As a franchise owner of The Maids Home Services franchises in both Baton Rouge and Lafayette, LA, I take seriously the responsibility of providing employment opportunities and a better quality of life for my staff.

With over 45 employees in our franchise, my husband Dean and I have made a commitment to empowering our employees, providing incentives for a job well done and making coming to work more appealing for our staff. This has had a significant impact on the success of my business.

The Maids Home Services is a residential cleaning business that uses four-person cleaning teams and a tag line that states, "Nobody Outcleans The Maids."

This high standard for cleaning excellence, our team-cleaning concept and the precise cleaning system we use demand that we have a qualified, hardworking staff. With so much of our success dependant on our team members out in the field, it is important to me to make their work environment a fun place to be, so they will remain loyal employees well after training is complete.

I know I can only expect the best from people when they are feeling their best, both physically and emotionally. Focusing on this has helped me find and retain good employees, such as those who stay with us for an average of two to three years.

Our customers let our team members into their homes and trust us with their keys, so building teams who are reliable, trustworthy and loyal is necessary. If we had to send different team members to our customers' homes each visit, we would be jeopardizing our relationship with them.

We know the importance of ensuring our customers' homes are safe in our hands. This is one reason retention is ultimately important to our franchise business' success.

My initiative for employee retention combines several factors. First, my employees know me and know they can count on me, and in turn, I can count on them.

With our team members completing an average of 805 regular home cleanings a month, as well as special occasion and first-time cleanings, I know the hard work and dedication my employees show each day. They get to work before 8 a.m. and complete six or seven home cleanings a day, not knowing what they will find at each home.

I sometimes spend two to three days per week in the field cleaning with the teams. I choose this above turning away business. Although it is hard work, it helps me stay grounded. By working side-by-side with my staff, they know I do not ask them to do anything I would not be willing to do myself. I am not a boss who sits in a nice office every day while everyone else does the work. I do what they do. I am out in the field with them, and they see me working just as hard as they do. They see me doing the same work they do every day without complaint.

Second, I have made work an inviting place to be for the staff by creating a warm, comfortable environment at the office.

I realize work is often a safe place to go each day for my employees. I decorated the office with warm, inviting colors and have pictures on the walls of the team members. We also have a marker board with greetings and encouraging messages that welcome the team members each morning.

I feel providing fun in the office is my forte. We often have games and competitions, awards and celebrations. We have weekly morning office meetings with breakfast provided where I reward good deeds and hard work.

I give prizes to employees with good attitudes, perfect attendance, and high performance. Staff may also receive a reward if I catch them doing something good. This award gives incentive to employees to be self-motivated and to exceed expectations. Each month one superior team member receives a paid day off. This popular award honors the top performer in the office.

At each office's yearly anniversary, I choose a "Maid of the Year" who receives a $500 cash prize and a plaque. We also celebrate every employee's birthday and have employee baby and wedding showers.

During office meetings, I mix in creative games and activities to keep staff on their toes. We recently had a "Fear Factor" competition of our own where team members competed eating foods like sardines and completing challenges.

When we played our own version of "The Price is Right," the competition had an underlying message to teach staff members about the value of the cleaning products we use. This was a great way to educate them on the importance of not being wasteful when refilling bottles and on keeping lids tight.

I try to plan early and purchase prizes under one theme, like summer fun or around a holiday. I keep them in a bin in the office so the staff wonders what I have up my sleeve. This causes an early buzz of what is to happen next.

I have also learned I do not have to come up with all the ideas. The staff is eager to share their own ideas of games and prizes they would like to see at staff meetings.

Third, I work to motivate and empower team members and encourage staff to earn promotions to team leader positions. I encourage the staff to try things like filling in as assistant team leaders and learning the duties of team leaders. It makes them feel important when they know I believe in them.

All of these initiatives help create an atmosphere where our staff feels like they are a part of our businesses' success.

At The Maids Home Services, we back all of our work with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If a customer is not satisfied with the work we have performed in their home, they can call within 24 hours of the clean, and we will reclean the home - at no additional charge.

Of course, the staff knows any reclean can wreak havoc on the next day's schedule. So when a customer is not satisfied, the entire staff feels devastated. Each staff member strives for perfection with every clean. This staff ownership has had a remarkable, positive effect on our business.

Making a commitment to creating a fun, caring, enthusiastic workplace has paid off in much bigger ways than I expected. The word spread about the atmosphere at our offices, and many people want to join our team. When I hire new team members, most of them are referrals from other employees.

My employees let others know we are like a family. No matter what circumstances they have grown up in, they know we are here for them. It is a good place to be.

Due to having retained a good staff over time, I am able to attend my children's school events and activities without the worry an 8-to-5 job often entails. The office does not tie me down. Very seldom do I have to miss something my children are involved in, and that is important to me.

Dean and I can also travel and vacation knowing our staff will run the office well in our absence. It has created a better balance than I would have expected as a franchise owner.

In respect to my colleagues, our franchise received the Franchise of the Year award from the corporate headquarters. This award recognizes overall excellence in all areas of franchise operations: sales, customer service, growth and profit, employee relations, and business operations.

This is the most coveted of all awards in our franchise system. When the franchisor selected us from more than 133 other franchisees, it both honored and humbled us.

We know the franchisor does not just give the award in honor of us as owners; they give it due to the combined efforts of the managers and every single team member too.

Of course to celebrate the award we did what any good Louisianian would do-we had a party with music, fun and a crawfish boil.

Creating a fun, encouraging environment for my employees helped retention and my bottom line and is a factor that accounts for much of my franchise's success.