Hello, we're looking to hire an experienced domestic helper and would like to pay a good salary.
The only other thread i found is 5 years old, so would anyone mind sharing what they pay now?
thanks!
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We pay in excess of twice the minimum wage but that is after several years of employment. I don't recommend you start there. Just like in any other job, the employee needs to commit to you despite the fact that her salary may not be exceptional to start.
Start at 10% over minimum with a commitment to raise her salary to maybe 20-25% over minimum after 3-6 months retroactively if she performs well.
Do yearly salary reviews and raise as appropriate. If you feel she has been exceptional a certain year give her a big bonus on Chinese New Year.
We also pay overtime if she works evenings.
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HKM3
13 yrs ago
We pay 5000 as well, plus annual bonus of one month's salary. I also recommend you don't start that high. It's always easy to raise the salary after they've proven themselves.
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Contrary to popular practice , I never acknowledge or treat my domestic help as a"family member" Strictly as an employee . with very responsible duties especially in care for children & elderly . If the helper has a very pleasant , happy nature and is totally honest , has learnt to speak Cantonese and/or Mandarin , able to teach your children in either of these languages , experienced in caring for infants & elderly , has an HK driving license , can cater for dinner parties of up to 20 or more dinner guests every weekend with a variety of Chinese , Indian , Western and vegetarian dishes as well as maintain the 3 storey house and large garden ..... walk & feed the dogs twice daily , wash the car & dogs every weekend as well as do all shopping and marketing ......All without any supervision or help , I suggest pay her as you would pay for 2 helpers ($8500 monthly) and give a very generous yearly bonus coz they are scarce and precious . My opinion .....if you can find an helper with only half of these attributes and abilities , sign her and pay her well . In our "world" i.e as Westerners earning good salary , or as a business owner you would be paying the equivalent of childcare only in my country . I believe emphatically that you get what you pay for . Basic wage will attract an helper who is looking for an "easy" gig , small apartment , no children or elderly , little cleaning and very little food preparation .Large houses and many kids are the reason that many helpers never call back on learning how big their job will be ! I suggest you look for skilled , experienced for many years with same employers for long periods .... mature and educated to a higher level if possible . But it simply depends on what your own family's needs and requirements are . Good luck and I sincerely hope you experience this wonderful "luxury" without too many problems .
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Experienced doesn't always mean good. We hired someone with 18 years experience who was just awful. She was incompetent, lazy, answered back and played psychological games for the entire 2 and a half months she was with us. We agreed to sign her to a better than average wage because of her 'years in the business' and all we got from it was a big headache. Our current helper gets $4k and little bonuses here and there and is 10x better.
My friend recently hired a neighbor's, helper's niece as a direct hire from the Phils and this young woman is GOLD! She is sensible, quick and efficient and learns fast. You can never guarantee experience will equal good work.
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Our first and last helper, also claimed to be experienced, after nearly 24 yrs in HK,
she was lazy, stole, and knew every trick in the book, that was what she was experienced at! I found out after employing her, she had never finished one full contract in 24 yrs. It was easy for her to lie her way into a job, her last employers who had her for less than a year had relocated to Singapore, we were new to hiring a helper, and were fully 'taken in' by her sob stories, felt sorry for her and offered an above average salary at the time, for 'experience'. We also got a big headache like you Adele.
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This is a very interesting thread. We also pay well above the minimum wage and I have often wondered what others pay for very good helpers. Our helper has 16+ years experience and started with us about a year ago. We matched the package from her previous employer (friend of a friend who swore by her).... At first, I kind of resented paying so much over and worried what we had committed to....but now she has proved her worth, I continue to look for ways to keep her happy so she stays with us!!!! I know we have been very lucky to find someone so good. Very hard worker, diligent, excellent with our kids and takes a pride in her work which I think is rare. Her package is: $6,500, plus $750 food allowance and $100 for toiletries. I recently just added $100 for phone (as I always expect her to call me and text me about the kids). She has 4 weeks of paid holidays (to be taken when we are away on holidays) and Saturday afternoons off to spend with some family but this works for us too. We will give her small presents for Christmas (no cash) and one month's salary for CNY. So she is on a very good deal but she earns it in our view. Works long hours by her own doing and I never have reason to complain. By no means are we are wealthy expats but we are happy paying what we are and have peace of mind.
Anyway, I hope this helps. Good luck with your search.
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You are also blessed with a wonderful helper mamainhk and I can see that you enjoy a reciprocal respect in your home from which you all benefit . Salary really should be a match with the helper's skills and workload ....a pleasant disposition as well as genuine care and complete honesty are an added bonus for the boss as they are in any employee in any job . Simple domestic cleaning duties in a tiny flat with no children deserve the basic wage . Equally , working a huge 3 or 4 storey house a multi skilled helper (with languages , infant and/or elderly care qualifications , managing household budget and shopping, maybe driving license to drive kids to school or sports) and highly experienced hard worker with many more responsibilities deserves so much more . With a skilled and experienced helper with a heavy workload I would tend to pay moderately at the beginning until you can establish that the helper is able to work extremely well unsupervised and to prove without doubt that her responsibilities to your children's needs and well being are her top priority . Then as time passes there is always opportunity to display just how appreciative and generous you can be . In my opinion .....
