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Whether you are hiring your house helper from the maid agency or not, there are several ways to determine if the person in front of you is the right one or not. If you cannot decide if you should hire the person or not, you may resort to face reading (although you should not base the decision to hire on this solely).
While the Batas Kasambahay provisions that an employer cannot meddle with how the maid spends his or her earnings, it won't hurt if you – the employer – would teach the helpers to save. If possible, you impart such important lesson to her as soon as you pick her up from the maid agency. Saving is essential because it or the lack of it impacts the future. In fact, it is the difference between living comfortably when you retire and living miserably and depending on others for sustenance. That's not how you want your staffers to end up, right? So, here's how.
Deeply rooted in our culture, the Filipinos value core values so much to the extent of frowning upon socially unacceptable behaviors. Perhaps, you've witnessed a person disgracing himself or herself in the public – spitting on the street, letting a loud burp, nose picking, etc. What would it make you feel if you witnessed similar behaviors on your own household? Unfortunately, our maids and the rest of the household help are the most common culprit.
Now that you've decided that you need a yaya for your kiddo, the next best thing is to decide whether to hire a full-time or part-time yaya. Definitely, you have your reasons you might want a stay-in or stay-out staff. Indeed, the decision is dependent on several factors. Reaching a decision is a struggle, but below are some of the factors you must consider.
One of the most pressing issues employers face when hiring a maid in the Philippines, and perhaps elsewhere in the world, is deciding for the appropriate compensation. Here are some practical tips on determining the reasonable rates for each of your helpers.
Whether you got your helpers from a housemaid agency or not, the fact is there are expectations on your part as their employer. It's a relationship after all, and it is in the quality of this relationship that other factors will flourish such as the helpers' efficiency and effectiveness. For the employers, however, the struggle is real. Don't fret. Here are some ways to create the right environment for your househelp.
When shortlisting a potential hire, may it be an individual or agency, we seek for recommendations. Definitely, we want to know which amongst the candidates had best fit with our requirements and preferences or whether the person or agency we have in mind is the right one. We ask because other people’s responses are our vouch of service quality. They’ve had a first-hand experience of the service provider, so they’d know whether the maid agency that you will hire in the future, for instance, can really provide you with the high standard of service that you are looking for in the first place.
What if you know no one who knows about choosing the right maid agency for you? What if the person you talked to and asked for recommendations had the worst experience when it comes to hiring agencies? What if you already have the names of agency with you, but none of your relatives and friends had no experience whatsoever with these agencies? What will you do? One word: GOOGLE! And what will you google? REVIEWS!
Why reviews?
Based on the Local Consumer Review Survey conducted in May to June 2014, online reviews are increasingly becoming important in the purchasing decision of the consumers. Amongst the more than 2,000 consumers surveyed, about 88% are reading reviews to determine the overall quality of the business.
What does this mean for you?
Simple. It means that you may save a lot of time in determining whether the maid agency that you intend to hire can provide you with quality services. Reading online reviews can instantly provide you with something to measure your expectations against with. If the agency has more negative reviews than positive ones, you may cross the name of the agency on your list and proceed with the other names in the list. If the majority of the reviews are positive then, you may ascertain that you should get your maid from this agency.
Based on the same survey, the consumers are reading from 6 up to 10 reviews before they feel that a particular business can actually be trusted. As such, trust is not initially developed, but it was built along with reading reviews. The higher the number of positive reviews read, the more trustworthy the business becomes.
What does this mean for you?
Trust and credibility are big words. You don’t give your trust right away. Put simply, the maid agency must earn your trust. A review or two cannot necessarily gauge the credibility of an agency, but reading as many reviews as possible will. You’d think twice in hiring a maid agency that has only three reviews especially if two of these reviews are negative. Also, credibility is not a one-time aspect wherein it is also built over time. Going back, if the maid agency only has three reviews dated 2013 and nothing else follows, this is might be a signal of declining service quality. Thus, you might want to stay away from those agencies that lack reviews.
Finally, the survey claims that 88% of the consumers trust the reviews the way they would trust personal recommendations. This is more so if there are several customer reviews online and if they believe that these reviews are authentic.
What does this mean for you?
Indeed, online reviews are the digital word-of-mouth. Although we have to look at the quality and quantity of the reviews, once we determine that the reviews are authentic, it would feel like the maid agency is recommended by one of your friends. One reason behind this is because you know that the one who wrote and published the review is a human being who has the same maid problems as you currently have. The only difference is their maid problems have already been solved and yours, not yet.
Bottom-line
This all boils down to one thing – you have to choose a maid agency with positive or good reviews. This doesn’t mean to be too uptight about the process wherein you discard all the agencies with negative or bad reviews. Okay, there is no way turn a bad review around; a bad review is a bad review. Period. However, know that, a maid agency, like everyone else, cannot please everybody. And experiences are not universal. Just because one client is not happy with the service of a maid agency, it doesn’t mean that you, as a would-be client, will not be happy with the same service. That’s not how things work, and there are many factors at play.
Whatever those factors are, your goal should be finding a maid agency with lots of positive reviews and you are on your way to a really pleasing maid hiring experience. Authentic reviews will not let you down.
Good luck!
