Why do you have a domestic worker in your home?

I agree, we had them because there were 3 kids, and a big house, but now no big house no kids except for the sis and bro who clean their mess, so for me and the asawa its a don't need don't want.

 

I think this is probably the most common reason. It seems that most (all?) could never afford such a thing back in the western world and it just seems to go with the more carefree lifestyle of living on the "islands". For some...never do anything that you can pay someone else to do...I'm retired..finally! I'm not doing anything that I don't want to do. And for some...I'm not going to work hard ( or at all), so I don't want my wife working hard (or at all)...Because I can...probably the best(most honest) answer!

 

In 6 years, we have tried every configuration:
Stay In
Stay Out Full Time
Stay Out Part Time
Stay Out On CAll
Siquijodnans
Dumegutenos
Mountain Girls
1 of the above
2 of the above
combination of the above
Working student
Driver our trike
Driver franchise trike
Sisters
Cousins
Neighbors
ETC ETC ETC

Currently, we have 1 working student and 2 helpers that belong to the same fringe religion. The working student is the first one up and the last one to go to bed. She cooks breakfast, goes to school, cooks dinner, cleans the yard. NOT because we ask her to, but because she just sees the need since the other two are like Siamese.. I mean conjoined (pc term) twins and are marginal, but with 3 kids under 6, we do need help as we do not have a washer / dryer or any other modern convenience other than a ref. My wife might as well be working because she tends to the needs of our school age children most of the day. The working student came to us as a helper, but she impressed us so much that we gave her the opportunity to finish high school. We have no regrets over this decision.

What we have found is if you hire two or more that are friends / relatives / churchmates / BFF they are going to be a problem. They whisper to each other quite a bit, conspire, deny, and will eventually quit at the same time when one gets butt hurt. Best to divide and conquer them. Don't let them get too chummy. We have had very little problem with theft. Only a couple have had sticky fingers. The addiction to cell phones seems to be the biggest problem. One other thing, they love to break glasses and dishes and bend silverware. They also like to sweep everything out the door. Kid's toys are a frequent target. After they are outside, they are gone forever.

Managing helpers is an art-form. One needs to study how the wealthy ethnic Chinese and Spanish Blood Filipino Families run their households and have almost no turnover rate. They have 10 of them, each with a very specific job. They also have a "wrangler" that is in charge of them, therefore, the head of the family does not have to deal with them directly. They do not pay that much, but after years of loyal service, they take good care of those that stick around.

We are planning to phase our helpers out as the kids get bigger and / or we can replace them with machinery. We cannot afford or want 10 of them.

 

The wages earned by one or more girls from the same family working as helpers who otherwise could not get a job at all, can make a big difference in their family's well being.

I doubt there are any helpers that quit a better job to just work in a house.

So along with the "because I can" reply(s) don't discount the good that hiring someone can do.


Do-gooders in the West want to shut down shoe factories in Asia etc thinking it's doing the workers a favor not knowing the importance of even a meager income compared to none

 

I don't pat myself on the back regarding any positive impact we are making in a family that sends their daughter down the mountain to work for strangers. We have met some of these "parents" and those we have met have not impressed us much. Often times, the girls that work for us were raised by an aunt or lola until they were old enough to work. Once they have a job, the parents that did not even raise them all of a sudden care about them so that they will send their money home.

We counsel them that it is okay to send a portion of their money home, but they need to take care of themselves so they have something to show for their work and a reason to keep on working. We encourage them to buy some clothes or other things and enjoy life a little while they are with us. We tell them up front that they are probably not going to be with us more than a few months. The ones that follow this advice last longer than the ones who send every peso home to their loving family. The ones that don't, lose motivation and how can you blame them. They are just slaves - not to us but to their family.

I compare helpers to suicide bombers. You never know when, but out of the blue they will put on their little hello kitty backpack, pull their cord, blow up and they are gone! What amazes me is how many of them stay in contact even if parting was less than amicable. They come back to visit and see the kids. Sometimes we wonder what is wrong with us that we have quite a turnover, but post departure visits validate the fact that we are not bad employers, it was just time for them to leave. We try to teach them some and feed them well while they are with us.

 

it seems a lot of parents are sending their underage kids I mean like 14 to work as a GRO in a disco, these girls look 20 plus, foreigners and disco owners need to be very careful.