Maid - Restrictions and what you provide for them

[Rukia]

I am going to get a maid soon and I am just wondering what is the norm; what things should I provide and what kind of restrictions should I set for the maid.

1) How often and duration should we allow her to call home? Should we buy her calling cards/ hello cards or let her use the house phone? Or should she buy those herself?

2) What are the basic necessities you provide for your maid? Shampoo, Pads, Soap, Toothpaste and toothbrush? Anything else?

3) Do you allow her to have her personal HP?

4) Anyone can share what is the daily routine like for their maid? Duties and working hours.

5) To what extend do you allow your maid to handle your newborn?

6) If you allow your maid an off day, what time does she goes out and returns home?

Anything else I miss out?

 

[Excited Mummy]

I am going to get a maid soon and I am just wondering what is the norm; what things should I provide and what kind of restrictions should I set for the maid.

​It's important for you to set house rules & expectations. Pls check Tamarind's website for a copy. I adapted mine from there. I used to allow my Burmese maid to sit at the same table and share same loaf of bread with me and hubby. But she is very unautomatic. Eats A LOT!!! Frm 4 slices of bread, she upped to 6-7 slices. And even 8 slices before!! She eats more rice than me and hubby. Some times, I asked her to eat first as hubby will come home later and she ended up leaving very little rice for my hubby! She also walloped down a box of 6 bots of chicken essence when I went to deliver my baby! My mummy was at home with the maid. But even then, not 24hrs within sight. When hubby & I saw her appetite is so HUGE, we decided to let her eat cheaper house brand bread, while we eat our Gardenia/Sunshine, but she's very unhappy and stole 4 slices of bread from our loaf (from the middle, but left the date tag upside down when it was a new loaf which hubby & I had not even started eating yet.)

​Hi, I've just employed a burmese maid in Jan 2012 but will be changing her to a Filipino maid. I am a 1st-time employer in jan and have learnt certain things which I think i should share with you... I have also visited Tamarind's website for some tips.

1) How often and duration should we allow her to call home? Should we buy her calling cards/ hello cards or let her use the house phone? Or should she buy those herself?

​My husband allowed my Burmese maid to use his hp to call back to report she has arrived safely. She actually came here to work without informing her mother! She has called several times but not all times she could get through. She even called some numbers which actually turned out to be wrong or no one answers. In the end, she called another relative in Msia. My advice is you should allow her to call back home when she reports to work. But subsequently, it's really up to you, you may want to fix it at once a month. If she wants to call more often, let her buy a calling card?

2) What are the basic necessities you provide for your maid? Shampoo, Pads, Soap, Toothpaste and toothbrush? Anything else?
​I provided all these for my Burmese maid but she is very unappreciative. Sigh. Actually my neighbour said i should not bother as each mth, she still gets a small token sum of money from me even though her maid loan is not paid up yet.

3) Do you allow her to have her personal HP?
​No. Her contract states no handphone. But my Burmese maid actually asked me, after working for 2 wks, that she wants a hp after 6 mths. I called agency to counsel her. She also wanted pay advancement!

4) Anyone can share what is the daily routine like for their maid? Duties and working hours.
​You can refer to Tamarind's website for a sample. I adapted mine from there. My maid can sleep at 9pm or some times 9.45pm since she wants to watch the HK drama on channel 855. She wakes up at 7am. Still dared to complain not enough sleep!!! I used to let her take nap in the afternoon when baby was a newborn as baby needed to wae up for feeds at 1am, 3am, 5am aprprox. Now baby can sleep through the nite so no reason for her to nap.

5) To what extend do you allow your maid to handle your newborn?
​I used to trust my maid a lot and allow her to feed baby, change his diaper etc. But I would still wake up at nite to supervise. Her std of hygiene was so bad that after she changed baby's diaper, she wanted to make milk feed w/o washing hands. Many times, I had to keep telling her to wash hands, and she is very defensive and still told me her hands are 'clean'! alamak physically clean as in no visible stains/dirt but not truly clean!! Faint.

6) If you allow your maid an off day, what time does she goes out and returns home?
​My maid's contrast does not have an off day. She doesnt want to have an off day.

Anything else I miss out?

Please do take some photos of the food you provide for your maid too. My Burmese maid actually complained I didnt give her enough food to eat. Thank goodness I took some photos and sent to agency! Agency knows I treat her well but this maid is a blatant liar.

 

[Rukia]

Where is this website i can refer to? I am very worried about the maid problems as well.. But no choice as i need someone to help with my housework. But handling the newborn i am abit worried.

 

[Excited Mummy]

Where is this website i can refer to? I am very worried about the maid problems as well.. But no choice as i need someone to help with my housework. But handling the newborn i am abit worried.

