Advise on Baby & Maid Exps

Hi Tamarind

We only advanced once, the rest is loan from my hubby and my inlaws to her. Can't rem the times that she wanted to loan from us for the last 1.5 years, it seems like every few months or so. She took care of my gal well and we also want to help her if she has difficulties so that she can focus on her work too, and from Jan this year till July, she has borrowed $240 from hubby to repair her house due to typhoon (was reported in news) and for her daughter's hospital bills which we advance one month of her salary. For employers who will never advance salary to their maid, I personally felt that was too harsh unless the employers themselves have financial difficulties too, otherwise for urgent matters that affect life and death, to many of us who are working and have double income, that two or three hundred dollars may not be a big deal to many of us but to them it means ALOT. From an employer's standpoint, we sometimes do not want them to take advantage of us in terms of finances, however, speaking for myself, I must admit I do not know what it means to be poor living in life back in their village where electricity is scarce and precious and the farm harvest is subjected to weather/seasons and where their livelihood depends on the harvest and having many mouths to feed, but I can imagine it must have been tough so when it comes to matters such as hospital bills, these are matters that if we can help, we will help but for other matters outside of this, we won't help.

For savings, my agency gave us a record log such that every month we are suppose to save 20% of her salary and give her the 80% so that's her savings accumulated monthly. The savings will only be returned at end of contract.

For maids, we can't reason or teach them the way we advise our friends, because of background differences I realised .. My maid doesn't spend on herself in terms of buying things for herself other than phonecards, all for the family and she does know she needs to save extra on her own, but each time the dependents need money, it takes precedence over her savings.
 


It seems like finding a maid is not an easy thing ah. The upfront loan is somewhat scary leh. Which means actually we are bound by the agency cuz of the upfront loan right...Mmmm if they used post dated cheque then okie at leats we only paid for her for the months she is working for us huh?...any maid agency to recommend me thinking of hiring one...
 
Hi all,
It's good to see u all talking abt issues pertaining to maids. My maid will be coming to my place in a few days' time. It's my first time having a maid, so really greenhorn. Care to share what household chores u get yr maid do? Like teaching her how exactly u want her to wash toilets? Mopping floor using rags? Handwash all laundry?
 
Hi Cookie
your maid coming liaoz. How many months pregnant are you? me also thinking of hiring one but seems like finding a good one not easy. Still thinking whether should or not but looks like me dun really have a choice leh. But at least got mother in lw to supervise so not that bad lah...maybe some kimnd hearted souls can like give us a list of the questions to ask agency and the maid. And also a list of things to look out for.

Say i will bring my maid to mil hosue when the both of us working to help look after bb. So how should i let maid know of this arrangement. And also can she help out in the housework over at mil house?
 
Hi Cookie

It depends on what is your maid's main/core responsibility. If her main task is to take care of children or baby I would cut down on the frequency of housework. I state down how many times I expect certain tasks to be done, e.g. mop floor everyday, wash kitchen toilet every nite, clean the windows once per week etc. My maid request for separate rags for different household chores, and separate mops for living room/rooms and kitchen. I would show her what detergents I have at home, and if she knows of any better ones, I would certainly buy it since she's experienced.
You can show the maid how you would like hte toilets to be washed, e.g. scrub the tiles etc. for laundry, we machine wash all the clothes, except for the working clothes and some of my gal's clothings that need to be handwashed.

For me, i let the agent and maid knows in advance that I expect the maid to be at my inlaws place when I interview the maid, before deciging to hire .. cos not all maids would like to go parents or inlaws place.

A list of things to lookout for when interviewing a maid :

1. Prefered philippinos with experienced in care giving, with testimonies from past employers

2. Off days - twice per mth is the norm.
Or for the first 3 months, once a week .
Personally, I feel that maids sould be given off days as being human beings they also need friends to talk with and have a life of their own. Some may think that they would be under negative influences of their friends .. I ahve come across indo maids who have no off days and yet get pregnant or learn tricks from their friends ..

