All About Full-Time Maids

[zilojian]

I just interviewed a few maids over the weekend. It seems quite a trend now for maid to request for a transfer whenever they feel like it.


One typical maid Past Employment History
=============================
1. Work in a 3 storey House for only 4mths - Requested for a transfer as house too big to manage.
2. Taking care of 3 kids for only 5 mths - Requested for a transfer as overloaded with the 3 kids
3. Prefer not to take care of dogs if possible.
4. Requesting for at least 1 - 2 offdays as they wish to attend for courses and meeting up with friends over weekend.

Looks like the maids are more choosy of the employers nowadays and the Agency must be smiling happily with this new trend !

Unfortunately, the employers are not being protected and forking out more and more $$$ unnecessary until they found their right helper...

[fcmaid]

http://i62.tinypic.com/f0dbb4.jpg\">

trimummy:

Faithmaidagency:

im indonesian chinese... who already convert to singapore citizen 6 years ago...

im a new maid agency in singapore.....
im interest join this member as i see so many post about maids...
im specialist in indonesian maid currently as is easy for me to handle as i speak the maids languange.
brief info about me is MY MAIN BUSINESS IS MOBILE PHONE SHOP AT CITY PLAZA (already 12 years)
(for info city plaza is the old building opposite paya lebar MRT which most indonesian maid will go there on their off day)
i have been seen maid character thousands time through this 12 years.
i have been offered by view singapore family member to do this MAID AGENCY BUSINESS but like most parents here i used to scared when think about maid.
and also i didt want to do the business cos i was thinking i dont want to do human trade.

but i decide to went to the business is when have one of the maid having a chit chat when she waiting the phone being service = \"she said mem why dont u be agent so u can find us good employer\"

from there suddenly my mind is being tick..... and i do some survey to my singaporean shops customer....
about how if i being an agent will u trust me to take a maid from my company... most of the customer say of course cos u can speak the languange and u been seen maid for so long in singapore in ur phone shop .

my company is an INDONESIAN EMBASSY ACCREDITED.

MY POINT to join here is to answer most parents question about some rules & regulation abouts maids and agent....i dont try to sell to all the mummies here...

AND I SEE MANY OF THE POSTED HERE IS AROUND DIRECT HIRED which is not using an agent.... i have the latest article from INDONESIAN EMBASSY that is not allow maid & employer to use direct hired without application through agent.

please check my company name
SIMPANG TIGA MOBILE PTE LTD (in acra 6 years as old company taken by ex hus SIMPANG TIGA MOBILE)

FAITH MAID AGENCY PTE LTD

phone 68414178
faith.netmaid.com.sg

Hi,

If direct hire is not allowed then why a few of my ex-maids boast to me that they can come to singapore without agent and without paying agent fees? Said they have lobang for that kind of jobs?

Then shouldn't the Indon govt be more strict in controlling the exit of such maids? I think the Indon gift should be more strict so that these maids will not suka suka tell lies to break contract and go home then within 1 or 2 weeks come back to Singapore to work for another employer.

Anyway, my no.1 question would be why are the new maids so problematic? Sorry ah, I'm dying to know... :idea:

Hi,

Direct hire is indeed not allowed. Legally, if the ex-singapore maids were to come to Singapore, they will need to go through a training centre and this results in another round of bank finance scheme. Hence, to escape this, more often than so, the ex-singapore maid will attempt to enter Singapore on their own if not assisted. Indonesia government's aim is to keep tabs on their people just in case accident happens and their immediate family member is to be contacted.

If you were to ask about problematic, I guess it all boils down to their expectations (what they were told before they came and the actual reality), also another main point is external influence (of course it would be the negative ones either by fellow helpers if not their boyfriends).

There will always be some agency who in midst of their busy schedule, did not spend time synchronizing expectation. My FC maid agency spend more time on the expectation part as we believe that there is no one expectation that can fit all families. Each household is unique by its own and to cherish what they are given rather than only focusing on the negativity.

