Advise on Indonesian helper

I have just employed my very first indonesian helper. My previous two Filipino helpers were excellent. However, the first left because her mother was ill and the second left because her daughter had just given birth and she wanted to go look after her grandson.

My friend recommended her agency who only deals with Indonesian helpers so I thought I'd give it a go. My previous agency has closed down.

What I find is that my Indonesian helper seems to need reminding (of the same stuff) over and over again.

She's only been with us for a month and I'm a bit nervous about whether or not things are working out.

I want to give her a chance because I think it is still early days... but I'm starting to worry because despite my repeated remindings, she continues to do things wrong and other times, lack common sense. For example, my towels and bedsheets have not been washed for over 2 weeks, the vases holding my indoor plants have not been washed, the microwave has not been cleaned, my handwashed clothes in a red laundry bag have not been washed etc. I have to remind her at least 3-4 times before things are done.

I let my parents take care of my little girl when she's ill because I don't even trust her whether or not she's able to administer medicine and all if she's that forgetful.

I will have another serious talk with her. But is this normal for a fresh indonesian who has never worked in Hong Kong?

Or are filipinos better when it comes to caring for a baby?

Although there are good and bad with any nationality - even in your own country, I'm sure - there does seem to be a lot of similar stories posted in this forum. Generally (and I stress that point) the ID helpers here in HK come from a 'less advanced' community and have a poorer education background than their counterparts from PH. A lot of the things they are experiencing in HK are first-time experiences, and you need to be very patient if you are going to continue with her. The good news is that one day it will click with her and it will be all worthwhile, but it all depends if you have the patience to last that long. Incidentally, perhaps you need to be a bit more forceful yourself. Towels and bedsheets not washed for over 2 weeks? Depending on what your standards are I wouldn't be taking that. Ours are washed/changed 3 times per week, and if they were 1 day late I'd be jumping.

Do you have a written/translated schedule for your helper? This might help. Go you Google (languages) to translate your English schedule to Indonesian.......

Your helper sounds like mine ! It's been 10 months and despite patient training it's still the same. I need to keep reminding her the same thing over and over again. I didn't fire her because I spent too much time training her and then was pregnant and had complications so couldn't gather the strength to go through all that training again ! She's still with me but I'm going to let her go as soon as I can which may not be for a couple of more months since now I have a new baby and need to recover myself. After 10 months if it hasn't clicked I don't really think it's going to happen now ! Just to let you know - my helper is not Indonesian but she has never worked in Hong Kong before.

Are you comparing like for like ie age, experience, education etc? As an employer it is your duty to make the employee do what you want, if she does not give a warning then written warning then sack her just as you would an employee in any other job.

personally i believe that if you want something doing properly (especially around the house) ask the helper to do it. she's better at that stuff than me - that's why she's employed!

hurray for my helper!