3. Look out for long nails and appearance of maids. Taking care of babies would require the maid to have her nails cut and no nail polish.

4. Find out the reasons why the maid is transfered from another employer. Ask to speak to the employer if possible.
A reliable agent should be able to provde these info.

5. Ask the maid if she has any "special requests" - I have come across maids who request for pantene shampoo when it comes to toiletries (toiletries provided by employer) - that to me is fine and is up to individual. Some would say they must have alot of rice to eat per day - if she can deliver her work well and does alot of chores, definitely she needs to be fed enough. It's better to have the request made known during interview before hiring then have it come as a surprise.There';s also a maid I know of asking for off days every singapore public holiday on top of her given off days - that to me personally is a no-go. Some would ask for 13mth bonus - that should depend on individual and based on maid's performance and is not a given.

- Let the maid knows your houserules

- Prefered married maids with young children of their own

- let the maid know what her core responsibilties are - child care, or house work so that she can prioritise. Have a set of objectives so that you can manage her by your objectives on whether the obj are being met or not.
 
Hi Etelle

Let me share with you my "first time" experience in hiring a maid to take care of my baby :

I hired an experienced philippino maid who is a trained mid wife. Being a trained mid wife, she works in a hosptial before taking care of infants. Sounds good yeah ? She looks pleasant to me, with very long hair and speaks good english. Her reason for transfer is because her previous employer wanted an indonesian maid cos the salary is lower.
I was given her employer's contact number but didn't call to check. This maid is single and has no dependents back at home.

We hired her and fire her in 3 months. i must say that she speaks good english and has the experience and took care of my gal pretty well, but her attitude speaks for itself. She would come into my room without knocking on my door, and watches TV at my sofa even when I step home, doens't like me to tell her what to do esp when she does things that are "wrong" to me, and puts on nail polish and refuse to cut her long nails.

We didn't know how to go about selecting a maid back then and hence made this mistake. From then on, I make the rules known to the maid prior ot hiring that 1) no sitting on sofa (I used to think it's ok , but not anymore) , 2) eat only after we eat and we lave alot of food to the maid, 3) seek permission before using the telephone for local calls, we disable IDD 4)things that she do that wiould result in termination of contract e.g. hitting of children .. all these written in black and white. Each month, we gave her appraisals using the appraisal form that her previous employer uised and i was told that this is effective on my second maid whom we hired .. and my second maid and I both agreed that this form of appraisal allow 2 way communication so that my maid know how i rate her work performance according to each task listed in the form, and also my maid can let me know how she feels and where she's lacking. I did this appraisal only for the initial 6 months.
 
Hi cookie,
I would advise you to write down a detailed time table for your maid, so she knows what to do at what time. I have posted my time table earlier in this thread, scroll upwards and find the message posted on September 05, 2005 - 10:22 am.
 
Lenny & Tamarind,
Thanks for sharing your experience and advice.
My maid is arriving v soon. I'm still q unprepared. i din know must 'prepare' so many things like detailed timetable and house rules.

Etelle,
I've a 3 month old son. At the agency i let the maid and agent know i need someone who will follow wherever baby goes and over there has to do housework. She agrees. But dunno if i should put this in black and white.....
 
Hi Cookie

From a legal standpoint, under the existing work permit conditions, foreign domestic workers are employed to perform domestic chores at the employer's residential address stated at the work permit card. An employer can be charged for illegally deploying a maid, with penalty. This means that the maid can make a complaint if she is asked to do household chores at another address other than the address that you stated in the work permit card, even though she can verbally agree to it ,not sure if putting it in black and white would help in such situations. In my case, we do not allow the maid to do housework at my inlaws place as her focus is on taking care of my child and given that her attention is focus on the child 100%, it's good in a way that she has no "excuse" to be busy with any other chores where it comes to baby care it has to be up to my expectations. She will only do the work pertaining to the baby, such as changing the sheets , washing the bottles etc. but not the general housework.
 
