Maid agencies and associated recruitment offices act as intermediaries between employers and maids. They play an indispensable role in uniting two distant parties, namely the wealthy families who need help at home and the impoverished women who can offer their labor in exchange for a regular income. Problems arise when cleaning agencies fail to provide this crucial link satisfactorily. This article examines two common issues potential employers face when hiring a domestic worker from an agency.
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The maid’s biodata list is out of date
Most of the maid agencies do not keep updated information of their available maids. At first glance, her selection of domestic workers may seem exhaustive, complete with photographs of maids, personal details, and a brief description of their basic education, strengths, and preferences. The sad fact is that much of that information is out of date and exists only to impress your clientele of your supposedly wide selection. Storefronts and online maid agencies are especially guilty of this charge, as evident from their static maid biodata storefront. Many agencies rely on a common pool of hired maids and post this shared biographical data without verifying their current status. Some agencies do not intentionally mislead their clients, but simply forget to update their current selection of maids in a timely manner. However, there are agencies that deliberately single out the best candidates among their former hired maids, to create the illusion of abundant choice for their clients. A handful of agencies continue to advertise offers that are outdated for five years. We advise potential employers to treat the advertised maid bios as a rough guide and always ask specifically for the latest available candidates from maid agencies. Don’t waste your time and effort going through countless pages of biographical data, only to discover that your shortlisted maid is, in fact, unavailable for employment. Deceptive agencies may even pretend that their preferred maid was chosen by chance by another competing client, just hours before. One agency staff admitted to Maid Aware that they were not bothered by the extra administrative work involved in sorting through the published maid listing, as only a handful of customer inquiries handled will result in a “confirmed sale.”
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The cleaning agency you deal with has a poor track record.
We at Maid Aware are constantly in awe of the blind faith many employers have in choosing a cleaning agency. Few employers perform simple background checks on the agencies that handle the recruitment of maids and suffer the consequences of delays, increased costs and poor service, when the agencies chosen do not meet basic requirements. It reminds us of an old Czech adage about carpentry: “Measure twice, cut once”. When choosing a cleaning agency, it’s worth consulting local government regulatory offices, consumer associations, media publications, friends and family for their recommendations. Their goal is to identify problematic and blacklisted agencies that you should stay away from. Unscrupulous or incompetent agencies have a habit of repeating the mistakes of the past. Surely, you have no desire to be his next unsuspecting victim, do you? Many countries that rely heavily on migrant labor maintain a register of licensed cleaning agencies. They track agency performance through a number of key metrics, such as demerit points, maid placement volume, and retention success rates. News archives can reveal maid agencies breaking the law in their treatment of indentured maids and those accused of dishonesty by former clients. Most of this information is readily available, through the convenience of the Internet. We advise prospective employers not to engage with any cleaning agency in a hurry, without a preliminary assessment on your part. Based on our observations, cleaning agencies that advertise aggressively in classifieds, with the lowest rates on the market, attract the most clients. Unfortunately, many of them consistently fail to deliver on their promises at such low prices. Do your quick homework to distinguish the truly competitive offers from the bogus ones. It is definitely worth the small investment in your time.
Maid agencies are the crucial links between employers and maids, as most people lack the connections and knowledge to hire their own maids from a foreign country. We believe that most agencies are run by honest and credible people. However, as with any other industry, there are black sheep among cleaning agents. We hope this Maid Aware article helps you in your selection of a quality cleaning agency.
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