I was (pleasantly) surprised to find out that it is common for people here to employ part time helpers to clean their apartments. You can hire them on an hourly basis, how ever many times a month you require their cleaning services. Market wages range from HKD50 to HKD85, and the helpers are predominantly local Hong Kong Chinese ladies.
I spent a considerable few weeks in September and October inquiring with all the local maid placement agencies for a part time cleaner who would want to work for us for 4 hours a week. Some agencies replied with ridiculous quotation charges – If I’d allocated that sort of budget for a cleaner, I’d rather just hire a live-in maid instead. Others replied to say that they were short-handed, and therefore didn’t have enough cleaners to respond to my inquiry.
But I suspect the real reason was because of my low 4-hour per week requirement. That only totals to 16 hours per month. At an average hourly wage of RM65/hour, the cleaner would only be taking home HKD1040/month. No wonder the first few agencies wanted to charge exorbitantly!
Just as I was giving up, a few people suggested I apply for a cleaner with Smart Living – A government-run agency whose objective is to provide adequate training to the local HK womenfolk, and thereafter place them with employers who require cleaning help – Like myself! It is an initiative to create more job opportunities for the less educated.
Firstly, I filled up an online registration form via their portal, providing some personal information and expected job requirements that can possibly range from cleaning to ironing, grocery shopping, cooking, pet care, plant care and even elderly care! Seeing that we’re only a 2-person household, my requirements were cleaning and ironing.
It was interesting to note that there are also options to get full-time assistance that comes for the day but goes home in the evening; or even live-in assistance altogether. Who then needs to hire a Filipina or Indonesian, right?
Then comes the interesting/tricky part – The part where you put forward an offer for wages; Either on an hourly basis, or a monthly basis. Smart Living only acts as an intermediary, taking no commission on either sides – Their main task is to facilitate the matching between cleaner and employer. Hence with all our particulars and an offer ‘price’, the agency will now see if there is anyone suitable to fill the vacancy.
It took about 4 weeks before Smart Living found someone! Again, we were told that it was difficult to find someone willing to work for so few hours per week. Nonetheless, Ms Yeung agreed, and she came by to the apartment for a trial run. The purpose of the trial run was to see if she liked working for us, and vice versa. Heh, democratic don’t ya think?
The initial trial went on well. There was nothing in particular that I didn’t like about Ms Yeung’s – whom I’ve taken to calling Yeung-che (sister Yeung); working style… at least not yet. She too was agreeable to our working relationship and style, but requested a HKD5/hour increase in wage to cover travel expenses. Apparently, she lives about an hour’s commute away from our place. With that, I called Hong Leong Insurance and bought a 1-year insurance policy in her name to work for us. Depending on the size of your apartment and number of working hours per week, we paid HKD188/annum for her insurance.
*Happy sigh*
If I could think of one thing that I like about the corporate culture at Irwin’s company here in HK, it would be that they extend invitations to their employees’ spouse and even partners at social events.
They were beyond shocked that she didn’t even ask us if the seat was still vacant. Hilarious.
Well at least that is how I would like to answer friends who often ask, Why ah must we give out presents for Christmas???
