When you live in Singapore and earn comfortable living, it is very common to get a full-time live-in maid. As I wrote earlier, most condos are equipped with a small maid's room at the back of the kitchen, usually next to laundry. At first I was a bit shocked at these rooms as they are really tiny, normally without windows or air-conditioning. However, I was assured by many locals that this is pretty standard and maids have some privacy and even their own bathroom. In some homes, though, maids share a room with a child or an elderly person.
It is obvious that Singapore, like a few other Asian countries, has a big industry of FDW - foreign domestic workers (=maids, =domestic helpers). The local government - the Ministry of Manpower - supports the industry and issues laws and regulations protecting the maids from abuse, etc. As a first time employer of a maid, you need to attend a 3hour course and get a certificate which proves that you are familiar with what is expected of you in an employer-employee relationship. After emloying a maid you also pay a monthly government levy - around 270sing dollars a month ( abit over 200AUD) on top of the maid's salary, which ranges from 350 to 700sing dollars a month. Apart from salary, you have to provide free accomodation, meals and toiletries for your maid. What is more, after every contract completion ( 2 years) you must pay for a return ticket to her home country (usually Indonesia or Phillipines) or a money equivalent in case she does not want to go back for a visit.
Most families look for a maid through the maid agencies. If you google maid agencies in Singapore, you will find numerous options. It is very hard to decide which agency to go to. Maybe a friend recommended you a good one, or you read good reviews on the internet. In any case, you should check that the agency's licence is valid. The laws are very strict here, and you don't want to get into trouble dealing with dodgy business.
From my experience I can say that finding a good maid is a matter of luck, it doesn't really depend on the agency. Also, the maid who is perfect for somebody else may not be so good for you for different reasons. A lot depends on the family where the maid was working before. They say here that local Chinese families are very strict with the maids and some expat families spoil their maids so much that these maids would expect an afternoon nap every day and going on all holidays with you. So, if you want a hardworking maid who is good value for money, it is worth it to look at the ones who stayed with a local Chinese family before. However, there will probably be some complications as well - these maids are not familiar with Western culture and cuisine, it might be too much to expect her to cook anything rather than Asian noodles, rice, etc... Again, you can teach her, but not everyone learns well. You will be surprised, but some maids are not able to follow your instructions properly, let alone following a recipe in a cook book. Sometimes the problem is poor English, other times it is a very low level of intelligence or just simple lazyness. I had 15 interviews with different girls before I found the one I am comfortable with. She will live in your home and probably will help you with your kids, so being comfortable with this person is a must. There is always a trust issue at first but I guess you should just listen to your gut feeling, and it also takes time to get to know somebody and grow trust. We found Lili, a lovely lady from Phillipines in her late thirties, who worked for one local family for almost 12 years! She started a week ago, and we hope it will work out for everybody. I am quite happy with her so far, she keeps our apartment clean and tidy, cooks dinners and plays with Sophie. We need some time for adjustment, but she definitely helps me out a lot and it makes a big difference to me!
I can write about this topic for hours, I did a major reasearch before we employed a maid. There are so many things to consider, but one thing is for certain - there are no perfect maids as there are no perfect people, but if you find a good maid, you are very lucky and your life will get much easier. Having considered all pros and cons, I decided to go for a live-in maid and I haven't looked back!
