Learn / For business owners · 2 min read

Explaining it to your crew

What to tell your cleaners before anyone puts on a headband.

The short answer

Tell your crew the phone films the work and their hands. Nobody uses it to rate them. Each person agrees before they record, and anyone can say no.

An owner going over a printed sheet with two cleaners in a supply closet before a shift.

Phone angled down correctly: both hands on the mop handle are in view. — Left: angled right, both hands in view. Right: tipped too high, hands cut off.

Phone tipped too high: the hallway and ceiling fill the frame and the hands are cut off. — Left: angled right, both hands in view. Right: tipped too high, hands cut off.

What the video is for

The phone films hands, tools and the job in front of the cleaner. AI and robotics teams use video like this to learn how cleaning work is done. Nobody at Colby times your cleaners or grades how fast they work.

Our team does review each video, usually within 24 to 48 hours. The review checks the video itself, like whether both hands are in view and the light is good. It says nothing about who is a good cleaner.

Tell your crew to work at their normal pace. Slowing down, or wiping a clean counter again to add time, gets the video turned down.

Everyone agrees first

Ask each cleaner one at a time, in the language they speak best. Hand them the crew sheet below in English or Spanish, and give them a day to think it over.

Anyone can say no, and anyone can stop later. Make sure a no does not cost them hours or a good route. Anyone who shows up in a video needs to have said yes, so if a coworker who said no is in the room, the cleaner pauses.

The phone is the cleaner's own, so ask about that too. If you share the pay with your crew, how you do it is between you and them.

Wearing the phone

Check that the phone is on our approved list, charged, with a clean lens and room for a full shift of video.
Put on the headband so the phone sits at forehead level, above the eyes.
Tip the phone down until it sees both hands and the surface in front of you.
Shake your head a little. If the phone wobbles, tighten the mount before you start.
Keep the whole palm and all fingers in view when you pick things up.

If something private gets recorded

It happens. A pay stub left on a desk, a screen someone forgot to lock, a tenant who walks in at 9 p.m. The cleaner should pause the recording right away and tell you that shift.

Then you tell our team, and we will walk you through what to do with that video. Your crew should know they won't get in trouble for reporting it.

A one-page handout for your cleaners, in English and Spanish.

Open the handout

What other owners ask

Will the video be used to judge my cleaners?

No. Our team checks the video for things like hands in view and good light. We do not rate how fast or how well anyone cleans.

What if a cleaner says yes, then changes their mind?

They take off the headband and go back to regular work. Let our team know so we don't expect more video from that person.

Can a cleaner use a phone that isn't on the list?

No. Only the listed models work: iPhone 12 through 15, most of the iPhone 16 and 17 models, some Google Pixels and the Galaxy S21 through S24.