Maids - renumeration

[Onemore52]

Tommy, you nailed it.

When we were canvasing the local employer for another maid my partner said 5k, which to me is a waste of money as we just found they are not going to "put out" for that 5k, the 5k is just to get someone put out the bait so to speak, and get rid of them if they do not perform.

But they raises another problem, people just don't want to be maids, or the hired help, so I said let us call the position "personal assistant".

[Tommy T.]

I don't know if this idea works here, but in USA, a sliding scale seemed to do the job.

Start someone out at a fair but rather low wage. Give them the promise that if they work hard and smart, they will earn more. It's called motivation... is there any here?

Get them up to a better-than-average wage and then they may stick around and perform well? I have no idea if that works here or not...

[Onemore52]

Tommy, I don't mean to thrash this to death, I will however mention some other information.

A close friend of the family confided with me that the way to keep them is treat them fairly, as well as a decent wage.

With that in mind we took her out for her birthday, my partner gave her new clothes to wear, we provided new linen for her room, and on a Saturday morning when my gf and I went out for breakfast we included her as well, when we did the shopping we let her get what she wanted, toiletries and the like on our dollar, she even at the same food as us.

She wasn't worked that hard, really she had a life of Riley, 

[Tommy T.]

34 minutes ago, Onemore52 said:

With that in mind we took her out for her birthday, my partner gave her new clothes to wear, we provided new linen for her room, and on a Saturday morning when my gf and I went out for breakfast we included her as well, when we did the shopping we let her get what she wanted, toiletries and the like on our dollar, she even at the same food as us.

 

It's all interesting information and I appreciate you sharing it because I am learning from it too...

Well... you certainly treated her better than fairly. I don't have an answer to that - I am not sure anyone will? I guess it depends on each individual. We feel fortunate to have the current working student. There have been others before and also "domestics" who were not so industrious or careful.

[Tommy T.]

7 hours ago, Onemore52 said:

let us call the position "personal assistant".

Yeah... like calling a janitor a "maintenance engineer" in USA. However the "maintenance engineer" will likely earn a helluva lot higher wage?

[boyee]

My wife's Cousins in Manila all have multiple helpers.  Drivers, cleaners yaya's for the kids etc.  They pay a decent wage and most treat them well.  An interesting comment they make is NOT to over pay.  My western brain tells me that if you overpay people they will be more motivated to perform and keep their job.  However I'm told by Filipinos overpaying can lead to problems.  Seems weird to me.

[Joey G]

1 hour ago, boyee said:

My wife's Cousins in Manila all have multiple helpers.  Drivers, cleaners yaya's for the kids etc.  They pay a decent wage and most treat them well.  An interesting comment they make is NOT to over pay.  My western brain tells me that if you overpay people they will be more motivated to perform and keep their job.  However I'm told by Filipinos overpaying can lead to problems.  Seems weird to me.

Someone told me that there was a high limit on what you can pay construction workers (???)  If true... I assume it's in the same vein as foreigners buying up property and inflating the real estate market.

[Onemore52]

Everything in perspective I suppose, the workers over at the factory that cook the product are on a incentive based wage, the more sacks of flour they cook the more money they make, the wrappers are on a base wage of 2100 a week and then the more they wrap the more they get, I don't know the figure because it is a guarded secret like the launch codes of a nuke, because of the jealousy factor I am told, then there is the usual moaning and groaning, like I have more children and grand children to feed so I should get more, much the same as the idiot that looks after the cows who did a days work for me on his day off, and when I paid him he told me that he has four children and a fifth on the way, so needs more money, he just keeps pumping these children out. I don't get it.

As things change here in this province, where for example the farmers are not getting much for their rice so they are selling their plots off for housing, which is where we bought our land, but what happens when that money runs out and they have no more land to flog off.

The new S+M megastore being built here opens in May and the word on the street says 3000 people will be employed there, in the store and supporting services,  only college graduates will be getting a job there, this term is an interesting one, the college graduate, I am not sure what that level of education is, can you buy a graduates degree in say hairdressing, or a graduate of security.

When that store opens there will be a lesser pool of workers to draw from, as it is we are getting workers for the factory in really disadvantaged provinces where there is no work at all, but still the maid was from there and also the gardener that left in the middle of the night was from there as well, word on the grapevine from their cousin is they both went to Manila for a job. No wonder Manila is bursting at the seams, much the same as "Go West young man".

 

[Snowy79]

26 minutes ago, Onemore52 said:

Everything in perspective I suppose, the workers over at the factory that cook the product are on a incentive based wage, the more sacks of flour they cook the more money they make, the wrappers are on a base wage of 2100 a week and then the more they wrap the more they get, I don't know the figure because it is a guarded secret like the launch codes of a nuke, because of the jealousy factor I am told, then there is the usual moaning and groaning, like I have more children and grand children to feed so I should get more, much the same as the idiot that looks after the cows who did a days work for me on his day off, and when I paid him he told me that he has four children and a fifth on the way, so needs more money, he just keeps pumping these children out. I don't get it.

As things change here in this province, where for example the farmers are not getting much for their rice so they are selling their plots off for housing, which is where we bought our land, but what happens when that money runs out and they have no more land to flog off.

The new S+M megastore being built here opens in May and the word on the street says 3000 people will be employed there, in the store and supporting services,  only college graduates will be getting a job there, this term is an interesting one, the college graduate, I am not sure what that level of education is, can you buy a graduates degree in say hairdressing, or a graduate of security.

When that store opens there will be a lesser pool of workers to draw from, as it is we are getting workers for the factory in really disadvantaged provinces where there is no work at all, but still the maid was from there and also the gardener that left in the middle of the night was from there as well, word on the grapevine from their cousin is they both went to Manila for a job. No wonder Manila is bursting at the seams, much the same as "Go West young man".

 

I see it on Boracay where people arrive looking for the land of milk and honey.  They see the wealth here and think the wages match the hotels income.  Sadly it's classed as the province and here they are pretty rigid on set wages.  360 peso is well paid but starting wages are 200 peso.  The big shocker is even to clean toilets you won't get the job without a college graduation.  I've tried to help a girl with a great work history to get a job.  Two months down the line and lots of interviews every job turned her down for people with no experience but a qualification.  The scary thing is the girl in my resort reception has a college degree and is as thick as they come. 

[GeoffH]

1 minute ago, Snowy79 said:

The scary thing is the girl in my resort reception has a college degree and is as thick as they come. 

The other thing is that a lot of jobs have age restrictions, even if the person has a college degree then a lot of employers want younger workers only.