Maid to get weekly rest days
-
nms1:
Yes, I have a friend who works 9-3 which means she can drop the kids at school and fetch them back but of course her salary is lower and she still has to cook, clean etc when she comes home so not much bonding!
I have colleagues and clients in UK as well but I heard from them even though they work full day, their day actually ends at 3pm to allow them to fetch the kids from childcare centres and for their bonding time.
This is the option that we really need in Singapore.
Make school hours more conducive to fitting in with the working world, incentivise companies to offer more flexible working hours such as shortened days, compressed days where you work longer for 3 days a week then take two days off, working from home etc.
In the UK when you come back from maternity leave you have the right to ask for flexible hours/part-time and the company has to prove that there is a very good reason why they can't offer it to you. For example if you worked on a factory assembly line it might not be feasible unless you job share so that one of you is always there.
The colleague I mentioned doesn't do that - she works a standard 9 -6 and her husband works weird hours. -
this is a letter on ST forum and MOM if you are reading all these posts here on KSP, read this again and do something about it.
those in green are my comments.
Now, be equally fair to bosses
Published on Mar 7, 2012
FINALLY, the long-awaited move for a weekly rest day for maids is going to be put in place ('Weekly day off for maids a must from next year'; yesterday).
The change will be welcomed by workers' rights groups, maids and those wishing to include Singapore in the list of preferred countries to work in.
It also edges Singapore closer to Hong Kong and Taiwan, where pay and working conditions are perceivably better currently.
The next step may well be a minimum wage that mirrors the salary structures in Hong Kong and Taiwan. So it remains to be seen whether the Ministry of Manpower will be equally fair to employers.
First, will the Government end the maid levy, which is non-existent in Taiwan and waived in Hong Kong, to allow employers to meet the increasingly higher pay demands of maids and their agencies?
Second, will the ministry drop the security bond requirement as maids will now have more chances to moonlight, maintain intimate relationships or fall into the trap of moneylenders and loan sharks?
The quantum leap in days off may also tempt maids into hunting for better jobs, leaving their employers with the unwelcome prospect of suddenly having to look for replacements.
Third, will there be stronger laws and punitive consequences against agents who mislead employers into hiring maids whose polished biodata do not reflect their actual skills?
imho, this is definitely something MOM should look into
Fourth, will the onus of paying for the repatriation of a maid who wants to quit a few weeks into her contract, or the expenses of housing and feeding her for the duration that she is unable to get a transfer, fall on the agent instead of the employer?
The questions I listed are common frustrations many employers face, and an extra day off per week merely increases the likelihood of their occurrence exponentially. So the Government must protect employers adequately as well.
I hope the Government will be equally vigorous in considering employers' needs, along with ensuring the welfare of maids.
Kelly Kishore Mel (Ms) -
nms1:
Now you know why they do not want to get married and have kids? I lived there. I know what families are going through. During school holidays, my friends frown and summon up their grans to help if they are healthy enough.
I have a colleague in the UK who is my counterpart for Europe who has 2 children (8 & 2), does the same full-time job as me which includes almost monthly overseas travel and she has no choice but to survive with just a part-time cleaner. She or her husband have to cook when they get home every night and the children are 100% her responsibility whenever she isn't at work. We are very lucky!
The good thing I noticed about UK is that kids generally sleep early. They can because no homework. Their curriculum is not so punishing. Can we do it here? By 7.30pm families expect kids to go upstairs to sleep so that adults have their own time. When I was living there my British friends thought I was cruel to let my kid sleep past 9pm. Wait till they here about night tuition and enrichments and doing homework past 9pm...
So we really just compare like that. Our society is different. Expectations are different. -
Most people would choose not to have any live-in maid if they could help it. Before we judge anyone, we have to consider their family needs first…I’d hust given birth, and had a preschooler and elderly parent living with me. I too did household chores, chaufferring, buying groceries, cooking while taking care of my kids for 4 months after my maid was repatriated -she stole from us. It was tough but I didn’t, couldn’t collapse, otherwise, who else would hold the fort right? I did the bare minimum of chores, but found myself exhausted, especially since both kids also demanded my attention. Relations between my family members got strained. So no choice, despite our bad experiences with maids, we decided to hire another one. When my kids grow older and more independent, I will most likely look for a local part-time helper. When I return to the workforce after my leave, I may also have to hunt for a childcare centre. The govt’s policies appear to favour maids because they want us working mothers to wean off maids and depend more on our own extended family members to help in childminding…so the point is, treat your parents and parents-in-laws well!!
Different countries have different policies and different dynamics. We should never compare ourselves with other countries unless the work culture, education, health, housing, population and immigration, transport policies, everything else are the same,. This is true even when comparing ourselves to countries closer to home. It appears that our policy makers have a habit of quoting what seems in line with international humane standards but conveniently neglect other imporrtant implications to justify their decisions.
