Personal items allowance

Does an employer have to provide their DH with a personal items allowance, for things such as shampoo, conditioner & face creams?

Also what about a travel allowance for their days off?


Any advice?

No to both. You only need to pay at least the minimum wage, minimum $300 food allowance,(if you don't supply food). The DH are quite capable of spending their wages on shampoo same as any other employee.

you should provide your helper foods,shampoo and conditioner but not travel allowance during her day off

To jwm

the op asked if she HAD to supply shampoo, travel allowance etc. The answer is no. If she wants to then thats a totally different thing.

Personally I don't understand why people feel domestic helpers can't actually spend any of their money on personal items, transport and food, the same as any other employee, but hei ho thats just my opinion.

cd, well said, I also don't understand why a helper can't spend some of her hard earned salary for personal items or, god forbid, food.

In normal circumstances i would agree although with a full time live in helper I don't believe a helper should have to buy food themselves I believe it's part of the commitment I made on hiring a live in but that's just me) However we all know that in many cases (not all) a DH isn't paid what she should be for the amount of hours they are expected to work so paying for shampoo etc seems a small thing.

Perhaps we could also say god forbid that people pay a proper wage to these women or god forbid they should only be expected to do a 40 hour week. You can't compare these jobs with any other unless you do so in all areas. Being paid minimum wage and working 70 hours and more is not right either but we here an awful lot about helpers living like this.

There is nothing that says we need to provide these items it is simply down to how each employer treats there helper.

Compared to many locals i.e. security guards, cleaners etc, DH are not on a bad wage. They have no bills, rent etc to pay, many locals work as many hours, certainly the guards where I live do 12 hour days, for a low wage which they have to pay rent, food, electricity etc.

Yes DH get a low wage, but in terms of what they can do with it, its not. Most buy land, build houses, start business'. send their kids to college. And many in just a few years of working here. For most of us 'rich'expats, it will take at least 25 years to pay for our house.

I know that there are many DH helpers out there who are treated appallingly, extremely long hours, under minimum wage, but most aren't.

Most helpers I know, although are in the house, don't actually work all the time, but their work hours include taking the kids to afterschool activities, which basically means they sit there for a couple of hours chatting to their friends. Hardly a stressful day. Playing with the kids, going to the shops. My helpers day for example, he starts at 7, spends 40 mins getting my disabled son dressed, gives him a drink and puts him on a school bus, then has an hour for breakfast. Washes the floors (takes him at least 1-2 hours, 3 times a week cleans the bathrooms (takes at least 2 hours), dusts once a week (again takes him at least 1-2 hours), these are all things that should take him maybe 30 mins. Has at least an hour for lunch, Potters around for the next hourdoing a bit of tidying, gets my son from the school bus, plays(sort of) with him and massages his limbs, maybe takes him for a walk (which envolves going a short way, then chatting on his phone for an hour), for 2 hours. Has an hour for tea. Washes up the dinner things, then goes to his room till the next day, or goes to a friends for dinner. So hardly rushed off his feet.

cd we've heard all the some locals are paid worse scenario before but that doesn't justify paying helpers poorly just because there are other low paid people I'm afraid and the forum is about helpers not local security guards who are universally low paid. Two rights don't make a wrong, and if you would like to buy a house in Philipenes you would also be able to pay it off quickly compared to most western countries so you can't compare apples with oranges.

whether you helper is sitting in the park while the kids play or washing floors they are still on duty so are working. Unless you allow them to go and do whatever they want without answering to you they are still on duty, I think working for people who would never normally be in a position to afford a helper and being expected to jump to there tune all the time would be very stressful it's not just high paid jobs that are stressful. I also don't agree that most are treated better you just have to read some of the posts on this forum, it makes me shudder to think of some of the conditions helpers are living under.

I would love to see the government set a maximum amount of hours a day that a helper can work to ensure all this 14/16 hours a day thing can no longer happen and employers are forced to take some responsabvility for there own homes and kids.

CD, I think you may live in fantasy land, have you actually seen what "type" of house their wages pay for, well, I have. It does not even come close to what us nice expats have that takes "25 years" to pay for. We won't even discuss the "schools" they send their kids to in relation to the "expats". So yes... they may not work extreme hours for you, but I can assure you that's not the case for all DH's. I am happy you have a good DH and it works well for you, but I would not compare their lifestyle to an expats, hardly appropiate

Must be very rich and/or have little imagination!! Clearly you have never had to live (not survive) when the money is very tight and have responsibilities. It would be lovely to have some extras being paid for when you are working long and hard- but to try shame people for even asking or having a different opinion is rather snotty. How can you be sure that cd has not built up a good will with her helper in spite of not providing this allowance? What a materialistic thought process..... I would be very curious if the day you can't provide all this stuff you do for your helper, she will like you as much.


Ace 1975, you don't have to. But, do what you are comfortable with and can afford. If your helper is working well, then by all means you can give them all kinds of allowances- I am sure it would be appreciated.

Thank you everyone for your response to my thread. I think it's time to close it now!

At the end of the day, it seems that it's up to the employer what allowances he/she chooses to provide.