All About Full-Time Maids

[pineapple tarts]

jtoh:

What would you do if your maid who's only worked for you a few months and hasn't finished paying off her loan yet, says her father has passed away and she wants to go back? Of course she won't have the money to buy the air ticket, so you'll have to pay for the ticket. Plus applying for home leave means signing a contract with the Philippines Embassy ==> higher pay, PLUS all the problems with maids coming out now, she may not be able to come out again.


What would you do? Allow home leave or not? If yes, what steps to take to prevent problems with maid not coming back or not able to come back. If you think it's better for her not to go on home leave, how can you persuade her that it's better for her not to go?

Dear Jtoh,
In the 1st place, don tell me u believe her story. This father passed
away tatics was used too often. Jus ask your agent to talk to her. Work or transfer that's all, no home leave. If she chose to transfer, tell your agt it's the maid's decision & you are NOT paying for anything. Lastly, maids are more cunning than wat u can imagine. Good luck to u.

[bzmum22]

gumiho:

jtoh:

What would you do if your maid who's only worked for you a few months and hasn't finished paying off her loan yet, says her father has passed away and she wants to go back? Of course she won't have the money to buy the air ticket, so you'll have to pay for the ticket. Plus applying for home leave means signing a contract with the Philippines Embassy ==> higher pay, PLUS all the problems with maids coming out now, she may not be able to come out again.


What would you do? Allow home leave or not? If yes, what steps to take to prevent problems with maid not coming back or not able to come back. If you think it's better for her not to go on home leave, how can you persuade her that it's better for her not to go?

Right now I'm facing a similiar incident.

I will not let the maid go.
If she becomes difficult, I will change maid.
Reasons are she has only worked for you for a few months and she still has loan. If she goes back and dont come back again, you are at the losing end....in terms of money 'cos you cannot get back the loan money from the agency, and time 'cos you will need to find a new maid quickly, or take leave from work to do the stuff she is supposed to do. How to trust someone who has only worked for you for a few months to stick to her promise? I will go strictly by contract 'cos she is new.
Don't need to think of ways to persuade her lah....I will just call my agent to talk to maid.

[jtoh]

pineapple tarts:

jtoh:

What would you do if your maid who's only worked for you a few months and hasn't finished paying off her loan yet, says her father has passed away and she wants to go back? Of course she won't have the money to buy the air ticket, so you'll have to pay for the ticket. Plus applying for home leave means signing a contract with the Philippines Embassy ==> higher pay, PLUS all the problems with maids coming out now, she may not be able to come out again.


What would you do? Allow home leave or not? If yes, what steps to take to prevent problems with maid not coming back or not able to come back. If you think it's better for her not to go on home leave, how can you persuade her that it's better for her not to go?

Dear Jtoh,
In the 1st place, don tell me u believe her story. This father passed
away tatics was used too often. Jus ask your agent to talk to her. Work or transfer that's all, no home leave. If she chose to transfer, tell your agt it's the maid's decision & you are NOT paying for anything. Lastly, maids are more cunning than wat u can imagine. Good luck to u.

Hi pineapple tarts,

Yes, it did cross my mind that it may not be true. But I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt because she comes across as sincere. It's her conscience she'll have to live with if she's using her father as an excuse. Anyway, I've persuaded her not to go home and she's agreeable to that. Phew!

[jtoh]

bzmum22:

gumiho:

[quote=\"jtoh\"]What would you do if your maid who's only worked for you a few months and hasn't finished paying off her loan yet, says her father has passed away and she wants to go back? Of course she won't have the money to buy the air ticket, so you'll have to pay for the ticket. Plus applying for home leave means signing a contract with the Philippines Embassy ==> higher pay, PLUS all the problems with maids coming out now, she may not be able to come out again.


What would you do? Allow home leave or not? If yes, what steps to take to prevent problems with maid not coming back or not able to come back. If you think it's better for her not to go on home leave, how can you persuade her that it's better for her not to go?

Right now I'm facing a similiar incident.

