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There are many ways to make life more convenient in Singapore, one of them is help for your housekeeping, this comes in many forms.

Maids

There is a large number of 'maids' employed in Singapore, these are live-in girls usually from the Philippines or Indonesia. They are common both in expatriate and Singaporean households, especially when both husband and wife work. Common tasks for maids are overall house cleaning, washing, ironing, cooking and taking care of the children.

Salaries & terms

Much can be said about the salaries, but on average, a live-in maid earns S$600 p/m if she's Philippino, and S$350 p/m if she is from Indonesia or Sri-Lanka. The difference in salary is mainly due to the the fact that The Philippine Embassy requires minimum salaries and Philippino maids have a stronger, if not perfect command of English, are higher educated and usually more efficient in their work.

On top of the salary, the employer is expected to pay one round-trip ticket to her home country per year. These tickets are usually quite reasonably priced and most airlines have special discounted rates for maids. If the maid chooses not to return to her home country, the equivalent of the ticket should be paid out to her in cash. Furthermore, the employer is responsible for supplying the maid with a decent room and food.

While many maids have one off-day per week it is compulsory to give your maid one off-day per month. Apart from that day you theoretically you can have your maid work 7 days per week. If you choose to have your maid work 7 days per week, however, we feel you should think to yourself what that says about you when she's working hard on Sunday and you are laying with your feet up watching television.

While this is obvious to most people, some people need to be reminded that maids are actually human beings that you employ, and thus carry responsibility over. They are not objects that you own. Maid abuse unfortunately still happens, but the government has thankfully implemented strong measures to fight ill-treating and abuse of maids. There is no leniency for maid-abusers and they will face strong punishments.

Additional costs

Besides the salary for your live-in maid, you will have to pay a S$265 p/m levy to the government and a S$5,000 immigration bond. This bond will only have to be paid in case your maid brakes the law or terms of her work permit.

How to find a maid

The most common places to find a maid are maid-agencies, which are plentiful in Singapore. You will find many agencies in Far East Plaza and Lucky Plaza, where you can pick your maid from catalogs and have a formal interview with the maid you choose. You will, however, have to pay the agency for this service, which can run well over S$1,000.

An alternative way is through word-of-mouth or advertisements in the local supermarkets or message boards

Domestic help / cleaning ladies

These are usually ladies earning an extra dollar, they work for you for a couple of hours a day a couple of times a week cleaning the house, doing the ironing etc. They can be local Singaporean or foreigners staying here and you can find their ads at dry-cleaners and supermarket pin boards.

They going rate is between S$10 and S$20 an hour, often closer to S$15.

Nannies

These are not the 'Marry Poppins' type live-in nannies but ladies where you can drop your sprout during the day, usually weekdays and generally for ages between a few months and 4 years. These are mothers who stopped working when they got a child and want to earn some extra money or even grandmothers who simply like kids.

Some also offer Saturdays, whole or half, and even a 5 week 'boarding' is possible. Costs start from about S$500 per month upwards excluding diapers and formula (milk) for 5 days a week and upward of S$800 for boarding.

This may be a good option if you only have 1 child and want to expose him or her to others and/or if you have a maid who is too busy in the house and you feel childcare is too busy / does not give enough attention.

Letting your child stay at another place like this is a decision you should not take lightly.


Lastly, we spoke about employers abusing their maids but unfortunately the opposite occasionally happens too, generally abuse of children or elderly in that case. These cases are very uncommon but can happen. Note that many maids are very young and see this as a way to earn money for themselves and family and many come from rural areas and may never have used e.g. a microwave before. Most agencies do try and teach them basic skills but the changes for these girls can be very stressful indeed. Consider the situation carefully.