On this page: Key takeaways · Why is hiring cleaning staff at volume different? · Where does cleaning hiring usually go wrong? · How do you hire cleaning staff at volume, step by step? · What should every cleaning applicant be asked? · What changes for staffing agencies and contract cleaners? · What are the limits of this approach? · How Radius helps · FAQ
Key takeaways
- Nearly half of Dutch cleaners worked under 20 hours a week in 2025 (CBS), so a cleaning vacancy is usually a few blocks of hours.
- Cleaning hiring tends to fail on what the advert hides: split shifts, travel between sites and the language the role really needs.
- Map the work as shift blocks per site, then ask every applicant the same questions about hours, travel and language.
- Check documents before the first shift, and keep everyone you interviewed placeable for the next block.
Why is hiring cleaning staff at volume different?
Because most cleaning jobs are small, scattered and timed around the client.
In 2025, an average of about 223,000 residents aged 15 to 75 worked as cleaners in the Netherlands, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS). About 188,000 usually worked part time (under 35 hours a week), 106,000 under 20 hours and 56,000 under 12 (CBS StatLine, 2025). In a January 2023 sector note, UWV, the Dutch employee insurance agency, explained why longer hours are hard to offer: many clients only buy a few hours of cleaning a day, and many cleaners choose cleaning as a side job or have other work too (UWV, 2023).
What the cleaning workforce looks like, and what it means for hiring
Shares: our calculation from rounded CBS figures.
The wider market is tight too: UWV rated 87 of 93 occupation groups tight or very tight in the first quarter of 2026 (UWV, 2026).
Where does cleaning hiring usually go wrong?
At three points: hours, travel and language.
Hours. The advert says "20 hours, flexible", but the job is 06:00 to 08:00 and 18:00 to 20:00, Monday to Friday. Candidates who cannot do a split day find out at the interview or in the first week.
What the advert hides
“20 hours, flexible”
06:00 to 08:00 and 18:00 to 20:00, Monday to Friday
Candidates who cannot do a split day find out at the interview or in the first week.
Travel. Two sites with a short gap between them can work by bike and fail by bus. Ask how the candidate will reach each site at the start time, not whether they "have transport".
Language. Language requirements are easy to set by habit rather than by the job. Day cleaning in an occupied office may need Dutch with the client; night cleaning in an empty building may need only enough to follow safety instructions. UWV noted that many labour migrants work in cleaning, so a blanket Dutch requirement can shut out people who could do the job well. Set the language need per role.
How do you hire cleaning staff at volume, step by step?
Six steps, each built around hours, sites and travel.
- Map the work as shift blocks. For each site: area, start and end times, days, tasks, the language the role needs and the documents the client asks for.
- Put the facts in the advert. Hours, days, area and hourly pay first. If two blocks can be combined into a longer day, say so. We explain why in Tell Candidates About the 05:30 Start.
- Let people apply on their phone without a CV. Ask about hours, area and travel at the start instead.
- Interview every applicant the same way, recording the evidence for each requirement. Our guide to structured interviews at high volume shows how.
- Check documents before the first shift. Review identity, right to work and anything the client requires before anyone gets a key or a badge. What Dutch rules require is set out in Verifying Frontline Candidates.
- Keep everyone placeable. A candidate who could not do the 06:00 block may fit the 17:30 block next month, so record availability, area and travel.
Illustrative example. A contract cleaner needs cover for 12 office sites in one city. Mapped as blocks, the work is 18 morning and 14 evening blocks, three of them at a business park outside the bus network. The adverts now read "mornings 06:00 to 08:30, city centre" and "evenings 17:30 to 20:00, own bike or car needed", so applicants choose blocks they can reach.
See how this works for cleaning teams on Radius for cleaning.
What should every cleaning applicant be asked?
The questions that decide whether the week works for them.
Screening checklist for cleaning roles
- Which days and which hours can you work? Can you do a split day?
- Where do you live, and how will you reach each site at the start time?
- How many hours a week do you want, and do you combine cleaning with other work?
- Which language do you work in, and is it enough for this role's safety instructions and client contact?
- What cleaning experience do you have, and with which machines?
- Can you show identity, right to work and any document the client asks for?
Ask every applicant all six, in the same order, so you compare candidates rather than conversations.
What changes for staffing agencies and contract cleaners?
The client sets the requirements, and you must show the evidence.
An agency or contract cleaner recruits for many clients at once, each with its own sites, hours and documents. The requirement list per site becomes the central tool, and each candidate's evidence should travel with them: what they said about hours and travel, which documents were checked and when. Someone who fits one client's evening block may fit another's morning block, so people you already interviewed are often your fastest source.
What are the limits of this approach?
A better process cannot create hours that do not exist.
If a client buys 90 minutes a day at a site far from public transport, structure will not make that block attractive. That is a commercial conversation about combining sites, daytime cleaning (which UWV reported was rising) or longer blocks. The CBS figures are national averages for residents, so check your own region and your own drop out points too.
How Radius helps
Radius Hire is the AI hiring platform for frontline roles. It interviews every applicant and shows a recruiter the evidence for each requirement.
- The AI Interviewer runs a short, structured voice interview that candidates take on their phone, whenever it suits them, in the language set for the role. For cleaning teams it asks about hours, travel and experience.
- Match shows, for each requirement, whether it is backed by a document or a check, rests only on what the candidate said, or is still missing.
- Where the employer uses Radius Passport, it checks identity and right to work with a trusted verification partner and records certificates with their expiry dates, so a recruiter can review the evidence before an offer.
- Radius never rejects a candidate on its own. A recruiter reviews the evidence and makes every hiring decision. Agencies can see how this fits their clients on For agencies.