SINGAPORE: A foreign domestic helper took to social media saying that she could only sleep around 2 am on most nights but had to wake up at 6.30 am to start work.
In a post to a Facebook group for domestic helpers, one asked others how long their break time usually was during the day, and what time they were allowed to go to bed at night. Responding to her post, other helpers commented about their schedules. It seems that most helpers were only allowed to go to bed late at night but had to wake up early, with only a few getting to nap or rest during the day.
Commenting on the post, one helper said that a friend of hers could only sleep after 2 am, after making sure that she had finished the ironing, and had to wake up before 6.30 am to start her chores. The helper commented that it was “still ok” for a fellow maid to have to sleep after 11 pm, sometimes even at 1 am then wake up 7 am without a nap in the afternoon. Most other helpers who commented in the group shared that they had similar schedules they had to follow as well.
At the other end of the spectrum, there were helpers who could run their employers’ households with minimal interference whereby they got to plan their own schedules, rest times and bedtimes.
Here’s what the helpers shared:
A foreign domestic worker called her helper friend crying after she could no longer bear the poor working conditions that her employer subjected her to.
In an anonymous post to Facebook group FDW in Singapore (working conditions forum), the maid’s friend said that she got a call from the helper who was crying. Writing on behalf of her friend, the maid wanted to know if she should directly ask the Manpower Ministry (MOM) for help. The maid had asked her agent many times for a transfer but it was to no avail.
Her friend wrote that the maid was not able to handle the amount of work she was given, because “her employer home is 3 storey 7 rooms and 4 bathrooms everyday cleaning after cleaning employer check if its okay for her if not she will ask again my friend to do it again,my friend have no rest she eat dinner 11 pm sleep 1am-2am,she wake up 5am and she just eats noodles every time”. She wrote that it was her first time working as a maid in Singapore. /TISG
Maid forced to clean 3-storey landed house with 7 rooms and 3 bathrooms, with only 3 hours of sleep