How to Improve the Retention rate of Helpers in Singapore?

If you have never hired domestic helpers in Singapore before, it can become quite a daunting task. After all, you have to invite complete strangers into the most intimate areas of your house. So, whether you are going for a live-in maid or for a helper who visits your residence a few times a week, it is important that you make sure you’ve carried out adequate background checks. You should know what to look out for before you commit to house cleaners and once you have the perfect helper, do your best to not let them go. Retention is important to save all the effort that you did!

The best way to find the perfect helper and to keep hold of them

Finding a decent maid can be made easy with a proper list of guidance but keeping hold of the maid is an alarming issue. Who wouldn’t hesitate to welcoming strangers to take care of their homes and their family? Even trusting and relying on the new helper can be a hard task.

Hire reliable agencies to help you choose the experts

Your search for choosing decent maids begins by looking for a reliable agency. Get in touch with accredited maid agencies to give you the help you need. Not only do they train the maids to provide the best possible service but they also have a high standard when recruiting so that they can ensure the quality of the workforce. Get in touch with them to hold an interview via a telephone or webcam and further narrow down your prospects.

Maids need to be respected

One of the most common issues in the maid-employer relationship is the issue of boundaries and respecting them. The boundaries refer to home duties, privacy, household talks, and personal lives. When hiring a maid, you should treat her the same way you would want to be treated by your boss. You should also keep in mind that these maids are your employees and not your slaves. When you treat them with dignity and respect, they will work with enthusiasm and work longer for you.

Communication is the key

Language and culture can sometimes become barriers in your relationship with the helper. She might come from a different place with different traditions and this might hinder you from understanding her fully. When giving her instructions, be sure that they understand everything before you leave your house or go to work. Most homeowners usually assume that maids already understand what to do even without you explaining it properly. This generally results in misunderstanding and worse outcomes.

Give her positive motivations

Any time they do a good job and give their best throughout the day, pay her compliments. It’ll motivate them to do better than before and vanish away the stress they feel. Even if their performance isn’t that great, ask for her explanation instead of criticizing her. Assessing her performance and finding out ways to improve it will help her do better in the future. Generally, good words and advice are more motivational than nagging.

There is a time for work and time for rest

Have you noticed how your boss gives a break from time to time during your work? Well, the same is applicable to the helpers. There is a time for work and there is a time to rest. Maybe there are times that you might not be aware of but you are overworking her. Think of how much work you are making her do and let her rest from time to time.

How can you improve the retention of helpers?

A new accreditation scheme has been launched that aims at improving the standards of maid agencies. AEAS or the Association of Employment Agencies Singapore, which is behind this initiative, is hoping to encourage the maid agencies to match foreign domestic workers with suitable bosses while also helping them avoid transferring employers multiple times.

This new scheme follows consultations with 44 stakeholders, including employment agencies, employers, and non-government organizations. The dispute resolution services have been introduced by the Centre for Domestic Employees (CDE) who is working together with the Lutheran Community Care Services.

The employers can approach the foreign domestic association for the needed social support and training, which has piloted free medication services ever since 2016. It provides help to resolve the issues instead of ending the working relationship. About 2 in every three maids that work houses across Singapore never manage to complete two years of their contract, and the ministry said that more can be done for supporting the employers when it comes to hiring of maids, as “early termination of contract is fairly costly and a bit disruptive to both the parties involved”.

As part of the measures, the employers and employment agencies will have access to more information about the maids’ work experiences from October 2020. If you want a platform that gives you more information about helpers, kindly visit our tips about hiring and managing a domestic helper.