u/QuantumDrej

This isn't my first cleaning job, just my first time working at a nursing home. I'm only here because I got laid off last year and I've been desperately trying to get out.

There's six of us housekeepers for the entire building - five full timers and one part timer. It just feels as though there's a ridiculous amount of work we're expected to do and very little to no break time in between.

• The section I'm forced to work in is independent living. Each of us gets 7-9 rooms per day to clean, back to back with no breaks in between. We get one 30 minute lunch break, but because we have so many rooms to clean per day I have to even cut that short just to get in there on time. There's also two 15 minute breaks allowed, but I'm lucky if I have the time to take even one of those with the amount of rooms I have to clean.
• For 1 BR/1 bath apartments, we're given 30 minutes. 2 BR/2 bath apartments get 1 hour. All of this is regardless of how dirty the room is. And in that time, we're expected to clean not only the bathroom/kitchen/bedrooms/living room, but also windows, decks, and patios if the room has them. I basically have to cut corners just to get out of there in time.
• Management is obsessive about monitoring what we're doing at all times. The building is covered in cameras in every corner (some right next to each other) to keep an eye on the residents. But I feel as though management almost exclusively uses it to surveil us employees. The moment a task isn't done or someone has a complaint, they're all over the cameras to see who was where at any given time.
• We're not allowed to sit down or rest during the day outside of the breakroom - we always have to be seen cleaning. Looking busy is fairly standard for most jobs, but I got a talking to once because I was "caught" sitting down for five minutes to take water breaks in an empty dining room. They also don't want us standing around for more than a few minutes unless we're actively cleaning something. But again, it's hard to take our breaks when we're running between rooms nonstop.
• The managers show a lot of favoritism towards one of my coworkers. She gets the easiest job in the building, which is laundry. They refuse to train anyone else on laundry and instead keep moving the rest of us around the different sections in the building, which is starting to piss off the residents who are used to having specific people cleaning for them. They claim she's the best qualified to do laundry since she's been there the longest, but she consistently can't get all her work done because she spends half her time socializing and fucking off on her phone. She gets off scot free while the rest of us get talked to if we miss any of our work.
• When we're assigned a section of the building, we have to stay in that section no matter what. Management freaks out if we start cleaning something we aren't assigned to even if our assigned area is finished and clean. I once cleaned a room for a coworker because a couple of my usual ones canceled and I had some free time, but we both got in trouble because I left my section. And yet, when management's favorite bitch can't get her work done, we're ordered to take care of the tasks she didn't get to. Outside of rooms, I spend all my time cleaning already cleaned areas because I'm not allowed to go anywhere else even if there's stuff to do. We have to ask a manager to give us more work to do if we want to clean anything outside of our sections - can't just seek out things to do on our own.
• The building is hot and humid. I'm aware that's standard for a nursing home, but on warmer days it's absolutely miserable and some of the residents even complain about it. The place is kept at 75-80 degrees constantly and it's even hotter on the upper floors. We can't take time to cool off because of the amount of rooms we have to clean, so I'm constantly chugging water and making myself sick just for a few seconds of not feeling like I'm being cooked alive. They only turn on the AC in the staff areas if it's whatever they consider to be hot enough, and even then it's difficult because we obviously can't be in the staff rooms for long. There is no ventilation whatsoever because none of the windows are designed to open, even in residents' rooms.
• Our cleaning supplies are policed to hell. We can only use a small amount of them at a time, and I'm not even sure if they're actually sanitizing anything. One bottle of shower/tile scrubbing cleaner for example has to last a month. With 8-9 rooms per day and at least one bathroom per apartment, I'm forced to use the tiniest squirts of it. Might as well just be cleaning with hot water and vibes at that point. Some of the bathrooms have mold because we aren't allowed to have bleach and our regular cleaners aren't strong enough to get it off, nor do we have time to sit there scrubbing at it.
• The dementia ward gets neglected a lot because management heavily prioritizes the independent living area. Mostly because it's the area corporate favors the most and it has to stay pristine at all times. I actually used to work in that section, but got pulled from there and into the hellish gauntlet that is independent living because more residents moved into that section. Now, those people are lucky if they get their rooms cleaned once per month.

I'm sorry for the wall, I just had a lot of context to get out. Don't know if this is normal for a nursing home or facility cleaning in general. I thought the job was okay at first, but it's getting harder to come in every day as of late. I've been losing hair from stress and exhaustion but at the same time, I'm not sure if I'm valid in feeling this way or if it's a "baby's first large facility cleaning job" situation. Trying to get out of here either way.