We cannot overstate the need for a domestic assistant these days. They help out with the cleaning, home organisation and care for our children and aged. They even help free up our time so we can successfully have our moments of self care or that very desired special outing with our spouse.
Yet, before you jump into hiring that maid or domestic help, you need to give deep thoughts to:
1. Clarifying Your Expectations
Nothing more frustrating than to have a boss who keeps switching your job description after hiring. Therefore have empathy for your employee to be and don’t be that boss. Spell out what you expect from the maid you intend to hire. What should be his/her priority – child care, errands or cleaning? Do you want an educated person you can hold a conversation with or someone you need to train? Would you want a live-in maid or someone that comes three times a week? Will you be comfortable paying a pro-rated amount or a flat fee? List out the reasons you need one and what you are willing to compromise on. Once you’ve gained clarity, create a job description embodying your expectations and conditions for what happens when terms of employment are broken or overstretched.
2. Choosing Your Medium For Recruitment
Some people prefer to get someone from their village, others get hooked up with a relative in need of financial help with raising their kids. Many people would rather cut cost on the process of hiring a maid by doing it individually through word of mouth or paid ads; others want the hassle of scrutinising prospective maids provided by professional recruiters, hence they go through an agency. Some people depend on recommendations from friends on which agency to contact or individuals to liaise with for maids, nannies, domestic assistants etc to interview. If you are still confused on which process to use, go through your list of expectations and ask yourself, “which one will give the kind of maid or domestic assistant that I need?”
3. Improving Your Home Security
Do you have expensive valuables? Where do you keep them? Do you keep cash in the house? Are they kept in a very easy to access place?
Your home security is very important. You need not have a stranger in your home before you put measures in place to secure your home. Also, if the doors on your lock are broken, fix them. Whether it is a CCTV installation or vault, make sure you have some place secure to keep cash and valuables.
4. Providing Adequate Working Tools
If you are one of those picky bosses that like a certain product used to clean your home, make it available in large supply. If you want dust wiped off the TV tops and window sills, provide the appropriate cleaning materials. If you want to hire a maid to work less than five times a week for instance, get machines and/ or home appliances like a vacuum cleaner, a washing machine with dryer, blender, etc. to help speed up the work process. In addition, get brushes to wash the toilets and mops for the floor. Do all you can to make the work easy for the maid you intend to hire.
5. Having a Plan To Retain Their Service
Most employers never think about what happens when they find the right maid. They become complacent and sometimes domineering, assuming the maids will always be with them. There are maids that love their job and boss’ family but when there seems to be no due consideration or appreciation for their efforts, they seek alternative employers with better perks than yours. Give them weekly off days; do not delay payments; prepare for sick leave; listen to their complaints and constraints and genuinely help them get past it. Go for training or seminars on how to handle domestic help and send them for regular training to improve their skill. Nothing lasts forever but give them such a memorable time they would be sad to leave.
This article is no way exhaustive but if you start with these, the selection process would be less cumbersome.
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