Costly affair to hire part-time domestic help

I thank the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) for its reply to my letter (Options to hire part-time domestic help already available here; Sept 9).

While I agree with the ministry that there are other means to get domestic help, these are very costly. For example, it costs around $30 an hour to hire a part-time maid from private agencies.

Furthermore, agencies do not always provide the same maid, causing the employer to have to make known his expectations to each new maid. This is very difficult.

Agencies also may not be able to provide the part-time maid on certain days.

I hope the MOM can consider doing a pilot on a maid co-sharing scheme.

Once a contract is signed between the co-sharing partners, a closer understanding concerning the workload and well-being of the maid can be developed and taken care of.

Employers who abuse the maid can be blacklisted and barred from co-sharing.

Ishwar Mahtani

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