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What's the job description?
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MCB
12 yrs ago
I am about to renew our helpers contract and thought I would have a look at what others say about current salaries. Very interesting thread! We have had the same helper from Philippines since 2003, with good years, not good ones, a few disasters, a personal tragedy with the loss of a son, and she now has decided to do a last contract before returning home for good. She said this for the last two contracts also.... But here we are, renewing for what should be a last time. We currently pay her HK$3800 and give her $900 a month food allowance, she receives small amount (around 500) for Christmas and birthdays (I have abandoned since long offering her presents as it was too difficult to know what she would really have enjoyed) and on good years of good work she received around a thousand bonus for CNY. We live in a flat, tow older teens only, I do most of the cooking, some of the shopping, she is certainly not overworked at all but. She vanishes from saturday evening until extremely late on sunday evenings, is usually recovering of her week end on Mondays... No child care, very basic cooking, English only, dishwasher, days home by herself though she is free to goo out... She seems happy with her rather basic salary and conditions or she would have left us since long!! A fair relation though not expectional. I agree best to start basic and increase with years and quality of work if you can.
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MCB
12 yrs ago
I am about to renew our helpers contract and thought I would have a look at what others say about current salaries. Very interesting thread! We have had the same helper from Philippines since 2003, with good years, not good ones, a few disasters, a personal tragedy with the loss of a son, and she now has decided to do a last contract before returning home for good. She said this for the last two contracts also.... But here we are, renewing for what should be a last time. We currently pay her HK$3800 and give her $900 a month food allowance, she receives small amount (around 500) for Christmas and birthdays (I have abandoned since long offering her presents as it was too difficult to know what she would really have enjoyed) and on good years of good work she received around a thousand bonus for CNY. We live in a flat, tow older teens only, I do most of the cooking, some of the shopping, she is certainly not overworked at all but. She vanishes from saturday evening until extremely late on sunday evenings, is usually recovering of her week end on Mondays... No child care, very basic cooking, English only, dishwasher, days home by herself though she is free to goo out... She seems happy with her rather basic salary and conditions or she would have left us since long!! A fair relation though not expectional. I agree best to start basic and increase with years and quality of work if you can.
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MCB
12 yrs ago
I am about to renew our helpers contract and thought I would have a look at what others say about current salaries. Very interesting thread! We have had the same helper from Philippines since 2003, with good years, not good ones, a few disasters, a personal tragedy with the loss of a son, and she now has decided to do a last contract before returning home for good. She said this for the last two contracts also.... But here we are, renewing for what should be a last time. We currently pay her HK$3800 and give her $900 a month food allowance, she receives small amount (around 500) for Christmas and birthdays (I have abandoned since long offering her presents as it was too difficult to know what she would really have enjoyed) and on good years of good work she received around a thousand bonus for CNY. We live in a flat, tow older teens only, I do most of the cooking, some of the shopping, she is certainly not overworked at all but. She vanishes from saturday evening until extremely late on sunday evenings, is usually recovering of her week end on Mondays... No child care, very basic cooking, English only, dishwasher, days home by herself though she is free to goo out... She seems happy with her rather basic salary and conditions or she would have left us since long!! A fair relation though not expectional. I agree best to start basic and increase with years and quality of work if you can.
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Interesting thread. Its good to see that some people get it. You read a lot of complaints about helpers on these forums, yet many people are unwilling to reward good work/behavior.
Positive reinforncement works in all cultures. If you have a good helper, why not reward her both financially and otherwise? Remember that they come from poor countries and an extra thousand or two is A LOT of money for them. If I were a helper, I would be a lot more energnetic and helpful if I was making more than the minimum. Conversely, if I were paid the minimum, I would give a minimum effort.
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I think it very much depends on the person/helper. I have 2 helpers, one of which is paid more than double the minimum salary with 6 monthly performance bonuses on top of that, because she is THAT good, the other, same age, appears to be efficient barely makes a little above the minimum because she can't be motivated, well at least when my back is turned anyways. She's clearly efficient when I am watching but as soon as i don't check on something she lets it slide. Both work to a schedule, whilst one is always trying to do better than the schedule and think up creative ways to do the job better, more efficiently, and effectvely, the other is only trying to do things when I am watching and then taking calls and having a break when I am not. And she wonders why I don't escalate her pay like the other helper. She knows the extra is performance based BUT she prefers to think (and she has told me so) that it is more 'how the employer is feeling based every month' because may be then she doesn't have to take responsibility herself for her lowish wages.
You need a meeting of the minds, an employer that is willing to reward based on performance, and a helper that is willing to perform given the right incentives = good outcome
Rewards but not helper performance based = CRAP performance
No rewards irrespective of helper performance = CRAp performance
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