Hope this shed some light in your doubts, this of course is my little view on this industry.

Yours Sincerely,
Mr Soon http://tinypic.com/r/2s6a3k8/8

[fcmaid]

niuma:

Hi, need advice for my myanmar maid. My maid is early 20, has many friends, don't save money, looks like she is here to enjoy life.


She agreed to not have hp when I hired her, but just one week after she came, start asking for hp and kept raising it. I said if your work is good I will agree, let's see for 3 mth. So on the 4th mth, she has a nokia phone (not smart phone). But since she got the phone, things all changed. She is addicted to it, carry it all the day even when she is working. Even make calls when she is on the way to pick up my DS from school, so dangerous! That day I scold her, she show me black face, said she wanted to go back to agency. But very soon she changed mind, said sorry and wanted to continue.

Now tonight, 1 mth after she got her phone, she told me she wanted to buy another samsung smart phone. I don't know how to take it...definitely I won't give her internet access, but my neighbour in the same block never set their wi-fi password, so if my maid gets a smart phone, she will have 'free' access to wi-fi. How do I handle this? Thanks a lot.

Hi,

For Myanmar helpers, very often, they use internet mainly for Viber (Internet Application like WhatsApp or Skype) to call back to their country if not to keep in touch with their friends in Myanmar.

Internet is a double edge sword. It can help and harm.

I believe it is important to spend time understanding them rather than restricting.

Thank you

Mr Soon

[fcmaid]

bluebellas:

Hi, wonder if anyone can help me. Due to personal reasons, I'm thinking to transfer my maid out. I want to help her save on the agent fees, so thinking to do direct transfer. I have a prospective employer on hand. Can anyone tell me what are the steps involved? Is it new employer just have to buy insurance and apply for work permit at MOM website?

Hi,

Agency is not allowed to take from maid if it is direct hire case.

The new employer would need your full name to do the application, upon approval then get insurance.

Thank you

Mr Soon

[fcmaid]

http://i62.tinypic.com/f0dbb4.jpg\">

st2:

I suppose maids from hell are agent's darlings!!!!!If not, agents will turn them into a transfer happy maid to milked them and then ask them to wise up and work for the 4 or 5th employer or just send them packing back to kampong then..........


Good maids stay for 2 years contract to 1st employer and then renew contract. The agent never gets to earn another $ from her ever...EVER!!!!

!?!?!?!?!?!!?

Hi,

Depending on the business model of the agency, some prefer those as you mentioned \"maids from hell\", some prefer to have good maids.

Like what you said, for the first type which is to keep transferring them as the maximum amount an agency can get from a new maid and transfer maid is the same. Hence, they often open their shops in places like Katong Shopping Centre, Bukit Timah Shopping Centre or Hougang Green, (basically places full of agencies) to increase their visibility by lining up the maids within their premises or asking them to pretentiously clean the place or even get a fake baby to do role playing, sometimes you see the maids sit on the wheelchair to be pushed by another maid to simulate elderly care. As many employers like to window shop for maids around these places, hence a face to face interview will most definitely help the maid to get a new employer fairly quickly.

There is also the second type, that you mentioned maids who fully complete their contract and renew contract again and again. Indeed, the agency involved is not able to get money from the maid but on hindsight, will this maid not be living advertisement for the agency?

Friends, family and acquaintances, will be enquiring. Is it pure luck or is it the effort by the agency?

There are always both sides to a coin. There are bad and good agencies around, just need some time to differentiate them.

Thank you

Mr Soon

[ashana]

There are some questions to ask as I’m new to hiring maid. Our family is looking for one who can take care of a 1 year old.


