FAQ

Yes, you will have a dedicated assistant handpicked for your needs. We have a talented team that may be available to provide additional support when needed. If your primary assistant is out sick or on vacation, another personal assistant can step in.

Please contact us at pepper@paseattle.com right away. Satisfaction is always a guarantee with Pepper’s Personal Assistants. If you are not pleased with our service for any reason, we will make it right.

Pepper’s does not provide childcare (including driving children) or house cleaning beyond the basics of dishes, laundry, and tidying the home. We are more than happy to help source solutions if you have these types of needs.

Yes, all of our personal assistants are W-4 employees. We believe it is an important part of providing great service and building a community that our clients and employees love.

Pepper’s Personal Assistants pays for employment taxes and benefits, including Washington’s Sick Leave and Family Leave law. By law, employees are allowed a 10-minute paid break for every four hours worked and a 30-minute unpaid break for every five hours they work. This is all included in your hourly rate and one less thing for you to have to think about.

We provide paid time off, paid sick leave, 401k matching, and continuous training.

Our personal assistants use a time tracking software called Paylocity to record their hours and tasks. If you ever have questions about your personal assistant’s hours you can reach out to the Pepper’s management team at any time.

We have a two-hour minimum for on-site tasks. For remote tasks, we charge in 15-minute increments.

We charge the normal hourly rate for errands. Reimbursable expenses may include, but are not limited to, parking, excessive mileage and tolls that exceed $100 total per month.

Yes, we are a fully insured and bonded company with a Washington State business license. We value your trust and do everything we can to put your mind at ease.

We put a high value on privacy and have a strict confidentiality clause that all staff sign. All personal information will remain confidential. Pepper’s Personal Assistants will not sell or distribute any information about our clients.

No, for ongoing clients we offer convenient recurring biweekly packages that automatically renew every two weeks. For any additional hours, you will be invoiced at the end of each billing cycle and your payment method on file will be charged. A detailed receipt will be emailed to you.

Personal assistants cannot make purchases on client’s behalf with their own funds. For purchases made on client’s behalf, we recommend setting up a petty cash system with their personal assistant using Venmo or Paypal. Clients may also share a secondary credit card with their personal assistant to allow them to make purchases.

At Pepper’s Personal Assistants, we use Slack, a communication platform, to make sure we can deliver an outstanding experience to our clients. Our goal is to provide you with a secure platform that can increase productivity and streamline communication, scheduling, and coordination directly with your personal assistant.

Our goal is to respond to you as soon as possible or within four hours during normal business hours. In emergencies, we will try our best to respond as quickly as possible outside of normal business hours. Your peace of mind is important to us.

Business hours for all employees are Monday – Friday from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. We do not work during the evenings or weekends to provide a healthy work life balance for our employees.

If you have questions about your package hours or billing, or would like to share feedback about Pepper’s, please contact us at pepper@paseattle.com.

We do not pause packages due to vacations. Being away on vacation is a great time for your personal assistant to work on projects in the home. We can get the carpets cleaned, schedule a handyman to make repairs, collect the mail, water plants, restock the fridge for your arrival, or tackle organization projects. Our personal assistants can also do work remotely while you are away.

Our employee benefits include PTO and Washington State mandated paid sick leave. We encourage our employees to use these benefits so that they can recharge and not burnout, which helps us retain our amazing team.

When our personal assistants take time off we do not pause packages. Part of the package fee that clients pay includes paid time off accrual benefits.

We do offer subs as a courtesy to you. Your personal assistant will help train the substitute to make it as seamless as possible for you. We connect your personal assistant and substitute personal assistant via Slack, share your household guide so your substitute can quickly get up to speed, and coordinate a shadow time when possible to ensure a successful subbing experience.

If you decide not to use a substitute you will forego your hours during that time.

Safety is a priority so we ask our employees to reschedule if possible. Our personal assistants are also available to do work remotely. If these options are not possible, you forego your hours for that week.

Our personal assistants may elect to use paid time off that day or they will make up the time before or after if they are not available on your normal day. If that is not possible, you forgo your package hours for that day.

Our personal assistants cannot lift more than 35 pounds, but we can hire experts to do the heavy lifting.