Wow so nice to know of this thread, haha every1 has maid has headache!
Cookie u r here aso ah?
So many advisor here. Can I check if I have a current maid at home is it tat I cannot have transferred maid?
If I engage maid from another agency is it very troublesome as I nd to give current agency 1 mth notice. I am not sure of the rules and regulation please advise.
 
Hi dunnoleh

No maid is perfect, just like us, they are human beings
happy.gif


you mean you would like to hire 2 maids ? You can with valid reasons check out MOM website. Or if you want to let go of the present one and engage a transfered maid from another agency, it is possible, just engage the other agency to look for one and when ready, terminate the contract of the first one so that the second one can come. If you do not terminate the contract of the first one (unless u r replacing her upon expiry of contract), the second maid cannot arrive .. unless you are planning to hire 2 i think you can.

I have 2 friends with 2 maids in their house, another one has 4 maids in the house
 
dunnoleh,
If your household combined income (both u and yr hb) is more than $60K (i think), you are eligible for 2 maids in your household. Can check this out with yr agent!

Last time, I have one maid (going to transferred her out and placed her at the agency, max 30days) and I get another one that is already in Singapore (transferred).
 
Hi Lenny
which means if i bring the maid to in law house. Then if like wash baby's bottle, change diapers anything that has got to do with baby can lah but cnanot sweep or mop the floor or wash clothes for my in laws lah is it???
 
Hi etelle

Strictly speaking, I would think that domestic household chores at any addresses other than your own is not permitted by law. Since her main responsibility is infant care, she would have to follow all activities/tasks pertaining to the infant.
Of course there are maids I know of who are asked to do general housework at the parents or inlaws place, my current maid used to do that for 3 household under the family she worked for and they give her more pay. Personally, I would not take that risk, you can never tell if the maid decide to report about it.
 
Hi Etelle

another thing to note - it's best to list down your requirements/expectations about hygience, safety, groceries etc. e.g.

hygience - Always wash your hands before touching baby's food items, Always wash her pacifier with hot water if it drops onto the floor.
Remember to cover the steirliser all the time so that oil and dust will not get in etc.

Safety - When preparing for baby's bath, add hot water to the cold water to get the right temperature first before bathing baby.
DO NOT put baby into the bath tub if the water is too cold or hot, and do not add hot water to the bath tub when the baby is in the bath tub.
Do not leave small objects lying around such as coins. Do you let baby put small things in her mouth. etc

Groceries / household supplies - If household supplies are running low , write them down on a piece of paper and paste it to the refrigerator.
 
Hi Lenny, do you tell your maid verbally your expectations or you list them down on paper? I'm gg to have new maid coming next mth so preparing for her arrival.
 
Hi giggler

I have all these written down in a spreadsheet, verbally it's easy to be forgotten, so I printed 2 copies of it - one is given to her as part of her "orientation" pacakge, the other is stick on the kitchen wall as a reminder/reference.

You will need to specify what time you expect her to wake up and retire in the night. For me, I will make sure she has 8 hours of sleep not less.
I dun believe in depriving the maid of sufficient rest, and she usually complete all the housework by 930 and i told her she can go and rest or do her own reading etc. I try to put it down in simple work instrucitons that leaves no room for ambiguity and also go through one by one so that she understand each task required of her.
 
Lenny, do u mind sharing with me the spreadsht? I thot of writing it down in black & white too. But do they know how to read eng? Me getting indo maid.
 
Hi giggler

What's the standard of your indo maid's english ?
If she cannot read much english, you may need to translate to her native language.
 
Hi Lenny,
I am new to this thread but planning to hire a maid as well.

You are really very experienced and thanks for sharing so much with us.

Like Giggler, I am planning to hire Indonesian maid as well.

Can share the list with me? my email add is [email protected]

Giggler,
can you speak Bahasa? My parents can speak and they have Indonesia maid so i trying to pick up some each time i go home.
 
