Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Give the foreign made a day off

Thursday, June 09, 2005

Give the foreign made a day off

Some employers do not give their foreign maid a day off for fear that the maid may engage in promiscuous activity or mix with bad company and may esult in pregnancy or running away from home. This may result in the $5,000 bond being confiscated by the Ministry of Manpower.

The risk is quite small. If the maid gets pregnant, it will be discovered in the medical checkup. The employer can arrange to send the worker home.

12 comments:

beautifuk_ said...: Actually, I think Singaporeans are just slave-drivers, trying to get maximum working hours out of their maids. LOL. Fears of them getting pregnant are just convenient excuses because chances are quite slim.; June 09, 2005 8:48 PM
Anonymous said...: Dear Mr Tan Kin Lian,

I strongly agree that day offs are important because you need to recharge to run the extra mile.

Since the risk is small that the $5000 bond will be confiscated, it is thus a good business to run an insurance program for employer to buy from NTUC. Get your actuary to come up with a plan to insure employer of maid in the event that the maid bond is confiscated due to giving day offs. Outline the restriction and limitation and i think the premium would be low enough for employer to consider.

Alternatively, may i suggest a "pension scheme" for maid. NTUC can set up an personal accident policy for the maid to guard against accident like falling off during window cleaning. Refund a portion of the premium to maid with good records, no confiscation of bond and crimminal case, upon their expiry of their contract. Encourage employer to take it up because the maid would behave well ,knowing that there is a bonus upon completion of contract with good behaviour. Employer should be willing to fork out the extra premium for because of the following:

1. In the event of accident, employer is protected from 3rd party compensation claim by maid's family.

2. Maid family is protected and she can work in peace of mind which results in better productivity.

3. With the bonus as a carrot for maid to have good behaviour while on day offs, employer enjoys a peace of mind knowing their bond is protected. In addition, they enjoy better maid attitude and behaviour which results in better work performance.

We are all human and have a family to feed, i am sure the maid will care about the bonus when they complete their contract. However, singaporean being stingy and draconian, may want to maximise maid value at lowest cost. This is because singaporeans are subjected to the same treatment when they are in their own employment. Some marketing by NTUC would do the job because the benefits are clear and it takes just some pursuasion for singaporeans to see the value.

my email is "songvios@yaoo.com.sg"; June 09, 2005 10:42 PM
Anonymous said...: You only have to experience for your self :-

1. changing maid can be a real hassle (waste of money and time)

2. you are worried about the well-beings of your loved ones under the maid's care, especially if the maid brings stranger to your house.

3. care of handicapped person??; June 10, 2005 11:44 AM
Tan Kin Lian said...: Dear Kin San,

Thank you for your suggestion. We will study it carefully.

Dear Anonymous

Maybe, our new insurance plan can take care of the hassle of changing the maid.; June 10, 2005 1:04 PM
Anonymous said...: Recent Newspaper article mentioned why the maid ran away... the maid was too a victim of the Maid Agency. Happy to see Employers changed maids more often, and the Agencies can forfeit the deposit placed by Employers.

MOM should change the regulations.; June 16, 2005 4:42 PM
Anonymous said...: Recent Newspaper article mentioned why the maid ran away... the maid was too a victim of the Maid Agency. Happy to see Employers changed maids more often, and the Agencies can forfeit the deposit placed by Employers.

MOM should change the regulations.; June 16, 2005 4:43 PM
Gilbert Koh aka Mr Wang said...: I used to have a maid with no off-day.

One night, she snuck out of the house at 1130 pm. She returned at 4:30 pm. She was dressed in her best clothes and had make-up on. She also had money in her pockets.

When we questioned her, she admitted that she had gone out to prostitute herself. She said that her clients were some Bangladeshi men. She serviced three that night. We sacked her.

Second story -

My aunt was at work one day. She was feeling unwell. She went home early. When she entered her house, she didn't see the maid anywhere.

My aunt entered her own master bedroom. She saw the maid stark naked, having sex with a Bangladeshi man.

It was a traumatic experience for my aunt. It is horrifying enough for a woman to come home and find a stranger in her house. It is even more horrifying if that stranger is naked, lying on her marital bed, with an erection.

These are real-life stories. If you heard more of these stories, you would know why some employers seem to be so paranoid about their maids.

Not all maids are like that, of course. It's a lot of luck, really. Another aunt of mine had the same maid for 10 years. She works hard and really cares for my uncle (paralysed from a stroke). They treat her like a member of the family and there is a lot of trust.

But trust has to be earned, you see. It's a two-way thing.; June 17, 2005 10:58 AM
Tan Kin Lian said...: I suggest that, if the couple are both working, they should install a camera with a DVD recorder to record all visitors to the home.

Do not leave the maid alone at home.

Alternatively, use a part time maid.; June 20, 2005 9:46 AM
Gilbert Koh aka Mr Wang said...: Typo:
In my earlier post, I said that the maid returned at 4:30 pm. I meant "4:30 am".

----

Part-time maid works only for some Singaporeans.

Most Singaporeans employ maids either to look after old people (eg the bedridden kind) or very young children.

You need a full-time maid for those kinds of situations.; June 20, 2005 2:29 PM
Anonymous said...: Hi Mr Wang,

Can i share my views on your maid problem? I personally think it may be a case of "pay peanuts and you get monkey".

When Singaporeans choose maid, value for money is highly ranked on the list. We all know that Filipino maids are the most expensive while indonesian and maid from india are among the lowest.

Being cheaper and without compulsory rest day as in filipino maid contract, singaporeans are forgoing communication and skills. The maids from india and indonesia are less skilled and the inability to speak proper english makes their learning curve even steeper.

In addition, there is a trend in singaporean preferring young maid. Younger maids who do not have a family in their own country are more likely to cause problems that involve sex, be it prostitution or bringinh boyfriend to employer's home. The perceived advantage of young maid is that they are stronger and have been endurance in doing housework thus it is more value for money. However, older maids with family in their country, may be more responsible and may have better work attitude. Afterall, they are here to help feed their family and they want to go home asap after earning enough.

I certainly hope that an agency could do a data survey on the demographic of those maids that are involved in legal trouble, be it sex or others. Maybe NTUC could play a leader role in this aspect as they evaluate the feasibility of an insurance plan for maid. With this data, i hope more singaporean would be pursued to consider matured maid.; June 21, 2005 2:12 AM
Tan Kin Lian said...: I have asked my collegue who handles the insurance for foreign maid, to see if we can extend our service to help the maid agencies to train their maids and to finance the recruitment cost.

If the agencies are better organised (ie finance, training), we may be able to provide a better service to the people who employ maids.

They are now studying this suggestion.; June 26, 2005 8:17 AM
Anonymous said...: Question:

Are you talking about people?

For a moment I thought you were talking about dogs; July 13, 2005 8:46 PM