How long.......

I am new to employing a DH here in HK and I have looked at some of the threads here, spoken to some other employers and adapted a jobs list, that was posted on here, to fit in with my families needs and prefrences. I have gone through the routine with my helper 3 times, in detail, and urged her to say if there is anything she does not understand. She says she understands our requests (none of which are over the top I might add). However she still can't get it right. I do all the cooking and I have asked her to watch my 2 children 3 times in the last 2 months so I don't think she could be struggling to get everything done so is stressed so getting things wrong. I am now in the possition that if she can not follow a simple routine set down in black and white there is no way I can leave my children whith her. What if she forgets she has got them in her care like she forgets to wash the breakfast dishes? I know I am perfectly capable of washing my own dishes but I don't think I need to be employing someone for domestic services and doing them myself.

I have in the past worked with families in their homes with childcare as well as some domestic duties so am fully familiar with the situation of having someone other than a family member around the house but am getting totally stressed by what seems to be a lack of common sense. I am wondering if we should cut our losses and search again for someone who seems a bit quicker off the mark. How long should I stick this out? Constructive advice would be appreciated and mud slinging will be ignored.

I know how hard is your situation because I have been there before, I still imagine when you are cooking and your son is crying out there loud and she can't even stop him......and then your son fall down and get big bruises..... I changed maid 3 times before I found the right one for us.


I still remember my case with my indonesian helper before, it even reached to the time when I cried because I was so angry at her because of her lack of common sense, she always do things wrong. And in the end I have to fire her.


You can find the the right one for you...sometimes you just need to keep looking. Good luck!

oh no Chwaer, bad, bad, bad - look for another one. This is the main reason we employ then (forget dishes etc, tho they should do that of course as well) - to look after our children! You have to be comfortable and your mind at rest when you leave your little ones with her! If you dont have that, no reason to keep her, honestly! It pain in the backside as it is - start looking for new one.. good luck!

I think, DH has 3mos of probation, correct me if i'm wrong. Give her some more time to improve, sit with her, make it clear that everything you said must be listed and must be remembered. Tell her to focus on her job and concentrate to every task shes doing.


Yes, theres a lot of good DH in queue looking for employer, but who knows? if you'll hire again, the new DH, might be worst than the fired one.


Try to teach your helper, she'll learn...

Good Luck. All the best!

Sorry, writings on the wall, better to cut your losses earlier rather than later. Each month you pay a useless hopeless person is that months money waster.


I hired a second helper who turned out to be a proper tai-tai, who made my first helper do all her work. Two and a half months of all expenses skyrocketing because of all the great stuff she ate and me calling in the afternoon to find her sleeping... and she was out of here!


Cheers!

Just moved to singapore and while I think the situation for helpers here is a bit dire(no minimum wage, no contract, no holiday stipulation, they have a medical every six months, if pregnant deported immediately) the one good thing they have is a safety test.


First the employer does an online four hour course and test - fairly banal but they at least make sure you know what you should do.


The helper takes a four hour safety awareness course and test in the first three days that she arrives. It is essentially an English comprehension test and simple maths - of about the level of a native english speaker of 7 or 8 years. (My 7 year old passed it!)


What it very effictively does (right or wrong) is show if the helper is able to understand written instructions in English.

You will fail it if your English is not very good because the questions ask for subtle distinctions sometimes like between a broom and mop.

Here is the link to the sample questions. It can seem a little patronising but could be used as a diagnostic tool to see where the process is falling down with your helper. If she can answer all the questions correctly and understands all of the directions then it is moer likely attitude and work ethic. If she has difficulty with the questions then perhaps this can be remediated through more training.

http://www.mom.gov.sg/publish/momportal/en/communities/work_pass/foreign_domestic_workers/application0/requirements/first-time_foreign.html