A maid took to social media to talk about the pros and cons of a live-out arrangement. This means that the helper would go to work like any other employee, complete tasks, and then go home to their rented apartments.
In her post, she wrote that she saw many of her fellow helpers asking about stay-out jobs. “One of their reason is they want to go study on their off day without rushing out doing household in their employers house on their day off. As i understand stay out job is not kind of easy job to get especially if we are under work permit in domestic sector”, she wrote.
Under the Employment of Foreign Manpower (Work Passes) Regulations, maids must stay in the same residence as their employers, and any other residential address must be approved first.
“If anything happen to us during we are staying outside who gonna take the responsibility then? If really want to go study we can always talk to our employer to let us go early on our day off right rather than to stay outside?” she added. In her post, the maid wrote that it was good for the helpers to think about upgrading themselves but they should also follow work regulations set out for maids here.
She added that she had a friend who was working in the service sector under a Work Permit and stayed-out. Her friend said that her job was not easy as she would have to wake up earlier than her other live-out roommates in order to beat the queue to the shower.
“She must aware about bus timing, otherwise she will [be] left behind and need to wait another few minutes to get the bus, very troublesome during [the] rainy season and she go home also very late when she get job order far away from her house. And during her off day she just wants to sleep and rest because she so exhausted”, the maid wrote.
Other helpers who commented on the post were divided, with some sharing their own experiences.
Here’s what they said:
