Helper is homesick

HI all,


just hired a new helper after old helper of 5 years had stolen from us.!

she is with us now since Mid May and we agreed before signing the contract that she could go home to visit her husband and 5 yr old boy.

What should I say: I am generally happy with her, but had some minor stuff to talk about today and she bursted out in tears. She is homesick and really upset.

I myself have 2 little children and cannot even imagine being seperated from them for too long. STill it does affect her work and she herself said that she is sometimes a bit absent minded.

It really touches me, but still I need to be there firstly for my own familiy. I just dont know what to do about this.

Should I give her some options as 1. go straight home; 2. come with us to the Philippines-as planned-for holiday and then stay there -we are leaving in one month or 3. try to work it out...

I dont know...

help!!

While of course it is easy to be homesick, I think she needs to learn to suck it up. We all make sacrifices in order to work and she knew very well what was going to happen before she signed her name on the contract. If she can't take it, she should leave.


I think that you have already gone beyond what is strictly required. It is a good thing to be kind to your helper but at a certain point she is an employee and she needs to understand that this is the deal.


I would tell her that she needs to perform if she wants to keep working for you and that another employer may not be as generous as you are with home leave. If she still cannot take it she does have the option of breaking her contract.


You can of course provide her with a laptop so she can chat online with her family. Also a landline perhaps. That can help.

i had one who was homesick and had a 4 yr old boy whom she missed dearly. while i too cannot imagine being separated from my kids i could not handle the fact that she was so spacey and the constant tears abt how much she missed her little boy got on my nerves after awhile.....initially i ws v sympathetic but then gradually it got frustrating cos she did silly things like leave the stove on with sumthing cooking and go to her room and call her son and then forget abt the BURNING FOOD. and when i asked her what she was doing she said she was talkin to her son. or her son called her. finally fired her after 3 mths cos the mistakes she made were hazardous to my household.....


hope this helps.

is she new from Phil? Our second helper is straight from Phil (2 kids - 2 and 6 yr olds) - she was like that the first 3-4 months but now seems ok - they do get used to it, after all they are doing it so the kids could have a better life - would anything else make you leave your kids..? Bear with her for a bit longer!