I will not let the maid go.
If she becomes difficult, I will change maid.
Reasons are she has only worked for you for a few months and she still has loan. If she goes back and dont come back again, you are at the losing end....in terms of money 'cos you cannot get back the loan money from the agency, and time 'cos you will need to find a new maid quickly, or take leave from work to do the stuff she is supposed to do. How to trust someone who has only worked for you for a few months to stick to her promise? I will go strictly by contract 'cos she is new.
Don't need to think of ways to persuade her lah....I will just call my agent to talk to maid.[/quote]Thanks bzmum. I've persuaded her to stay so that's a relief.

[jtoh]

gumiho:

MMM:

Does your maid has a bank account in Singapore? I usually tell my maid that if she is coming back, she need to maintain the min. deposit in the bank to avoid bank charges.


This is imposed by the bank and not us.

No. Usually she remit all her salary to her husband.

I think it really take both hands to clap.
I just consulted her maid agency and I was been reprimanded for been too lenient to the maid.

How are you being too lenient on the maid?

[gumiho]

jtoh:

gumiho:

[quote=\"MMM\"]Does your maid has a bank account in Singapore? I usually tell my maid that if she is coming back, she need to maintain the min. deposit in the bank to avoid bank charges.


This is imposed by the bank and not us.

No. Usually she remit all her salary to her husband.

I think it really take both hands to clap.
I just consulted her maid agency and I was been reprimanded for been too lenient to the maid.

How are you being too lenient on the maid?[/quote]We gave in when she requested for a pay raise and off day. We didn't rejected her when she frequently requested for advance pay. Initially we had no intention to retain her salary or make her pay for airfare when she requested for Home Leave. Unfortunately, she want to go home during X'mas & New Year period therefore we have no choice as to ask for salary retention because the airfare are too ex.

They take us for granted when we are nice to them.
Been strict to them, they say we abuse them.

[jtoh]

gumiho:

jtoh:

[quote=\"gumiho\"]
No. Usually she remit all her salary to her husband.

I think it really take both hands to clap.
I just consulted her maid agency and I was been reprimanded for been too lenient to the maid.

How are you being too lenient on the maid?

We gave in when she requested for a pay raise and off day. We didn't rejected her when she frequently requested for advance pay. Initially we had no intention to retain her salary or make her pay for airfare when she requested for Home Leave. Unfortunately, she want to go home during X'mas & New Year period therefore we have no choice as to ask for salary retention because the airfare are too ex.

They take us for granted when we are nice to them.
Been strict to them, they say we abuse them. [/quote]Exactly!

[hquek]

gumiho:

Usually she remit all her salary to her husband.

Seeing your other replies, yes, I agree you have been too lax with your maid and your maid also dun have brains to realise she has a good employer and it'll be to her good to stay in your good books. Sorry if I'm blunt.

Anyway, if my maid remits all her money to hubby, I would subtly feed her stories of other maids - send all the money home (to father/hubby) and end up with nothing at all. Too many of such I have heard. I would think she will be back - just not sure with which employer.

In this case, I would advise you to stand firm. Airfares very ex during that time AND you have to bear additional costs in arranging for that home leave (I get the idea that phil gov never lets up on any chance to milk money out of this).

Why not tell her also that when she is back, she can remit all the money that was kept in SG and you bear the remittance cost? It should be far less than your potential loss if she doesn't come back.

Remind her subtly of how good you have been to her these months/years...sometimes these pp need to hear other horror stories to know how good their employer is to them.

[Busymom]

One of my previous maids had an uncle who passed away. According to her, he was almost like a father to her. She was probably less than a year with us. We let her go back, even though she had zero savings to even buy herself an air-ticket. She also wanted to advance some months’ pay to bring home. In the end, we took a leap of faith and let her go. Thankfully, she returned.


An agent friend of mine advised us against letting her go back, but I guess we were prepared to lose that money in case she didn’t return. As our maid was taking care of our children, we think it would be better for all if she settled what she needed to do at home and come back to work, rather than not go back and in her heart, she would constantly think and think that we did not allow her to go back. It is just which is the lesser of two evils.

I am not advocating that all employers should do that. There must be a reason why my agent friend discouraged us from allowing our maid to go home. There are many cases which aren’t genuine or the maids simply don’t come back. But just want to share my experience in case it is of relevance to anyone.

[mama_g]

http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Crime/Story/A1Story20110328-270474.html