All About Full-Time Maids

[LOLMum]

minnie2004:

This again puts SG employers in an unfair position to compete with other places in terms of attracting maids :stupid: .

not only that, we have to compete with the expats here for maids. expats think we are treating the maids badly which i disagree.

[DesertWind]

LOLMum:

i recall interviewing a maid (working for an expat) years ago and was told she only work certain hours of the day, must let her go to playground to meet her friends after 9pm daily, all sunday and public holidays are day off, wont clean windows, no washing of clothes by hand, must have 2 weeks yearly holliday and expected pay was $600-700.

Wah so pampered ah? But I think because expats are really not used to having maids. They think maids shopping for groceries for them is already a \"BIG DEAL\", great luxury to have a maid hence they cannot \"bear\" to ask maid to do the things we considered normal ie. wash clothes by hand! (I mean only for those fragile clothes lah not all!) In these expats' home countries, \"human rights\" is probably a big issue hence to have a \"maid\" seems to them to be something \"inhumane\" so they let the maid have so much freedom, pay, rights, whatever.....I heard before that in an expat household, the employer will demand the maid to sit together at the dinner table with them and eat and talk together!
Oh well, I am no expert but I think maids who work for expats are in a class of their own and I don't think they can ever work for locals after that!
:lol:
:celebrate:

[minnie2004]

It's true that the expats (esp the new ones) are not used to having maids. It's so expensive in their home country to have maids that they feel bad to see the maids here working such long hours with so \"little\" pay. However, except for maybe those die-hard human rights advocates, once these expats are here long enough, they'll also follow local customs


My previous 2 maids both went to Norway before completing the 2-year contract with us. They only need to work 5 days a week, 5 hours a day, salary is something like EUR600 :shock: ! There's no way I can and will match that kind of terms . So I just let them go and wish them good luck. My current maid is going to Denmark soon. I've accepted the fact my home is a training centre for new maids and I just try to make the transition process as smoothly as possible.

I'm now videotaping my maid doing housework. So when the next one arrives, I'm just going to show her the orientation DVD (since this time the 2 maids won't be overlapping). Hopefully that'll save me some time doing training

[mrswongtuition]

From what my Indon maid tells me, Msia is their first choice.


Reasons:
1. Fast training, only 1 month in training centre. Sometimes 2-3 weeks will do. They are not paid in training centre.
2. No language barrier.
3. Near to home.

However, those with friends/relatives who have worked in Msia will advice them against going to Msia.

So, their 2nd choice is SG.

Reasons:
1. For fresh maids, training is around 2 months. For experienced maids (like mine - ex-Msia), no training needed. Once passport is ready and employer picks her, she gets to come immediately.
2. Low crime rate (at least they heard lesser horror stories compared to Msia).
3. Near to home.

The experienced maids will definitely want to go to HK, Taiwan, etc.
However, my maid is very realistic.
She does not want offdays as she will spend away her hard earned money.
She prefers somewhere nearer to home where the weather is similar.

How your maid turn out after the initial training by you also depends largely on how you 'educate' them.
I always tell my maid that she can't bank on being a maid forever. When she grows old, her 'demand' will also lessen due to her age.

So she must think LONG TERM.
I've taught her how to start her own business.
We sit down and work out business plans for her when she returns to Indon.
We plan her money very carefully now, how much to keep here in the bank and how much to send back every 4 mths.
I motivate her to send her son to a good school so that he will have a better chance of going to uni (preferably by getting scholarship). Now, she also sends her 4yo boy to enrichment classes in Indon!

Her hubs also expressed desire to start his own logistics company. So I also advised her on start-up/running costs. We did our research online, etc.

After careful calculation, she realised that she needs to work here for at least another 3 years to earn enough to be able to go back, start her business and survive the first few years.

I don't have much trouble with her cos she is matured in her thinking and we have honest talks with her.
Expectations are laid out clearly and she knows that we will give positive/negative feedback when necessary.

I've never scolded her for the 2yr ++ she's been with us.

[DesertWind]

Hi mrswongtuition!


Wow, you really care about your maid's future to help her plan to do business !

I wish I can do that as well because I also thought about what my maid is going to do next time when she gets older and go home. I asked her can she set up a business selling food? She said not in her village because people just come and take and said \"o'tang\" but can never get back the money. Do this business sure collapse. So how about building house and selling? No lah not in the village because everybody build their own house! Nobody buy and sell. So what can you do? I asked her. She said mostly people buy land, up in the mountain got wood, once all the trees grown they will chop down and sell the wood. Work in the field planting vegetables etc. If working for others must go to big cities.

