‘At the end of the day, it’s pure luck’: Employer opens up about the challenges of hiring helpers

SINGAPORE: On Friday (May 29), an employer claimed on social media that hiring domestic helpers has become increasingly difficult and frustrating, as many candidates “overpromise” and “exaggerate” their skills and experience during the recruitment process, only for employers to later discover that they are unable to perform even simple household tasks.

Sharing her experience in the SGWhispers Facebook group, the employer said she had come across helpers whose resumes and interviews made them seem highly experienced, but the reality turned out to be very different.

She claimed that some helpers say they can cook but end up struggling with simple dishes because they are afraid of “oil splattering.”

Others reportedly state that they have experience caring for babies or young children, only for employers to later realise that they lack even basic childcare skills.

“It’s frustrating, and frankly, it feels misleading,” she wrote. “The biodata can be polished to look impressive, interviews feel rehearsed, and half the time you don’t know what’s real and what’s not.”

She also questioned who should be held accountable when things do not work out. 

According to her, employers pay significant sums in agency fees and other hiring costs, yet agencies often respond by saying they cannot guarantee a helper’s quality, performance, or level of training.

On top of that, she expressed frustration that some helpers who allegedly exaggerate their qualifications are still very particular about working conditions and benefits.

“These helpers demand their rights to use their phones all day and access to WiFi, insist on only working in small households of 2-3 people, want their own room, want weekly days off plus PH days off, and cannot take it when corrected for something like forgetting to turn off the stove… it’s too much.”

The employer further claimed that some would threaten to return to their agency or ask to be sent home whenever disagreements arise.

She added, “It is already stressful working full time, managing a household, being a caregiver, raising a child/children and then facing uncertainty with helpers who run away, threaten to go back agent or be sent home. This is a real concern, and not talked about enough. If you’ve gone through this, you’ll understand how draining it is.”

“At the end of the day, it’s just pure luck that leads you to a good helper.”

In the comments, one netizen encouraged employers to leave feedback on the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) website for any helper who has previously worked for them. They suggested including contact details so that future employers can reach out for reference checks.

“Give feedback that is positive and negative; providing a testimonial can help new employers make more informed decisions,” they added. “This could go a long way in reducing the number of problematic helpers in Singapore, especially since the system is not doing enough to protect us.”

Others, however, felt that while feedback systems and reference checks might help a bit, they would not completely remove the uncertainty of hiring.

One said, “At the end of the day, it’s just pure luck that leads you to a good helper. We’ve had a few terrible ones, and yet we’ve also had truly wonderful ones—so, in essence, it’s really up to their motivation to be good human beings and, more importantly, their value system (which boils down to luck for us because no biodatas can capture this).”

Another chimed in, “It’s luck. Some came here with the wrong expectation that SG is rich, and so if they stay in a house, they should feel rich.”/TISG

Read also: SG student feels deflated after father questions decision to study at NUS instead of Oxbridge