Here's the website: Employing a maid in Singapore Tamarind set up the blog to help employers but she drew a lot of flak in the press several months ago. I dont think she is wrong. She just wanted to create awareness of the various issues employers may face when employing maids.

From the news I read about people abusing maids, I felt so angry that people could treat maids like that. But when i read about maids abusing babies, children and even killing the old woman, I feel worried. There are always two sides to a coin.

I told myself to treat my maid like a family member as I want her to feel welcome. But she has betrayed my trust and not appreciative of what I do for her. Advice from friends, relatives and colleagues & even my maid agency - Treat your maid as a maid! Not as your family member. It does not mean you dont treat her well. But you need to strike a balance. Let her know you are the master/mistress of the household and that she is a worker. Not treat her as a slave but treat her as your worker.

Treat her as how you would want your boss to treat you. Basic respect accorded but not too close. Maintain some distance. Dont let your maid climb over your head.

I used to say thank you (after my maid does something for me, such as put dishes on the table for me) and even sorry to my maid (that i forgot that her loaf of bread is about to finish & have not bought, and that I asked her to eat biscuits first for breakfast)! But now, I don't see the need anymore. In fact, in the past, she didnt even other to say thank you to my hubby or me when we bought food for her or gave her food. I told her off before - said you thank your God for the food, you should also thank your Sir and Ma'am. Then she did, though not always. Now, she gives me a black face everyday and doesnt even want to say. In fact, she is giving me the silent treatment!

She told the agency that she wants to work in a big house and not for me in this small flat. She accused me of not giving her enough food and rest. If she doesn't have enough food, how could she have put on weight and her face become so round??!! can sleep at 9+pm and wake up 7am, still not enough sleep??!! I sleep even lesser.

 

[Excited Mummy]

I think it's quite ok to set 9pm as the time for your maid to come home on her off day.
Coz she cannot expect to come back at 2359hr and expect her Sir or ma'am to wait and open the door for her.
But hearing from my colleagues, some would observe the time initially then push their luck by coming home later.

 

[bluetooth]

1) How often and duration should we allow her to call home? Should we buy her calling cards/ hello cards or let her use the house phone? Or should she buy those herself?
Fortnightly or monthly.

2) What are the basic necessities you provide for your maid? Shampoo, Pads, Soap, Toothpaste and toothbrush? Anything else?
All the basic necessities including clothes, slipper, shoes.

3) Do you allow her to have her personal HP?
My advice is no, dont give her HP and dont let her use. She will go overboard and keep using HP while cooking or ironing.

4) Anyone can share what is the daily routine like for their maid? Duties and working hours.
Sleeps at 9.30pm and get up at 5.30am

5) To what extend do you allow your maid to handle your newborn?
Everything except bathing. Bathing - I will do it myself. Once my newborn turns 4mths, I let my helper bathe her.

6) If you allow your maid an off day, what time does she goes out and returns home?
I dont advise. My friend's kids are teenagers so her helper has every Sunday off and the helper must be home by 7pm.

 

[Excited Mummy]

My mother-in-law has an Indon maid who has a hp and she had 2 accidents within 4 mths!! Once she was knocked by a car in a carpark but she was not badly hurt. less than 2 mths later, she was hit by a motorbike while crossing the road and was admitted into TTSH. She stayed for 3 nites!! she didnt want to be discharged. both times, she was talking on hp!

Think 7pm is a good time. I asked hubby & he said I shld not think 9pm is ok. He said their former maid who was a Filipino would be home by 7pm and they are ok with her having her dinner at home even though it's her day off.

My MIL's current Indon maid's contract doesnt allow her a day off but my MIL allows her to go out with friends as her Indon maid will give a black face if she disagrees. This indon maid is going home in July, so she is more lax with her.

 

[milkshake]

Just to share some tips. I employed an indon maid since Jan 2012 to help with housework, cooking and eventually taking care of baby wld b primary focus when I head back to work in sept.

1) necessities - I bought everything for her. From shampoo, toothpaste, shower gel etc. reason is because I'm extremely particular about cleanliness and I wanted her to be cleaned as well using the stuff I got her. I bought Dettol shower gel, head n shoulder shampoo. True enough when she arrived and I inspected her toiletries, she had 2 small packets of shampoo and 1 bar of soap. And I suppose this is meant to last a long time to her. Also her toothpaste had very little left and her toothbrush bristle was almost gone. So I bought all these. I also got her a new towel to shower, new sheets for the mattress and blanket/pillow. She also didn't have many clothes so I bought some Tshirts for her at John little.

2) I didn't buy her a hand phone because she doesn't go out and we have a house phone.

3) she hasn't asked to call home. If she wanted i wld allow as well by buying calling cards

4) under her contract she didn't want off day. So I pay her extra in lieu which I'm more than happy to