So really depending on which part of Indon. the maid is from otherwise limited business opportunities?

My maid's goal now is to build her own house in her village. She has been saving hard not using her money at all (except buy phone card). She save all those ang pow money, bonus etc. as well and she has already gotten people to do the foundation for her in her village. When she goes back in 2 months time, the people will start to build up her house. I am happy for her that the salary I paid her has gone into good use ie. a roof over her head and for her daughter! It is fortunate that she is also a mature and stable maid, can think for herself and got enough discipline to save and invest in house, not spend all her money on other things!

:celebrate:

[mrswongtuition]

DesertWind:

Hi mrswongtuition!


Wow, you really care about your maid's future to help her plan to do business !

I wish I can do that as well because I also thought about what my maid is going to do next time when she gets older and go home. I asked her can she set up a business selling food? She said not in her village because people just come and take and said \"o'tang\" but can never get back the money. Do this business sure collapse. So how about building house and selling? No lah not in the village because everybody build their own house! Nobody buy and sell. So what can you do? I asked her. She said mostly people buy land, up in the mountain got wood, once all the trees grown they will chop down and sell the wood. Work in the field planting vegetables etc. If working for others must go to big cities.

So really depending on which part of Indon. the maid is from otherwise limited business opportunities?

My maid's goal now is to build her own house in her village. She has been saving hard not using her money at all (except buy phone card). She save all those ang pow money, bonus etc. as well and she has already gotten people to do the foundation for her in her village. When she goes back in 2 months time, the people will start to build up her house. I am happy for her that the salary I paid her has gone into good use ie. a roof over her head and for her daughter! It is fortunate that she is also a mature and stable maid, can think for herself and got enough discipline to save and invest in house, not spend all her money on other things!

:celebrate:

My maid doesn't spend a single cent because we cover all her expenses. Handphone, calls back to Indon, etc etc.

My maid will be moving nearer to the city so that she can start her business in the city. She takes pictures & notes whenever we bring her out.
In fact, her son has moved to her sister's house as it's nearer to the private schools (which use English as main language) and the enrichment centres.

[KopiYing]

My fili maid is leaving in a fortnight’s time.


Before her contract ends she actually went to agency at orchard area, paid $25 so that she can find potential employers (according to her, she meant employers from US / rich pple!). moreover she can get as much as $400 salary! Well that’s her wish. But we suspect she din have any luck coz she told us she wanna continue to work for us. Ah well. But we told her we cant wait for her for a mth coz her passport is due in a few mths’ time & she gotta go back & do the renewal.

After working for almost 2 years, her performance is so so only and gotta be reminded at times. Yet she want at least $400 pay… Things that she doesnt need to be reminded, that’s when she has off day. Do things super fast.

Today is her last time taking off, she actually asked whether can come back an hour later than the usual duration. We let her.

[LOLMum]

KopiYing:

My fili maid is leaving in a fortnight's time.


Before her contract ends she actually went to agency at orchard area, paid $25 so that she can find potential employers (according to her, she meant employers from US / rich pple!). moreover she can get as much as $400 salary!

i thought most of them already has a sstarting salary of about $380 and for those w/o experience is about $360. and if you dont wish for them to have a day off, you need to throw in about $20 so salary is about $380-400. well that was what i saw in the bio-data at the maid agency in 2008.

i was paying mine about $450+ which includes all meals+ her sweets, daily necessities and occassional treats.

[moonee]

My agent charges 340 for inexperience with day off. Again it depends on the job scope. my last fili was paid 380 in her 1st hse with 4 kids, her 2nd hse 340 with 2 kids and similar at mine. My agent would quote 400 to 450 the moment an ang moh walks in.

[Si Si]

janet_lee88:

A friend of mine had a Burmese maid...stubborn and slow. Not only that, can be calculative like Filipinos and Indonesians. The agent I used to get my maids from didn't want to bring in Burmese ones bcos they are not popular. Language wise, most do not understand English and so will be 'living in a world of their own'.

I can't agree more with you because my Burmese maid was exactly like this!!! Stubborn! Slow! Difficult communication! Living in her own world! Calculative!!! Even if I gave her more than she deserves!!!