Running a private household successfully depends on a reliable, skilled, and motivated team. Yet many employers overlook structured staff reviews, relying instead on informal feedback or only addressing issues when problems arise. Regular, thoughtful reviews help maintain high standards, strengthen working relationships, and improve retention — all of which matter deeply in discerning homes.
At Marshall Harber, we see first-hand how well-managed teams deliver consistency and peace of mind. Here’s a practical guide to evaluating and retaining your household staff effectively.

Why Formal Reviews Matter in Private Homes

Household roles are highly personal. Housekeepers, nannies, butlers, chefs, and chauffeurs work closely with family members and often handle sensitive responsibilities. Clear, regular reviews:

• Set and reinforce expectations
• Recognise strong performance
• Identify training or support needs early
• Reduce misunderstandings
• Demonstrate that staff are valued

Without structure, small issues can grow and good people can leave unnecessarily.

How to Structure an Effective Review

Keep reviews constructive, two-way, and professional. A useful format includes:

1. Preparation — Review the original job description, any previous feedback, and recent performance notes. Invite the staff member to prepare their own thoughts in advance.
2. Discussion of Performance — Cover key areas such as reliability, quality of work, communication, discretion, initiative, and how well they fit the household’s style and routines.
3. Strengths and Achievements — Start with positives. Specific recognition is far more motivating than vague praise.
4. Areas for Development — Be clear and constructive. Focus on behaviours and outcomes rather than personality.
5. Goals and Support — Agree realistic objectives for the next period and any training, resources, or adjustments needed.
6. Staff Feedback — Ask how they feel about the role, workload, and working environment. This often reveals valuable insights

Aim for a calm, private setting and allow enough time for a proper conversation.

Key Evaluation Areas for Household Roles

• Consistency and attention to detail
• Discretion and trustworthiness
• Flexibility and problem-solving
• Communication with family members and other staff
• Professional presentation and reliability
• Ability to anticipate needs

Tailor the discussion to the specific role (for example, childcare standards for nannies or service standards for butlers).

Retention Strategies That Work

Reviews are most powerful when paired with genuine retention efforts:

• Fair and competitive packages reviewed regularly
• Clear career pathways or opportunities to expand responsibilities
• Recognition of loyalty and strong performance
• Respect for work–life balance, especially for live-in roles
• Open communication and a culture of mutual respect

Staff who feel heard and valued are far more likely to stay and perform at their best.

Marshall Harber’s Perspective

We specialise in matching skilled professionals to private households and understand the importance of long-term fit. When clients invest in regular reviews and fair treatment, retention improves and households run more smoothly. If you are looking to strengthen your current team or recruit additional support, our thorough vetting process helps ensure the right people join your home.
A well-run review process is one of the simplest ways to protect the quality and stability of your household team. If you would like advice on staffing or recruitment, we are always happy to help.

In 2025, discerning UK households are increasingly prioritizing sustainability, and this extends to household staffing. From eco-friendly cleaning to energy-efficient meal prep, staff play a key role in green living. At Marshall Harber, we’re embracing this shift, helping clients and candidates adopt sustainable practices. Here’s how eco-friendly staffing is shaping the future.

Why Eco-Friendly Staffing Matters
With climate concerns rising, 62% of UK households aim to reduce their carbon footprint (ONS, 2025). Staff—nannies, housekeepers, or chefs—can lead this change by using biodegradable products, minimizing waste, and optimizing energy use, aligning with client values and regulatory pushes like the 2050 net-zero target.

Green Practices for Household Staff
• Cleaning: Switch to vinegar-based cleaners and reusable microfiber cloths, reducing plastic waste.
• Meal Prep: Use seasonal, local ingredients and energy-efficient appliances to cut emissions.
• Daily Habits: Encourage water conservation and recycling, embedding sustainability into routines.
Training staff in these practices ensures consistency and impact.

Benefits and Challenges
• Benefits: Lower environmental impact, cost savings on utilities, and enhanced client satisfaction.
• Challenges: Initial costs for eco-products and staff training time.
• Solutions: Marshall Harber vets candidates with green skills, easing the transition for clients.

Marshall Harber’s Commitment
We’re matching eco-conscious households with staff trained in sustainable methods. Our personalized vetting process ensures your team reflects your green goals, making 2025 a year of responsible living.

For high net worth families, having an experienced and reliable personal assistant can be invaluable. From managing their daily activities to providing support for family members, personal assistants play an important role in helping their employers live a comfortable lifestyle. Here’s a look at the responsibilities of private family personal assistants.

