"Helpers"

For most jobs in the Philippines, yeah, 4500 (150/day) that wouldn't be enough to survive. But when you are providing food, shelter, health insurance and SSS that's more than reasonable.

Right now I have someone coming and cleaning 4 times per month. I'm not in country and nobody is in the house so the job is basically just dusting...and I have no idea how long she actually spends cleaning. I pay P300/day. I didn't set the price, I asked what she thought would be fair and that's what she came back with. Is it fair? I dunno, but everyone involved seems happy with it.

I'm not sure if the law even applies to this type of agreement/work. Am I currently a criminal?

 

These helpers aren't living in the US. A plumber in the West has to drop ~$1000/month or more on rent. What people make in the US is completely irrelevant to the salaries of Filipino helpers.

We are not Filipinos. Most expect/obtain a much higher standard of living than Filipinos do.

I'm pretty sure no members here are helpers. What is expected in an expat's house and what is expected in a Filipino house could be very different.

The girl cleaning my house now was my first helper in the Philippines. She worked for me for 3+ years. She was/is great. She left because she got in a relationship and wanted to be with her partner. Fair enough and I don't fault her for that one bit. After her I had around a 50/50 success rate with helpers. However, I didn't really have much to do with the helpers after the first one because after her I had a girlfriend that dealt with that stuff. The gf was the one who decided when they were doing a good job and when they were hired/fired. The gf would complain to me about the cleaning and I would just ask her "so what are you going to do about that?" (Was trying to improve the gf's managerial skills.) I paid such little attention to the helpers that one that had worked for me and quit about a year earlier (or got fired, I really have no idea) I later unknowingly hooked up with at Why Not. She had to show me pictures of her in the my house from a year earlier to get me to believe her...even then I was skeptical because she looked nothing like any helper I could remember.

No, I haven't. She threw the price out there, I didn't negotiate down at all. What level of communication is needed? She says she cleaned the house x number of days this month, I say "Ok" and pay her. I'd be pretty dang happy if I could get away without having to justify what I did for the day to my boss. lol

I don't know, I was asking you.

 

My comment was tongue in cheek. But the answer to your question would only apply to helpers working for expats as there appear to be significant difference between working for expats and Filipino.

Yes. Not once. I don't recall an employer ever asking me if I was "happy".

I don't understand how my employer made an offer to me has anything to do with what I posted. You can assume whatever you like, it doesn't actually affect if I am happy or not (nor does what my employer assumes). That seems to be part of the problem:

How can you be "actively disengaged"? That sounds like a personal choice and something that takes effort. And that poll only had 3 options: 1. I am passionate about my job/love my job. 2. I'm unhappy with my job. 3. I hate my job!

I think the right questions/terms would be: 1. Actively Engaged 2. Engaged. 3. Indifferent. 4. Disengaged. 5. Actively Disengaged