Press Release: Singapore’s First Video Training App for Migrant Domestic Workers to Increase Skills and Productivity

For Immediate Release

Just hired a Migrant Domestic Worker (MDW)? You’re in luck. An innovative app, Step Up, has launched an easily-accessible online video training app that guides MDWs on what it takes to care for homes and family members. The videos are narrated in the workers’ native languages.

Set to deliver great benefits to both employers and domestic workers alike, Step Up is created by a progressive video tech company, Infini Videos. There is no other training technology for MDWs in Singapore to increase their skills.





The Need for Training & Education

While training is crucial for any job success, most employers of domestic workers are usually families with many of the members having full-time jobs. Training their domestic workers is currently done face-to-face and can take up to a few months to achieve competency. And when a MDW makes poor personal choices such as borrow from moneylenders or fall for scams, her actions could also directly impact the employer’s family, especially because of the live-in nature of the job.
According to a CDE (Centre for Domestic Employers) survey, only about half of Singapore employers said their MDW are adequately trained while nearly all the workers claimed to have undergone training.

Only half of MDWs Complete a Year of Service

Even after the employer spends time training the worker, there is no guarantee she will stay till the end of her two-year contract term because statistics show that only about 50% of domestic workers manage to complete a year of service. With such a dismal turnover, the employer has to bear the burden of taking time off to train each new worker.

Higher Retention from Video Learning

Common routine tasks such as bathing a baby, cooking, and walking the dog, are often assigned to a MDW. Teaching these can be easily accomplished with videos that provide clear, step-by-step instructions in the worker’s native languages. Research has shown that video is the best medium for learning, as viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it on a video compared to 10% by reading it. (insivia, 2016). Step Up offers training micro-videos in MDW native languages for easy-understanding and at the end of each video, the workers will complete a quiz.

A Simple Solution

With Step Up, domestic workers can learn anywhere and anytime. They will learn new and useful skills that are not just applicable to their current work but can help them in their personal lives in the future. Employers reduce face-to-face training time and can be kept updated on their workers' learning progress through the app and email reports. Video topics include:

  • Chores like cooking, food safety, and hygiene
  • Living in Singapore
  • Childcare
  • Pet care
  • English lessons
  • Personal development ones like “How to save money”, “Smartphone addiction”, and “What not to post on social media”.
  • How to use online banking services (Collaboration with POSB)

These topics have been carefully researched in consultation with the Ministry of Manpower, welfare groups, employment agencies and most importantly, employers themselves.
Available in both free and subscription accounts, Step Up has almost 50 videos in Bahasa Indonesia and Tagalog languages. Training videos will be regularly updated.

Further information:
How does Step Up work?
Watch explainer video here.

How to subscribe?

Free: $0

Employers can access selected free videos.

Paid monthly: $8.99

Employers can choose videos from the full library for their domestic workers and get the progress report via email. A worker can log in to start learning in their native language. Cancel anytime.

Paid yearly: $89

Employers can choose videos from the full library for their domestic workers and get the progress report via email. A worker can log in to start learning in their native language. Cancel anytime.

About app creator Infini Videos: 
Infini Videos a video technology company that is part of MediaCorp’s Mediapreneur startup program. Step Up is the brainchild of co-founder and mom-of-2, Tracy Wong. She has won numerous awards in advertising and video production. Tracy has personally experienced the woes of training her domestic workers but says she can’t live without their support because, “their work makes all our work possible” (quote by Poo Ai-Jen, US activist for domestic workers).

Popular posts from this blog

4 tips to train your domestic worker

Image
Just hired a new or transfer domestic worker from a maid agency ? If you are lucky, your worker will be equipped with training as promised by her maid agency. If you are not, you will need to impart skills as she enters your household, starting with the very basic chores. The first barrier to effective training is language. Many times, employers have to use simple English and animated gestures to communicate with their limited or non-English-speaking workers. First, decide which is the language of instruction. Some employers need their domestic worker to get down to work immediately so it is a priority of short-term goals, and in this case, chores. But the long-term objective is to learn how to communicate more effectively with your worker. The key is not to overwhelm your domestic worker with learning a new language and the rules of your household all at once! Here are 4 tips to help your domestic worker get up to speed in a short time! 1. Provide a schedule  Create a weekly...
Read more

The No. 1 most important thing to know before hiring a helper

Image
When you are shortlisting and reviewing potential helpers, you will need to look at their employment history. You can find this information on the  MOM website . Do note that this only shows her employment history in Singapore and not in other countries. HOW TO CHECK A FDW'S EMPLOYMENT HISTORY To access this information, you will need your Singpass details. To look up a particular helper, you need her full name or FIN number, date of birth, and nationality. Once you are on the page, you can see "Employment period", "Household size", "Housing Type" such as Landed, HDB, Private flat/apartment, "Cancellation Reasons" and "Expected Job Scope". WHAT TO LOOK FOR Source: MOM website First, look at the employment period column. In Singapore, a helper’s employment contract duration is 2 years. Look at how many contracts she has completed. If the helper has completed more than 1 employment contract, it means she has a good track record. Howev...
Read more

How one of Singapore's largest Maid Agencies Transformed Their Migrant Domestic Worker (MDW) Training with Step Up

Image
Mr Tay Khoon Beng, Director of Best Home Employment Agency Photo: Best Home Best Home is a leading employment agency in Singapore with 26 years of experience in maid-employer matching, training, documentation and mediation. Their maid training program is conducted in-house with trainers providing training to domestic workers at local centres in their home countries. Although this method was effective in producing well-trained helpers, it was also time-consuming and sometimes inconsistent due to varying trainers' methods. In 2022, as the domestic help industry raced to resume operations post-pandemic, Mr Tay Khoon Beng, Director of Best Home started to look at solutions to improve maid training. “I wanted a standard online curriculum that could be used to train MDWs of all nationalities. E-learning was the way to go since all MDWs have mobile phones and can easily access the training materials even back at their home countries.” A comprehensive training curriculum The solution he fo...
Read more