All About Full-Time Maids

[dasalo]

Anna Ng:

There is no problem giving her a phone but based on her performance, my 2.5 years old son always sick , twice a month, lousy cooking, lousy housework etc... i don think she deserves to have a smartphone...

Strange, but it seems they are smart with smartphones but are never smart at what they are supposed to do. :gloomy:

[KSmom8]

dasalo:

Anna Ng:

There is no problem giving her a phone but based on her performance, my 2.5 years old son always sick , twice a month, lousy cooking, lousy housework etc... i don think she deserves to have a smartphone...

Strange, but it seems they are smart with smartphones but are never smart at what they are supposed to do. :gloomy:

:hi5: :goodpost:

[KSmom8]

When I fetch DS from kindergarten, I see maids chatting on the mobile and crossing the roads with the employers' children. At playgrounds, I see maids on phones, not paying any attention to the children that they are supposed to look after. :yikes:

[Coolkidsrock2]

This is the same for maids bringing kids to the swimming pools.


My mum witnessed a kid smashing into the wall when he lost control while scooting. The kid fell onto the ground, dazed. Maid was talking with her friends.

I had also witnessed a maid with a toddler in the supermarket trolley while she was looking at clothes. The supermarket is in a shopping complex so maid was window shopping after her marketing. Toddler was standing on the small foldable section while the maid was engrossed with putting pieces after pieces of cloths on herself and talking to her friends. It was so dangerous but not sure if the maid ever know it.

Handphones have widen their social circle at the expense of their work performance,

[st2]

This phone thing is like an addiction and we are trying ways and means to manage the maids/addicts…they would hide in the toilet, scheme etc…need to connect with the whole world all the time…

[moonee]

Notksmum:

hi all,


Thanks for contributing your different views. I have a slightly better idea how to manage this.

I feel that ur terms are very reasonable as there are maids that cant control themselves like mine and go on talking for hours. Well, like the saying goes different folks diffferent strokes so adjustments can be made depending on the responsibility and maturity of the maid.

[Notksmum]

hi all,


Thanks for the views. I may adjust the frequency of use if my maid shows maturity. I know there is no way not to provide a mobile phone because so many other maids out there have one. So what I am trying to do is to mitigate the risk as far as possible.

So far my maid is ok (maybe still under loan period). She does her work fast and takes gd care of DS (so far). One thing for sure is she do need to work for her family back home. Her financial committment is very high. We will see how things go. If really she goes errant, then send her home. Will not send to agent as I dont wanna pass to another employer.

haiz… its all abt LUCK.

[moonee]

My transfer maid used to have 2 h/ps but not anymore… shes the fun loving type tho she has 3 kids. I had wanted to get her phone back frm the agent but after watching her I think shes better off without one.

If she needs to make any calls home, she will use the public phone. Her calls will be like 3 hours each time so I told her to limit her calls or use her weekly off days to chat s long as she like. So far shes fine without a h/p now.

[2ppaamm]

shaima111:

I think that a maid should be allowed to have a mobile phone of his own. She is a human and sometimes can have the same issues as we have. She can face an emergency situation like all of us. Cell phone has become a necessity everywhere so why not her?

Yes, that can be agreeable, but only if the state also makes them responsible for themselves, and when they get pregnant or go missing, the employer should not be liable. They should also deport and bear their own costs if they do anything wrong, not the employer. It really depends how the government wants us to treat our maids, as children or adults. Right now, the policies look like they are to be treated like small children with liabilities all on the employers, and then they shall be treated like children.

When they should be treated like adults where they bear their own consequences, then they shall be treated like adults. It is not right to pick and choose what's for them, and what's against them.

That's just my opinion. Employers have been disadvantaged largely in this maid process, and honestly, I think the best is to get rid of FDW once our households don't need them. There's no equality whatsoever, from the FDWs and the employers' points of views.

My FDW used to prostitute and was paid with mobile phones (she had a collection) and she used her phone to solicit more businesses. In the day, she would doze off when doing housework, even when standing and reaching out for a cup. She climbed over the gate so that we do not know. And, I was responsible for sending her off, bore all the costs, and when she went missing at the agent's place (she continued to 'escape' at night to prostitute), I too was responsible even though she was under the agent's supervision.

When I gave her back her passport (treating her with humanity), she deliberately lost it so that she could not be deported, so I had to bring her to the embassy, got these all fixed up and bought her tickets. Now if she were an adult and a proper employee, I did not need to do all those things, right? It was time consuming and painful. Problem is employers are tasked to bear all their liabilities and that's why some employers go to the extreme with control. Takes 2 hands to clap.

If it were my maid, I would not allow her to have a handphone, but she would be allowed to use the home phone once a week to call home, and the number can be given to her family in case of emergencies. Handphones are not necessities, and there are alternatives. Don't open a floodgate.

[ChiefKiasu]

2ppaamm:

Yes, that can be agreeable, but only if the state also makes them responsible for themselves, and when they get pregnant or go missing, the employer should not be liable. They should also deport and bear their own costs if they do anything wrong, not the employer. It really depends how the government wants us to treat our maids, as children or adults. Right now, the policies look like they are to be treated like small children with liabilities all on the employers, and then they shall be treated like children...

Ditto to all that! The unfortunate thing about MOM's policies on FDW is that in trying to protect FDWs from employer abuse, they create a situation where employers have to protect themselves against possible bad behavior from maids.

Making employers fully responsible for any misconduct by maids will only result in employers removing all privileges from maids - mobile phones, weekends off, being locked in homes, etc. This in turn makes maids unhappy and that explains the high turn-over rate for maids in many households.

A much fairer policy is to:

1) Remove all levies on maids! Why on earth is the government making money from the hiring of maids???

2) Increase the base salary of all maids. Whatever employers pay to the government as levies should be given back to the maids.

3) Enforce a mandatory day off per week. Set a minimum compensation rate for maids if employers wishes to \"pay off\" maids in lieu of this mandatory day off.

4) Waive all responsibilities that employers have for maids that run off, or get pregnant. In a company, if an employee goes AWOL, or gets pregnant, the employer is not held responsible. So why should employers of FDWs be different? The current policy is subject to too much abuse by maids, such that employers become overbearing in their treatment of maids.