I still think the crux of the issue is not the weekly off day per se, but the amount of accountability which is largely borne by employers currently. There should be clear guidelines on what ‘off day’ means, how many hours…If like HK, then it’s from the night before til the next working day morning, the govt should expect the maids to pay for their own food and lodging. Whether the maids gallavant or bunk in with their bf, we shouldn’t bother. Just don’t expect us to be responsible for any medical fees or forfeit our bons if anything happens outside our home. The current policies are ambiguous and allows for too many loopholes. The maids are laughing at us! -
please be clear in all discussions on this issue :
1. rest does not mean rest outside the house
2. off day does not mean rest, could be even more tired with a second job be it servicing men or household
3. no off day does not mean no rest
4. a day’s work may be nothing more than washing ironing cooking. if some household can do without maid == it also means maid is also not fully employed and has lots of free time in between especially the kids are in child care centre or school going
There is no dispute that every one needs rest, including maids. However, rest does not equal to a weekly day of outing. To legislate the mandatory day out is insane, and of course to work the maid non-stop 6am to 10pm every day with out break is also equally insane on the part of the employer.
Let me repeat here again : if it is mandatory for the maid to be out, just like normal office or factory workers, then make it compulsory that the maid gets out in the evening before off day and gets in only in the morning of the first work day of the week. The family needs rest and privacy too. This is no sarcasm - this is called ‘balance’. -
1amber:
Exactly. Different countries have different demands on parents and employees. On education especially, we expect our parents here to be more involved (in coaching) than parents in Europe. An European country where I worked and lived in for a couple of years has an education system where there is no homework for children until they are older than 12. Parents are not expected to coach or teach their kids after school hours. All the teaching is done in school. Hence hours after school is only play time. Here, I am struggling to coach my P1 boy with his school homework, and he is lucky if he gets to sleep by 9 pm. I can't imagine when he reaches higher primary, when we have to factor in tuition homework.
Now you know why they do not want to get married and have kids? I lived there. I know what families are going through. During school holidays, my friends frown and summon up their grans to help if they are healthy enough.nms1:
I have a colleague in the UK who is my counterpart for Europe who has 2 children (8 & 2), does the same full-time job as me which includes almost monthly overseas travel and she has no choice but to survive with just a part-time cleaner. She or her husband have to cook when they get home every night and the children are 100% her responsibility whenever she isn't at work. We are very lucky!
The good thing I noticed about UK is that kids generally sleep early. They can because no homework. Their curriculum is not so punishing. Can we do it here? By 7.30pm families expect kids to go upstairs to sleep so that adults have their own time. When I was living there my British friends thought I was cruel to let my kid sleep past 9pm. Wait till they here about night tuition and enrichments and doing homework past 9pm...
So we really just compare like that. Our society is different. Expectations are different.
Think back on our parents' generation, many do not have maids. Perhaps they could cope better without maids because they do not have to teach their children after school hours? (most do not know how to anyway)
Within my industry at least, this country also has shorter working hours. And mothers with young children are usually given less workload because they knock off at 4pm to pick up their children from childcare centres. Other colleagues there knock off 5pm ON THE DOT. No OT. No working from home after work 9pm to 12am on your laptop. Productivity-wise, of course it is lower. The headcount for any section there (in the same company) is higher than that in Singapore for the same output. I call the years I worked there my career honeymoon, the only time I could really work 9 am to 5 pm, Mon to Fri, and no more. -
Power Puff : not every family has in law or parents to help, some of the parents / in laws are too old, passed away, not living in singapore etc etc
-
verykiasu2010
You are right! The Govt assumes that we have all these operationally ready caregivers…too bad if we don’t have. We can always rely on the plentiful childcare and student care centres we have all over the country. Otherwise, working mothers (who have put in so much effort in their education and career) will just have to do the noble thing, and quit the workforce and stay home and be a good wife and mother because motherhood is the ultimate career any woman should strive for (sorry…am ranting coz I had to take no-pay leave to take care of kids because of unreliable maids and other caregivers, no regrets actually, although I feel I should be economically productive while still young and help hubby shoulder his burden) -
Power Puff:
verykiasu2010
You are right! The Govt assumes that we have all these operationally ready caregivers..too bad if we don't have. We can always rely on the plentiful childcare and student care centres we have all over the country. Otherwise, working mothers (who have put in so much effort in their education and career) will just have to do the noble thing, and quit the workforce and stay home and be a good wife and mother because motherhood is the ultimate career any woman should strive for (sorry..am ranting coz I had to take no-pay leave to take care of kids because of unreliable maids and other caregivers, no regrets actually, although I feel I should be economically productive while still young and help hubby shoulder his burden)
yes yes, power puff girl to the rescue! (to the tune of the PPG jingle) :evil: -
If our maids work at someone else’s home on their Sundays off, this is against MOM’s rules right? If that’s the case, will the employers get into trouble even though we are not aware of it?
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login