Smooth Start with Your Helper: What to Do Before They Arrive?

The wait is over! Your domestic helper is all set to begin, and you're brimming with excitement. Finally, you will have someone to help with the chores and mind the kids. Your family can look forward to healthy, home-cooked meals. You printed out a schedule for her to refer to and even took a few days off to show her how things are done in your house.



You hope your new helper will be motivated to give her best for the next 2 years if you started things on the right note.

Setting the Stage for Success

This all sounds great. But, for a good working relationship, you must treat it like a corporate HR task. You need to assert your role as the boss and respect your helper as your subordinate. Set boundaries from the start and be clear in communicating the rules of the workplace. Besides the timetable, you should also print out a list of house rules. This should cover the daily hours. It should also cover notes on securing and locking the house, mobile phone use, work clothes, personal cleanliness, honesty, rules on photos in the house, no-access areas, and basic safety. This is especially important for young children and old people. Translate this list into your helper’s native language. Go through it with her and her agent. The agent can explain it if needed.

Building Trust and Respect

Like a new employee at a corporate job, your helper needs an ease-in period. It should last at least a week, when you drip-feed her information, show her the ropes, and give her easier tasks. Always start with tasks that are appropriate and progress to the next level depending on her speed of learning and progress.

Getting her to watch Step Up training videos during this period is also key. They complement her training. It’s proven that 15 mins of watching Step Up videos daily for the first 30 days will speed up her learning a lot. Once she builds up her confidence, you can entrust her to more challenging tasks. And there you have it: a simple “orientation” strategy. It will ensure a successful working relationship from day one. 

You take charge of your helper’s learning, there’s no other shortcut way!

One other thing to note: do install CCTV in your house before your helper arrives. This allows you to monitor the domestic worker's behaviour with young children or the elderly when you're not at home. CCTV recordings can help identify cases of child or elder abuse. Installing CCTV in common areas of the house is not an invasion of privacy, especially since it's common in workplaces as well. Recordings can also protect you if you're wrongly accused of abusing the domestic worker or if there's a dispute about who left food out overnight.


CCCTV at prominent areas of the house for peace of mind

Remember, a little effort upfront can make a big difference in creating a harmonious household for everyone.

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