Maids - renumeration

[Gary D]

48 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

Many employers will give them more salary and tell them they should pay their Philhealth and SS.  You know how that will go.  I also think it is probably against the law, not that it would ever be enforced.

Some girls I knew some years ago who worked for a large supermarket chain based mainly in the visayas had been paying their sss etc direct from their wages. One of the girls had cause to contact the sss and it transpired that said supermarket chain had been trousering their deductions.

[OnMyWay]

5 hours ago, Gary D said:

Some girls I knew some years ago who worked for a large supermarket chain based mainly in the visayas had been paying their sss etc direct from their wages. One of the girls had cause to contact the sss and it transpired that said supermarket chain had been trousering their deductions.

Not recently, but years ago I heard the same thing happening at small U.S. companies.  Before everything became automated.

[Onemore52]

On 2/7/2020 at 4:48 PM, Arizona Kid said:

There was a bridge being rebuilt here not long ago so traffic was re-routed. The signs said 6 months till it was finished. Well, according to the rumor the Engineer ran off with the money. 18 months later it was finished.

If you gathered all this information and wrote a book, some would call it fiction but we know better.

Here in Camarines Norte there is an Island not far off the coast, where an aussie bloke was building a resort, he had to go back to Australia to arrange some financing, while he was gone everything installed to date was stolen, air conditioners from the rooms, and all the plumbing in the bathrooms, they even took the netting he installed at a little beach to make it safe.

[gery0x]

On 2/2/2020 at 10:13 AM, Onemore52 said:

What do you people think should be a fair wage for a maid out here in the province, considering:-

A. The duties would be cooking, cleaning, doing the washing (automatic washing machine, nothing by hand) and preparing food for the dogs.

B. Acommodation and food provided, by accommodation I mean own room with CR and shower, tv and all linen supplied,

C. 1 day off a week on a Sunday.

The people in the house is me and my partner.

To answer the the TS' initial question with my estimation:

If it's in the province I'd say 3000 PHP is an appropriate salary.

 

Our maid/nanny recieves 6500 per month but we are living in the city plus we have 3 kids she's helping with.

My wife always had the opinion that 3k would be enough for a maid in the city, but after talking to some friends and neighbors I came to the conclusion that 5k should be the minimum for that job in that area.

So I recently gave her a raise of over 100%, not only because of the average salary but because she is really doing an OUTSTANDING job in and around the house for several years already!!

That woman knows my house almost better than I do and I would never dare to wake her up when she's resting in the afternoon!

She's got more or less all the rights in our household and she never used that to her advantage - very honest, very reliable!

So she more than deserves those 6.5k *imho*

Edited February 9, 2020 by gery0x

[Onemore52]

2 minutes ago, gery0x said:

To answer the the TS' initial question with my estimation:

If it's in the province I'd say 3000 PHP is an appropriate salary.

 

Our maid/nanny recieves 6500 per month but we are living in the city plus we have 3 kids she's helping with.

My wife always had the opinion that 3k would be enough for a maid in the city, but after talking to some friends and neighbors I came to the conclusion that 5k should be the minimum for that job in that area.

So I recently gave her a raise of over 100%, not only because of the average salary but because she is really doing an OUTSTANDING job in and around the house for several years already!!

That woman knows my house almost better than I do and I would never dare to wake her up when she's resting in the afternoon!

She's got more or less all the rights in our household and she never used that to her advantage - very honest, very reliable!

So she more than deserves those 6.5k *imho*

I do not mean to be picky, not at all, but you didn't mention what she does.

In our case the ex maid couldn't cook, if she did she sure wasn't admitting to the fact.

Basically, her day consisted of

6 a.m. start - water the pot plants, all over red rover in 30 minutes.

Sweep and mop the dining room and kitchen - that took her an hour.

Boil some rice for my partners breakfast - give that half an hour.

My gf would come back from the factory and cook her own breakfast, me well I just had toast and whatever.

I won't bore you all with the details but after breakfast she would wash the dishes, which took her forty minutes, I know because I timed her and in utter frustration at watching her I took over that job the next day, same amount of dishes, took me 5 minutes.

So she didn't cook lunch or tea.

I will stop there because she was an oxygen thief.

STOP PRESS: We received word this morning through the grapevine that has a medical condition "Down There"  why she transmitted that information to us via a conduit remains to be known. one can hardly wonder.

[gery0x]

35 minutes ago, Onemore52 said:

I do not mean to be picky, not at all, but you didn't mention what she does.

Yes you're right, sorry about that!

 

Roughly her average day looks like this:

Between 5 and 6 AM: wake up, drink a coffee, start cooking food for breakfast and for the kids' lunch at school

7AM: the two older kids wake up and take their showers, maid prepares their breakfast

8AM: kids go to school, maid washes the dishes, does some cleaning in and around the house as necessary. Feeds the dogs, takes care of the plants and flowers in the garden and outside the gate.

10AM: youngest kid wakes up, same procedure as at 7AM plus preparing everything for school

12 noon: brings youngest kid to school/kindergarten (either her or one of the parents do that)

12:30 to 3:30PM: either resting/watching TV or cleaning/maintaining here and there - just as needed

3:30PM: picks up youngest kid from school

Between 5PM and 6PM the two older kids come home from school, maid starts cooking dinner

7 or 8PM: dinner is ready, everybody enjoy

9PM: washing the dishes, tidying up the kitchen, finishing some other remaining chores in the house, if there are any

10 or 11PM: TV/sleep

 

As I said that's only a rough representation of her day.