1) What are the costs involved in hiring a transfer maid?
2) What are the costs involved in hiring a new maid?
3) What are the procedures, timeline and cost involved if transferred maid decided to quit?
4) What are the procedures, timeline and cost involved if a new maid decided to quit?
5) If a maid quit, is it better to send her back to agency or buy her a ticket back home?
5) Is it okay for the maid to sleep in the living room? (Although is not a room, she can watch TV, read books, switch on dining area light to write or do whatever she can when we sleep in our own room. )
6) Is it acceptable to request no handphone and no off day policy? (She can get phone from us if she wants to make phone call at night but she can’t carry/own a phone. I was told to restrict phone usage to once a month only because more phone calls mean more problems. But I am fine with her carrying phone as long as she is able to show sensibility to prioritize responsibility. So, I think I should request no handphone and no off day policy at the beginning just in case I find her not suitable to carry a phone, it won’t be too dramatic to reject her request as it was stated clearly in the beginning.)

Job Scope

She is required to do sweeping, mopping, laundry (washing machine and dryer), wash dishes, wash and sterile milk bottles, bathe baby, change diapers, ironing, prepare and feed baby food daily. She needs to take care of the baby. She needs to prepare evening meals but 60% of the time we will dabao or eat out.

Over the weekend, we will spend more time with the baby. On Sat, she has to go out with us to do marketing and cooking and able to take time off from baby to rest. On Sun, she has to do some cleaning (wash toilet, clean cabinets, clean fridge etc - 1-2 tasks each week), cooking.

She needs to follow us to parents place once a week.

Is the above job scope reasonable? Some of my friends said is too free and easy. But taking care of baby is a 24 hours thing and I know how tiring it can be even though you don’t do much house hold chores.

Another question that I want to know is how should I handle maid?

She is an employee but more than an employee because she lives in with us and have to handle us 24hrs. We don’t live in a BIG house but a small HDB flat unit where we live together like a family. She could properly be the one we get to see more often with so she needs to be one that we grow to like and accept and vice versa.

She takes care of our basic needs which can be as intimate as knowing how often you change your undergarments, the age of your undergarments, how many times you change your sanitary pads, your family affairs etc. She will be the one who knows all our habits, weaknesses, preferences, secrets which we may not even know about each other. If we grow to like each other, I believe the bond will be very strong and at the end of the day, the employer / employee relationship will be even harder to handle for both.

So how should we handle an employee who can be a very potential arch enemy if they turn against us? And how should we handle an employee whom we grow to live like a family and stay together 24 hours / day?

At the same time, we are exposing our family to some risks to allow a stranger to live in and "take over" the house when we are not in.

How can we protect ourselves?

I have heard friends who have maids that stay with them for years, and have maids who requested to go back to agency in less than a month. So, in maid’s perspective, is switching employers be better for them? What will a maid get if she continues to job hop? Is it extended stay? Go back to agency to spend time with "friends"? In maid’s perspective, how should an employer handle them?

[BestMom99]

Dear parent,

Beware of pilipino maid. I just found out recently that maid from this country actually exchange notes about their employer and they form a group to advise fellow maid planning to look for new employer whether to work or not to work for a particular employer.

Avoid hiring the one with the name Divina JN (WP # 024860140). She was chit chating with neighbor maid when was supposed to be buying breakfast for our son. She took pictures and posted on facebook. We were informed by neighbor’s maid to search her on facebook. We found out from our new maid that Divina actually called her and told her about the situation in our house.

[st2]

So these maids form a group and devise strategies to manipulate us. We the employers’ home situation, privacy are being violated and passed around on social media…Thanks MOM for your best job done for our citizens, allowing maids unlimited transfers.

[BestMom99]

Dear parent,

Beware of philipino maid. I just found out recently that maid from this country actually exchange notes about their employer and they form a group to advise fellow maid planning to look for new employer whether to work or not to work for a particular employer.

Avoid hiring the one with the name Divina JN (WP # 024860140). She was chit chating with neighbor maid when was supposed to be buying breakfast for our son. She took pictures and posted on facebook. We were informed by neighbor’s maid to search her on facebook. We found out from our new maid that Divina actually called her and told her about the situation in our house.

[BestMom99]

We called MOM & were advised that we can feedback via email and MOM will keep a record of the incident. MOM also agrees that employer may report to police of receiving anonymous letter.