Hi SY , giggler

I have sent you the file via email.
(note, please do not reply to that hotmail account as i hardly check my mail in this account )
 
Hi Giggler

When you interview your maid, I guess you should be able to tell if she speaks fluent english and able to understand the questions you ask her ( the "yes" and "no" monosyllabus answer dun count ) ?
 
Hi Lenny

I got your spreadsheet already.

Thanks very much! You are really very detailed. How many maids have you employed so far?
 
Hi Cookie, Nuttnuts, Steven

I have sent the file to you.

Hi SY,

My current maid is the second philippino maid i hve employed. I will be extending her contract end of the year.
 
Hi Chin

I have sent you the file.

If you are hiring an experienced philippino maid to take care of your child, do ask the agency for her testiomonies (they should have it ) from the maid's past employers. There should also be ratings on how well she fare in each tasks assigned to her. Personally I prefer to hire experienced philippino maids (transfer maids) versus new maids .
 
Thanks Lenny!! Your list is so detailed - it is a great help.

Yes, I do agree that maids with experience seem better..at least, we have some peace of mind that they have taken care of a baby before. Thanks, again.
 
Hi Lenny,
when you say transfer maids, does it mean that they have worked in singapore before but their contract has expired?

i intend to hire indonesia. my fren has suggested that i get experienced maids but not one who has worked in singapore before. is that your case as well?
 
Hi SY

Transfer maids refer to maids who are currently working in Singapore and are due for transfer upon their contract expiry. i.e. their current employer are not extending or renewing their contract after the current contract ends.

I was told by my agent to look for experienced philippino maids if the main responsibility of the maid is care giving to infants or small children.
I would prefer to get someone who has some experiences in Singapore to know the culture and chinese customs. both my previous and current maids worked in Singapore for a few years, the current one worked in Dubai before coming to Singapore.
 
Hi Lenny,
my only concern with getting maids who have experience in Singapore is that they may tend to know the place too well. do you have this problem?
 
Hi SY

Having an experienced maid may mean that the maid have friends or her own social circle here and know our culture and habits well. There are many people i know of who does not want to let the maids have off days for fear of being influenced by their friends in a negative ways etc. My personal thought is that they are also human beings, needing some breathing space and friends.
The experienced maids may know the norms and rules too well, it is for us employers to let them know where the line should be drawn. as an example, imagine our boss starts controlling and eye-balling our activities and movements , as in checking each outgoing phone calls we made using the office phone, the URLs we surf during office hours etc. of course we need to do our part to manage the maid, but there should be boundaries drawn somewhere otherwise the maid will surely ride over the employers if no clear distinct boundaries are set between employers and employees. I did have issues with my maid over the usage of my residential phone for the past few months, and my phone can only make local calls anyway. She used to tell me everyutime she makes call and will inform me, but of late, she has become "addicted" to using the phone that I was very mad with her for not informing me and out of fear she did not tell me the truth about the frequency of her usage which i can check through phone bills. It's not huge amount, but under $20 per month but that very much speaks of its usage.
Now she writes down each single call she made on the notepad I placed next to the phone, and looking at the past 4 weeks, she has used in total about 2.5 hrs per month, which I let it be because managing by objectives, so long as she meet her job objectived, I can overlooked such minor issues and can't expect her to be a perfect maid in every area. There is a certain measure of give and take, and my maid has demonstrated that she is willing to give up her time during her off days to help me out of her own accord and I really appreciate that. Again,not all maids are appreciative if you treat them well, but if we dun treat them well, we certainly cannot expect them to be performing a great job with a smile on their face. I treat my maid fairly well, but not extremely well - she gets to eat alot, buy her organic/pantene shampoo and eversoft shower foam as her toiletries and provide all the basic toiletries or stuff (e.g. napkins) for her ( i know some of my friends do not buy these for their maids and expect the maids to buy it frmo their own pockets , it is really up to individuals ) and allow her to watch certain TV programs (her favorite) on weekends (no tv for her at my home during weekdays), got her a radio in the room for her to use, presents and treats for her on her birthday, and xmas presents for her 3 kids and herself, allow her to nap when my baby naps over my inlaws place ( she is not allowed to do general domestic housework at my inlaws place ) etc. We loan her money too in the past but have not since early this year unless it is a crisis situation at home that we advanced her salary. Money management can be a headache with philippino maids, especially those with dependents back at home where eveyrone seems to treat them as money trees thinking that these maids are having an easy time earning money in singapore. Her family and relatives will always ask her for money whenever she calls home, and of couse "money was never enough" given the demands. And my maid being so far away from home, will always try to meet the demands of her family and relatives - besides her 3 daughters to support and a husband to feed, she has to support her siblings who are married.
It's not for me to tell her how to allocate her earnings, but I did advise her to save more for rainy days esp when her own daughters are concerned e.g her daughter told her that she needs money for some beauty contest that her school has selected her to represent the school, and my maid told her not to bother as this are unneccesary and her daughter said it's not her choice but the principal and teachers selected her. Of course m maid is not asking me for loan or money, but while I was asking her how;s things at home, she told me about her daughters comlaining that the money she sent is not enough and I get a full picture of why my mil sometimes commented to me taht my maid's daughters are not "sensible". Anyway, like i have said to my maid before, her family problems will not become our problems , and we will help her only if it is a crisis (e.g. natural disaster etc).

