Follow this guide to make light work of hiring help for your home.
Hiring help for your home is affordable in Indonesia. This is unlikely to be the case in your home country so many take advantage of this perk of expatriate living. A helper can assist with cleaning your home, cooking your meals, looking after your children or even driving you around the city.
Should you have not hired help before it may not know where to start. Ultimately trust is of paramount concern as they will be in your home. So it is important to carry out the necessary due diligence. Consider one of these following methods to help with your search.
1. Referral.
As with many services one of the best ways to review their credentials is through recommendations. Check with any colleagues or friends if they are leaving the country and have the star helper who needs a new employer. Get the word out to as many people as possible in order to cast your net wide and far.
2. Agency.
There are some agencies that are dedicated solely to finding help for your home. If you have any friends or colleagues that have used an agency ask their opinion on the service they received and the quality of the applicants. Check social media for reviews too. Some agencies will want a one-off fee to source your help so be sure to check their terms and conditions carefully before committing.
3. Social media and apps.
There are a ton of social media platforms dedicated to expatriate living. Used as a vital source of information of life in a new country, they also are an opportunity to reach a wide audience on your search for help. Likewise there are new apps emerging on the scene for hiring help. This is a modern day version of using an agency but all done through the power of your smartphone.
The next steps.
Meeting prospective employees is important and gives you an opportunity to sound out their potential. Use an interview as an opportunity to advise what their duties will be, hours and salary. For example, if they are needed to cook, what type of cooking? Childcare, food shopping, bill paying, household cleaning and laundry, etc. If you are opting for a live-in maid then don’t forget to discuss food allowance and their living quarters.
Remember to look up the local labour laws to see what they cover as far as domestic help goes. You want to ensure that you are legally employing someone and allocating them the correct holiday, sick leave and minimum wage.
Finally don’t forget that your help must receive overtime pay for working beyond their set hours, or entitled days off and holidays. Typically, a bonus equal to one month’s salary is also given at the end of the year.
