 1995
THE JOB
Hospitals and lodging places must be kept spotlessly clean. Both patients and lodgers expect their rooms and surroundings to be free from litter and soil. Hospitals and other health service centers need sanitary, and sometimes sterile, conditions to be safe for patients and staff alike. HOSPITAL AND LODGING HOUSEKEEPERS are responsible for the careful and thorough on-going cleaning needed to achieve and maintain this environment.
Hospital Cleaners clean patients' rooms in health care centers, nursing homes and convalescent clinics. They also empty waste containers, clean bath rooms, wash beds and mattresses, put fresh linens on beds and distribute laundered gowns. Their duties include replacing soiled drapes and cubicle curtains. They disinfect equipment and supplies, using germicides or steam-operated sterilizers. They may clean offices, laboratories, examining and surgery rooms and dispose of waste materials.
Housekeeping Cleaners clean rooms and halls in hotels, motels and inns. They use wheeled supply-carts to carry linen, towels, toilet items and cleaning supplies on their rounds. They make beds and put fresh towels, toiletries, glasses and stationary supplies in the rooms. They may move furniture, hang drapes and roll up carpets.
Housecleaners move and arrange furniture, turn mattresses, hang draperies, dust blinds and polish metal work in lodging establishments. They prepare rooms for meetings and arrange decorations and media equipment and furniture for social or business functions. Part of this job usually includes receipt and storage of linens, collections of soiled linen for laundering and delivery of cribs or rollaway beds to guests. Housecleaners may also clean driveways and swimming pool areas.
WORKING CONDITIONS
Housekeeping workers do their tasks in modern, sometimes beautiful, settings. They stay on their feet for long hours while they stoop, bend, reach and climb stairs to do their work. The work involves lifting or moving furniture and equipment that weighs up to 50 pounds. They may deal with lodgers or patients who are sometimes upset or angry. Workers are frequently exposed to harmful cleaning chemicals. Specialists in hospital cleaning can come into contact with radioactive waste, used syringes and hypodermic needles. These specialists are trained to safely handle and dispose of harmful materials in special insulated bags -- procedures that reduce or eliminate health risks to themselves and to the environment; some hospitals classify them as environmental technicians.
EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK
The following information is from the California Projections of Employment published by the Labor Market Information Division.
Estimated number of workers in 1990 64,580 Estimated number of workers in 2005 82,940 Projected Growth 1990-2005 28% Estimated openings due to separations by 2005 17,260
(These figures do not include self-employment nor openings due to turnover.)
The occupation is expected to grow at an average pace. Openings that will happen due to workers leaving the labor market will account for about as many jobs as those produced by industry expansion.
The hotel and motel industry depends on business and tourist travel and should stabilize or grow as the economy recovers. However, if the level of health care coverage for active and retired workers and their families remains stable, health care facilities should continue to multiply and expand.
WAGES, HOURS, AND FRINGE BENEFITS
Housekeepers start as low as $4.25 per hour in small health care facilities or as high as $9.75 in larger hospitals and medical centers. With experience, they earn between $4.25 and $10.25 an hour, or more. Workers who handle contaminated or hazardous waste material usually earn the higher wage.
Motel and hotel housekeepers start out between $4.25 and $8.00 per hour. With experience, they earn from $4.25 to as much as $11.00 an hour. Salaries can vary widely between economy motels used for a one or two-night stay and the luxury resort hotels that are often a destination in themselves. Resorts and first-class hotels usually pay higher wages.
Housekeepers can be scheduled to work day, evening or night shifts, and often work weekends and holidays. Fringe benefits may include vacation and sick leave, medical and dental coverage and retirement plans. Some employers pay for vision care and life insurance.
ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS AND TRAINING
This work is learned on the job. Most recently hired Housekeepers, new to the occupation, have a high school diploma. Workers need both oral and written communication skills and must have the ability to deal skillfully with all kinds of people Ð some of them may be quite ill or upset. Hospitals may require a current first aid certificate.
High school students or first time job seekers who want to work in hospitals should do any type of volunteer job in hospitals, nursing or convalescent places to decide if they would really like to work around patients.
ADVANCEMENT
Housekeepers in both hospitals and lodging can be promoted to housekeeping supervisors; some advance to executive housekeeper or housekeeping manager.
Often hospital workers take nurse aide or licensed vocational nurse training and go into health care jobs. Others take special training and transfer to medical receptionist or hospital admitting positions.
FINDING THE JOB
Most job seekers get hired by applying directly to hospitals, hotels and motels. Employers also list jobs in help-wanted sections of newspaper ads. Job seekers should also register with the nearest Employment Development Department Job Service.
ADDITIONAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION
National Executive Housekeepers Association 1001 Eastwind Dr., Suite 301 Westerville, OH 43081 (614) 895-7166
RELATED OCCUPATIONAL GUIDES
Janitor and Cleaners No. 88 Private Household Workers No. 395
OCCUPATIONAL CODE REFERENCES
DOT (Dictionary of Occupational Titles, 4th ed., Rev. 1)
Cleaner, Hospital 323.687-010 Cleaner, Housekeeper 323.687-014 Housecleaner 323.687-018
OES (Occupational Employment Statistics) System
Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners 670020
Source: State of California, Employment Development Department,
Labor Market Information Division, Information Services Group,
(916) 262-2162.
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