One of the reasons why you have stumbled upon this article is because you’ve recently hired a maid. With the thought that you brought a complete stranger into your home, she will be working for you for years, doing cleaning, chores, cooking your meals, and caring for your family. Your maid is an all-around helper as she can do a lot of things, not just cooking and cleaning. 

Obviously, you’re new to hiring a maid and there are some things you should be aware of, especially if you are hiring them from overseas. If you check this fantastic read Ministry of Man Power’s website, you’ll find that there are a few bond deposits you’re needed to create when hiring a maid. Such bonds include performance bond, which helps to ensure that the employer is doing his/her responsibilities and treating their maids fairly.

But whether you’ve obtained your maid from a reputable Houston house cleaning service, a staff agency, or hired them independently – you obviously want to build a healthy employer-employee relationship with them. Most of the time, hired maids come from different countries, mainly Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Philippines. They may not know the language fully or make cultural mistakes. Sounds like a situation rife with tense relationship potential, doesn’t it? But don’t be afraid that you might not get along too well with your maid, there are easy things you can do to build trust.

These tips are very simple and easy to do as they mainly focus on having a healthy relationship with your maid. Besides, what’s the point of being rude to your maid? She is a human being, so it’s best to treat her well.

How Can I be a Good Employer?

In some cases, people tend to treat their maids with contempt and in a sub-human way, especially when they’re put in a position of power over them. Like in the movies or TV series you watch, you’d see that maids are not always treated well by their employers. Sadly, this happens in real life, and it usually happens to individuals who have had a privileged childhood and have been brought up with domestic help in homes.

Few acknowledge the fact that a maid is also a human being and needs to be handled with equal dignity. As unfortunate as it sounds, you can avoid being like these people if you’re aware of how to treat your maid and become a proper employer. Below are some of the best tips on how to become a good employer after hiring a professional maid.

Prepare a Proper To-Do list.

Like in our offices, we generate ideas and put them together in order to come up with a plan to improve the company. The same thing goes for the maids. Yes, you’ll just need to give them a list of tasks, but you need to be sure that these tasks won’t conflict with other tasks. Also, your maid is not a robot, so don’t let her do all the difficult tasks in one day, try to mix easy and hard tasks together instead. 

You may draw up a timetable to prevent uncertainty, or simply create a list of tasks to be performed each day and encourage your maid to prepare her own schedule. Keep in mind that some maids may not be familiar with modern household appliances when setting standards and tasks. That’s because not all maids previously worked in a high-rise property. If you have extra time, do teach your maid how to use modern appliances. This way, you can avoid any accidents from happening since some maids may try to force themselves to learn to use appliances on their own. 

Never forget to understand and appreciate your maid.

Let’s never forget that whatever the job position a person has, he/she is still human and they have feelings. Just because you are more successful than some people, it doesn’t give you the right to belittle them. That’s why treating your maid with compassion and empathy is crucial to maintaining a great relationship between you and her. When she realizes you care for her health, she will be appreciative, which will make her become even more committed to her work.

There are times that our maids will work on their own. You may have given them a list of tasks to do, but they’ll still choose to work extra time to do other tasks. Maids do this to gain appreciation from their employers. When your maid tries her best at her job, make sure to take notice of it and reward her. You can at least give her good feedback to boost her confidence.

Constantly communicate with your maid.

Your maid may be your employee, but it won’t harm you if you talk to her from time to time. There’s nothing wrong with building a good and healthy relationship with your maid, just be sure to know your boundaries. Proper communication is essential to building trust and a healthy relationship, which is vital since your home helper can stay with you and your family together. A way to make her feel comfortable around you and your family is to introduce her with your culture and share the current events happening in the country. 

A good employer knows his/her obligations.

To ensure that you recognize your duties as an employer is a basic foundation for a harmonious relationship with your domestic helper. This involves having appropriate accommodation and establishing acceptable working hours with a weekly rest day and paying their salaries on time. Remember, they too have families, and the reason why they are working is to have enough money to send home.

In addition to promoting a healthy, equitable and efficient work atmosphere, employers are also responsible for your domestic helper’s health, and you can get sufficient insurance coverage for her. Such maid insurance already covers the medical expenses that your maid needs, including her 6-monthly medical check-ups which are required by MOM.