Getting a maid who is new to Singapore does not guarantee that there is no problem - the maid will want to have her own circle of friends here , being alone in a foreign land. it's sometimes likea double-edged sword - sometimes we fear that their friends influence them in a negative ways, then again they are humans who need friends for emotional support in a foreign country. Whether or not the friends can influence them depends on the maid's character and maturity afterall, and her discernment of the kind of friends she has. I also think it's fair to get to know the maid at a personal level to understand the kind of friends she has too and to know the maid's character, my maidf talks to me about her group of friends, and how they cut off friendship with a certain friend who did wrong.

the bottomline is that most importantly, the maid must be able to deliver her job to your expectations or above it, and have respect towards you and your family. My first maid lacks of respect towards us and pull a sulking face when we tell her gently where she did wrong.
 
Hi Chin

The list is very detailed because I did not want to leave any "grey" areas for my maid and thus spelt it out specifically how I expect the tasks to be done.
It's better to give instructions that are clear and specific, rather than general instructions that can be ambigous or subjected to mis-interpretation or assumptions.
Having specific instructions is one part, the other part is enforcing it and ensuring that the tasks are well done - monthly appraisals is what I used in the beginning to measure her performance to help her come up to speed so you may want to put together appraisal sheets which you can rate 1-10 of how each of the task is done, ranging from tasks that are very important to you versus to tasks that are deemed of less importance. some of my colleagues think I was absurb to do that .. haaa!
Really it's up to individual as no single method works best for all.
 
Hi Lenny,

Good suggestion...to have some sort of an appraisal system..then the maid is aware of her own progress and performance. Like you, I do agree that it is best to let the maid have some outlet of emotion, and have some off days. They are after all also human beings with the same range of emotions as us. Can not imagine ourselves working 24x7..then we should not expect maids to do the same.

Now, I have to hope that I have the luck to get a good maid.
happy.gif


Have a good day!
 
Hi Chin,

Make sure that the maid is "agreeable" and receptive to the idea of appraisal system so that she knows her performance will be tracked and also this allow her to air her views if she thinks there is discrepancy in the ratings - 2 way communication. This will allow her to improve herselfs in certain areas that you deemed as lacking, and for job well done, this will also show in her appraisal and you can reward her accordingly. I believe in reward systems for job well done - not necessary monetary rewards (though often that is the most practical) could be treats or small gifts.

Hi Cindy, furry

I will send the file to you later when I access my hotmail.
 

Hi ladies,
Any advice on phone issue. How should i get my maid to make overseas call? My house phone has no IDD. She told me agent keeps her handphone, and after 6 months she can get it back. How should i handle this? Can i disallow her to keep her handphone?
 
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