Organizational Responsibilities
One of the primary duties of a private family personal assistant is to organize their employer’s day-to-day life. This includes managing calendars, scheduling appointments, making travel arrangements, and coordinating with other staff members. Assistants may also be responsible for filing paperwork, taking notes during meetings, and performing administrative tasks like data entry or document preparation. Any tasks that need to be completed on a regular basis should fall under the scope of this position.

Family Support
In addition to administrative duties, private family personal assistants are often tasked with providing support directly to family members. They may help monitor children’s educational progress or coordinate extracurricular activities for them. They may also run errands or take care of any other needs that arise within the household. It is important for these assistants to have excellent organizational skills as well as strong interpersonal communication abilities in order to effectively handle these kinds of tasks.

Other Duties
The exact duties of a private family’s personal assistant will vary depending on the specific needs of their employer’s household. In some cases they may be asked to manage household finances or oversee repairs and maintenance jobs around the home. They may also be responsible for handling vendors or contractors who work with the family on special projects or repairs as needed. In short, no two days are ever quite the same when it comes to being a personal assistant in a high net worth household!

A private family's personal assistant plays an important role in helping their employers maintain an orderly lifestyle while providing direct support to each member of the family when necessary. Responsibilities range from organizing daily activities and making travel arrangements to monitoring children's educational progress and handling vendors and contractors for home repairs or special projects. No matter what type of task is required, it is essential for private family personal assistants to have excellent organizational skills as well as strong interpersonal communication abilities in order to successfully carry out their duties on behalf of their employer's household.

Income tax can be complex at the best of times but there are a few simple elements that both employers and employees need to be aware of when it comes to the matter of ‘employed’ versus ‘self employed’ status.

This article is written In a bid to try and clear up some of the confusion surrounding the difference between PAYE earnings and being self employed in the private staff setting. It is not uncommon for domestic staff, particularly cleaners and housekeepers, to be registered as self employed. This can make sense particularly for part time cleaners with more than one place of work. They essentially manage their own time and hours and can therefore be considered self employed. It’s also appealing for people employing the services of these individuals as this means they can avoid the need of setting up formally as an employer with HMRC, managing a payroll and issuing payslips etc. This is particularly useful if you only require a part time cleaner for a few hours a week or on an ad hoc basis.

There are however considerations of which you need to be aware. Generally speaking, as an Employment Agency and due to the fact that we recruit permanent members of staff to be employed directly by clients, it is unlikely that any of Marshall Harber’s candidates would be able to operate on a self employed basis, even candidates seeking part time positions. We regularly receive requests from client’s and candidates to source or recruit for roles that would suit a self employed person. But the primary issue is that our clients provide us with a job spec to recruit. Part of this job spec is to establish the working days and hours for the role and as soon as the employer is dictating days and hours for a permanent member of staff, the candidate must be considered as employed and there is actually a legal obligation on the employer to operate PAYE in these circumstances regardless of how many hours it is for. There is a test available on the UK Gov website (at the time of writing this article) where you can establish whether someone should genuinely be self employed or not. The online questionnaire can be used by both employers and employees and it can be found here: https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-employment-status-for-tax/disclaimer (Link correct at time of posting)

Of course there are many employers of domestic staff that are not using an agency to recruit and they are completely flexible on the time the candidate works for them and may even book the hours week by week on an ad hoc basis directly with the candidate. Alternatively using cleaning companies is another way to engage self employed candidates. They must also be content for the candidate to send someone in to work on their behalf on any days that they are not available. These fundamental traits would all result in the candidate being considered self employed, however these are not generally the conditions and requirements that are presented or acceptable by clients using a Domestic Employment Agency and therefore any candidates (even if they have worked self employed previously) that we represent will need to be happy with working on a PAYE basis and to have their hours dictated by a permanent contract.

There are other elements to self employment to be aware of but we have touched on one of the most common things that employers of domestic staff can misunderstand, particularly when sourcing the staff via an agency.

For employers that find the prospect of setting up as an employer and managing payroll daunting (and we totally understand why), there is no longer any need to fear this aspect of employing staff. Marshall Harber are affiliated with a company called Stafftax. Not only do they make payroll easy, but they actually specialise in payroll for domestic household staff and nannies. The packages they offer are very reasonably priced and depending on what level of service you require, they can not only setup your employer account with HMRC and prepare monthly payslips, but they can even process all the payments to your employee and HMRC on your behalf and manage your workplace pension scheme. So there is really nothing you need to be concerned about other than enjoying the benefits of employing a permanent member of domestic household staff. Clients of Stafftax will also enjoy an added benefit of having access to their HR & Legal helpline as well as access to their employment contracts and advice on drafting these.

If you would like any more information about this service or you would like to discuss your requirements with one our consultants, please call us on 0207 938 2200. You can also view further information about Stafftax and their services on their website: https://www.stafftax.co.uk/