Additionally she spends time with the kids when the parents aren't home - useful time; not glue them to the TV or cellphone or so. Many times we are all outside in the street playing badminton or soccer with them and she (the maid) enjoys it as much as the kids do.

She helps us with groceries of course and also proactively brings to attention if there are issues like a broken faucet for example, or if she has suggestions about the garden, and so on...

 

What I have to add is, she does all this without being instructed to. She sees what's going on in the household and knows what has to be done!

She's been a friend of the family for many years prior to her job at our house, so we know each other very well which is definitely a benefit to the whole situation - hence the trust and reliability.

 

We also bring her on vacations almost every time, where she does about the same as mentioned above whilst still having fun and enjoying the trip.

Fun fact: a couple of weeks ago we went to a very secluded and quiet resort on Samal island that has a German owner. The guy watched us (and her) and on the last day of our visit he asked me about her. He presumed that she was my wife's mother because she dealt so lovingly with the kids, but nope she's "just the maid"!

The guy was pretty baffled and congratulated me on her, reiterating how hard it was to find really good maids here in the Phils - and he is absolutely right for sure.

Edited February 9, 2020 by gery0x

[Onemore52]

geryox, Bloody hell when is your maid going to get a medal?

All we wanted was someone that could cook.

[hk blues]

On 2/8/2020 at 10:05 AM, RBM said:

Liars to you Snowy how ever to them its just a way to save face, not withstanding I do agree with your actions. Its never a loan its a gift.

In all honesty, I have loaned money more than a few times to a couple of different people but it is never considered a gift and always repaid more or less at the agreed time.  The first time it isn't will be the last.  

Edited February 9, 2020 by hk blues

[gery0x]

16 minutes ago, Onemore52 said:

geryox, Bloody hell when is your maid going to get a medal?

Well she does every month, in the form of 6500 PHP!

Jokes aside... she knows very well how much we appreciate her, she's on the list for christmas and birthday gifts so she's actually almost part of the family.

Whenever she wants to take a day off or two, then she takes a day or two off (with prior notice of course), that has never been an issue...

 

But please keep in mind: it took us many many years and many many maids to find one that is as good as her! This was not a lucky draw, it's the result of a long ongoing procedure of selection and sampling.

Don't give up hope - the right one is somewhere out there!

 

13 minutes ago, hk blues said:

The first time it isn't will be the last.

Exactly my motto!

[OnMyWay]

6 hours ago, gery0x said:

To answer the the TS' initial question with my estimation:

If it's in the province I'd say 3000 PHP is an appropriate salary.

 

Our maid/nanny recieves 6500 per month but we are living in the city plus we have 3 kids she's helping with.

My wife always had the opinion that 3k would be enough for a maid in the city, but after talking to some friends and neighbors I came to the conclusion that 5k should be the minimum for that job in that area.

So I recently gave her a raise of over 100%, not only because of the average salary but because she is really doing an OUTSTANDING job in and around the house for several years already!!

That woman knows my house almost better than I do and I would never dare to wake her up when she's resting in the afternoon!

She's got more or less all the rights in our household and she never used that to her advantage - very honest, very reliable!

So she more than deserves those 6.5k *imho*

I read the other post about what she does and yes, you need to pay her enough to keep her happy.  Again, a lot depends on the area.

Here is Subic Bay Freeport, there seems to be a severe shortage of good (or any!) household help, both maids/nannys and yard men.  So they currently hold the cards when it comes to salary.  If you find a good one, hold on to them as good ones are very hard to replace.

Our rich neighbors across the street have two "maids".  We almost hired one but they offered her more and she reneged on us.  I think I have an old story about that.  Anyway, I'm glad that did not work out.  I think they are paying here 6-7 k for inside work, cleaning and cooking.  The other one is the outside maid and makes 11 k, according to my wife.  She is great and earns it.  She takes care of the gardens and around 8 dogs, I think.  She makes a lot but has been with them for a long time.

We had a good yard guy for a few years.  Started at 500 / day and then after a year we raised it to 600 / day.  He left for more money.  We had another one we hired to come in the morning and evening for an hour or two a day, for 3000 a month.  He was OK for work but he had a full time job in between coming to our house, and I predicted from the beginning he would burn out, and he eventually he did.  My wife has an extensive flower garden he was supposed to help with (weeding, etc.).  Towards the end when he was getting burned out working too many hours, he would say "you know, I really don't need this job" like a threat to leave, and he eventually did.

So a few weeks ago, we were desperate to get the yard mowed and a few other yard things done, so my wife asked her friend to see if her yard guy would do it, one time.  He comes over, and demands 800 p for what should be 2-4 hours work.  Finally he agreed to 700p using his grass cutter.  He has a Honda 4 cycle and asked if could use our gas as he was out.  So he fills up, and after mowing a small area, says his mower is broken and can he use ours.  So he does most of the mowing with ours and goes home with a full tank of gas.  And then he did a crappy job.  Didn't do everything promised.   Dragged it out over lunch break to make it close to 4 hours.  Needless to say, he will not be back, and we are still looking.  My wife mentioned to her friend about the high cost, and she said her husband deals with him, and he recently wanted p1000 to trim one Bougainvillea bush/tree!