Singapore is one of the sprawling Asian Tigers in Southeast Asia with one of the most dynamic economies in the region. For some time now, Singapore has relied on its migrant workers. Most migrant workers are admitted on a temporary basis and under very strict Singaporean labor rules. One of the in-demand services in Singapore is hiring of either part-time or full- time maids.
Mainly, maid comes to Singapore is commonly called an “ah-soh” which stands for nanny or a part time domestic helper. Most maids come from Philippines, Indonesia and trickles of population also come from Sri-Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. Reports indicate that there are around 150,000 foreign domestic-workers or Singaporean maids at Singapore.
In a family, if both Singaporean husband and wife tandem are too busy with their work and household cleaning is neglected then they may opt to hire either full time or part time house maids. Maids in Singapore could either be local or migrant workers or foreigners coming from other nearby ASEAN countries. Both types can be hired as either part time or full time maids depending on the work permit they carry. How do exactly do they differ? They can be with or without Agency fees.
Regardless, there are four main reasons why you should not hire part time maid with agency fee.
1) Increased risks in terms of workplace safety and security.
You might be unknowingly be hiring an illegal part-time maid. How? For example, once a maid is hired by a cleaning service company, therefore that company has the right to assign her to any client who requests for their cleaning service. In this case, the maid’s work permit will reflect the cleaning service as her employer and not of her private citizen to whom she does her regular cleaning duties. If caught you may be putting yourself at a risk of facing heavy penalties not only to the employer but to the maid too.
2) The employer will be asked to pay the Recruitment Agency with the pending fees when hiring any one of their maids which can reach to about $5000 SD.
These comprise: registration fee, arrival ticket for maid, medical checkup expense, administrative fees, medical insurance, security bond, and the like.
3) Absenteeism rate in part time maids is high.
4) The hiring of freelance part time maid in this country is definitely illegal based on the rules and laws designed by the Singapore Ministry of Manpower.
Nevertheless, a part time maid with no agency fee is the same way not recommendable for almost the same reasons except this time you have no or not much financial obligations to address like the replacement fee. What is important here is if they can be trusted and quality of service they render.
When wanting to hire reliable house maids, here are some tips to remember:
– Make sure to check their licenses and accreditation papers;
– Maker sure that the maid is insured by the recruitment agency under Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA).
– Make certain that the recruitment agency must be responsible and accountable for all their brought-in maids and vice versa.
– Choose a reputable hiring agency based on gained reputation or popularity, actual statistical or data reports, testimonials to satisfied all of our customers, referrals from friends and relatives;
