Cleaner possibly cheating on hours

Good on you Tow.........I have stripped my bed, put fresh linen on and my goodness, it's really taken the breath out of me. I am now another Tow ?

Oh David , this mouse doesn't play - I always give my clients a little extra time , especially if they're away on holiday . It helps me as I know that I'm getting things done thoroughly and to my satisfaction . I have never cheated anyone !

It’s not a good idea to tempt staff to cheat or even steal, cleaners are usually at the bottom of the pay scale and even 1 hours pay matters to them. I am always around the house and garden and don’t have her during holidays, we get along fine. If you allow staff to work unsupervised they will cheat in one way or another, that is from many years business experience.
When the cats away the mice will play!.

@gransal - a friend had a similar problem. She rephrased the suggestion pointing out that they would be doing a good thing to provide a few hours' gainful employment to a local young mum. (She didn't have anyone in particular in mind, but painted a mental picture of a young woman needing some extra cash who could only work during school hours). It worked!

Rotten state of affairs. At least you have a cleaner. My dh refuses point blank to have one . I have tried to point out I am not up to doing a lot of things because of health issues. He insists he will do it but his eyes are not up to scratch so he misses chunks of carpet when hoovering. large parts of toilet when cleaning. He wants to help so much but will not accept he is not up to it.

Alarm company could not confirm that alarm was working or not.
I can’t prove she wasn’t here and she can’t prove she was.
So I’ve implemented that her access has to be registered when deactivating and activating the alarm. If she was conning me she knows she won’t be able to do that now. And I’ve stopped all cleaning whilst I’m away. Shame.... if it happens again she’s out.

Once had a cleaner who came in while I was at work, things weren’t being done in her two hours. Then once during school holidays, I popped out for half an hour and she’d been and gone in that time. We discussed this and the situation improved !

That sort of thing would eat away at me so I would have to find out if the app/alarm was working properly or she was conning me and I would have to let her go. Trust, once lost, can’t be recovered.

Thanks girls - firstly I’m going to call the alarm company to make sure alarm was connected and working on that day.
Then with that info I’ll ask her to confirm her hours.
You’re right you trust people she has my house keys etc. I’m often away and have never taken much notice in the past.
If I keep her - she will no longer be asked to work whilst I’m away. Thanks all !

Good ideas there from wildswan and notanana . It's not pleasant to think someone who you think you can trust behaves like this.

Play dumb and say your app has been playing up, no wifi where you were or some such excuse and then get her accounts. If she has added a few hours and if you value her services, I would not question her. Pay her, but certainly keep a watchful eye.

"Please can you confirm the times you came and left on week of X date, the alarm system didnt pick up any activity and I need to know if it is faulty"

Decide if you want to keep her if she has cheated you. Then have a conversation - "Please forgive me, I'm really confused and have got your hours muddled up. The app isn't showing you as here on Friday but I thought you were - can you check where I've gone wrong, I don't want to underpay you". Or something similar. Non accusatory, allows her to decide how to respond.

I'd leave it this time, but mention the existence of the app (presumably a security device) quite clearly before you go away again. She'll know that she can't cheat you like that again.