Suzannecara

We are moving to Singapore mid February and looking to hire a maid from beginning of March full time. We have 3 kids - ages 2, 4 & 7 yrs. Anyone know of any maid coming availabel with experience with children and good english? Please let me know. Thank You!

ex reg

Maids in Singapore are a potential minefield.
Even transfer maids.

Have you had previous experience of hiring a maid?

Englishmum

I'm assuming you wish to employ a live-in maid instead of a part-time maid?

You will have no problem finding a maid - they all want to work for expats as they tend to get much higher pay and better working conditions ie. one day off a week. Some local employers don't give their maids any days off at all (this is allowed in Singapore, unbelieveably). You will need to pay a monthly levy to the government (approx S$350) for employing a 'Foreign Domestic Worker'.

You will need to interview quite a number of maids to find a good 'fit' for your family; they will tell you what you want to hear to land a job with an expat family. Best to ask open-ended questions ie. 'What would you do if...?'
For example, I was once cooking and burned my arm on the oven door. I asked my maid Milaflor what would she have done if one of the children had burned themselves. She replied "I put a tomato on it". I sent her straight onto a St. John's first aid course!

Ask a maid you are interviewing to read aloud from a recipe book; she needs to read fluently in English as well as speak it. See if she lets the children come to her, rather than her rushing over to them and putting on a show to impress you.

Ask her when she last went home, if she has children/spouse, how many people she is supporting back home. What does she like to do on her day off ....does she like to go to parties and tea parties (a red flag). It's a common ploy to ask to go home to visit after a few weeks/months as her 'father is dying' (wants a trip home at your expense....local employers would not put up with it). Does she owe any money to anyone? Make it very clear that you will *not* advance any wages, ever - and that she must never ask for an advance or for a loan.

TBH the best maids I ever had were from Burma (Myanmar) and Sri Lanka (I put up notices at Cold Storage supermarkets, stating non-Filipinas preferred). I had problems with the two Filipinas I had, although there are some good ones, but the best Filipinas tend to go to Hong Kong where they can earn more money. Also you have to provide a contract and pay the agency fees - compulsory - for the Philippine Embassy to let the maid get a re-entry permit if she goes on a visit home.

New employers of maids have to do a course about employing them (it can be done online). No agent is necessary to employ a transfer maid and they're a waste of money, costing hundreds of dollars for something you can do yourself; you can get the $5k bond from an insurance office - there are a number of them near the MOE where they will sell you a bond.

You can find a maid yourself by looking at the supermarket notice boards eg. Cold Storage especially in Holland Village and Jelita Cold Storage for a large selection, Tanglin Marketplace in the basement of
Tanglin Mall (or post up a request yourself), the British Club, Dutch (Hollandse) Club, American Club etc. (view the clubs as a prospective member and check out the noticeboards). Otherwise you could use an agency but beware of getting ripped off.....not only will they most likely charge you high fees but also the maid too.

PS: never, ever leave a maid in charge of your kids when they are swimming. Maids tend to spend their time on the phone /meeting up with their friends when at the pool, taking little ones for a walk or 'walking' a dog. Hardly any maids can swim (they will tell you otherwise) but unless you have personally seen her swim confidently and feel that she is capable of lifesaving procedures, don't let your maid supervise kids at the pool. It is reckless and also unfair on the maid to give her such a huge responsibility. My American friend Diane had to dive in to a pool to rescue her maid who was watching the kids whilst she had a poolside meeting with PTA members from the American School. She heard a loud splash and saw her maid gasping for breath and dived in to save her. Diane said "you told me you could swim when I interviewed you" and the maid replied "yes ma'am, but only in the shallow end". Meanwhile the kids were fine....just having some horseplay in the pool. On the condo next to where I lived a 5 year old Dutch boy drowned who was under the supervision of a maid.

Suzannecara

Again, brilliant advice. Thank you!

DigitalGhost

You know, the more I hear about Singapore, the less inclined I am to ever go there.

Englishmum

There is some great advice here (especially from the poster who suggested not to rush into it at first and start off with a part-timer):

http://www.expatsingapore.com/forum/...topicseen.html

Most part-timers expect to get paid around S$12 per hour with a 4 hour minimum. We use a part-timer (I prefer her to do the cleaning which she is brilliant at, but she's not great at ironing so I prefer to do that myself!).

Another common term for maid/helper is an 'Amah' (pronounced 'arma') and you will get to hear plenty of 'Amah Dramas', believe me!