To maids who complain about their workload, employer says if his household didn’t have many chores he wouldn’t require a helper in the first place

SINGAPORE: An employer took to social media with a dose of reality for domestic helpers.

In an anonymous post to a support group for employers and helpers alike, the man wrote that when other employers complained about their maids waking up late or not doing their chores, was it because of mismanaged expectations where the maids were convinced at the beginning that there weren’t many chores to do?

He added that he conveyed to his maid that if his household had not many things to be done, then he would not spend money every month to hire a maid to clean in the first place. He added : “I always set boundaries to my helper that what she need to do and what she should do bcs that is their job and have the obligation to do it well to get the pay. And as helper shouldnt have much request or feel like employer have any obligation to them other than pay them ontime and provide proper meals”.

The man wrote that some maids in Singapore often behaved in an entitled manner because of how dependent people seemed to be on them. “To me everyone in the world is the same , want earn more money then u have to work extra hard to get it not just want dollars but all can think is work normal and play tiktok. And also nobody going to die without who in this world so please aware where you stand and do what you should do to get what you want to get”, the man wrote, advising helpers to cherish good employers.

Other helpers who commented on the post said that the respect should be mutual, not just one-sided. Here’s what they wrote:

Last year, a foreign domestic worker, the eldest of eight children, came to Singapore because even though she worked as a radio DJ back home, it was not enough to support her family.

Featured on Humans Of HOME, an organisation dedicated to improving the welfare and upholding the rights of migrant workers, Janet Remia Aclon Peremne shared her story, and how after working for decades in Singapore, she is now ready to retire.

She wrote that back home, her dream was “… to become a broadcast journalist. I left college and took a job to support my parents. Between work and studies, I was still able to become a DJ and started apprenticing at a local radio station where I was eventually hired”.

She added that her salary as a DJ was not enough to support both herself and her parents, so when the opportunity arose for her to come to Singapore, she took it even though she had reservations.

Maid worked in Singapore for 33 years, with 10 different families, says “Some are good, but some are the worst”