Helper Xmas Bonus & Hong bao/Lai see

[mel_g20]

Hi, hoping for some advice..

This is my first Xmas in HK and I am wondering what the norm is for helper bonuses at Christmas, plus am I also expected to give a hong bao/lai see bonus at Chinese New Year. Just wondering what I should be giving and how much?

If anyone can share what they do then I would much appreciate it.

Thanks

 

[LeahH]

We give our helper a Christmas bonus, one month's salary or so (fits best then as she goes home for her hols) with a nominal one at CNY - along the lines of what we give to other people (hairdresser, building concierge etc).

 

[carang]

as it is a gift, i believe that whatever you can afford is ok.

we have NEVER given our helper an entire month's salary and we are about to sign her 3rd contract.

we have always given her a gift (it's getting to be a joke because i always give her fancy bath stuff) and about $500 cash in her card, plus stocking stuff.

we have also given her $500 for lai see (hubby is chinese) and another $500 or so for her birthday. sometimes, we add cheaper gifts, too. one christmas, we gave her a cheap dvd player (only cost $250 or so) another time, we paid for 1/2 a tv (it was $1000, so we paid 1/2 of that).

our helper's husband has been staying with us for the past month FOC and we have offered to pay for her son to come for xmas, cny and birthday combined. her hubby borrowed some money to come, so she's asked instead of paying for her son if we could give her the money to pay that back instead. i don't see any reason why we shouldn't oblige....

the long and the short of it is this.... whatever you can afford and think she deserves is ok.

 

[MommyTo3]

This is also our first Xmas here, and I was thinking about the same. She has only been with us for 5 months. In the US I would usually give my babysitters 1 week pay, so here that would be around $1000 (maybe a gift + some cash). I would definitely not give a full month pay (besides it was only 5 months). I also want to have some opportunity to go up over the years.

She's also having her birthday half of December so I need to come up with something for that too. I was thinking of $500 and maybe 3 smaller items (from each child one), like day creme, shower gel, etc.

No TV connection or anything in our maid's room.

For CNY we'll probably do another $500.

My parents just gave her an additional $1000 when they stayed here for 2 weeks (we pay $4000 a month and she eats our food).

 

[Ai li]

Lai see during CNY

I am planning to give Lai see to building concierge during CNY. Wondering how much is kinda standard rate. Is HK$100 too much and HK$20 too little? Just dont want to be considered too generous or stingy

:babydustb

We give our helper a Christmas bonus, one month's salary or so (fits best then as she goes home for her hols) with a nominal one at CNY - along the lines of what we give to other people (hairdresser, building concierge etc).

 

[wanfamily]

Another question...
I'm sending our helper home for 2 weeks over Christmas (I employed her here 4 months ago so she needs to leave and come back within a year anyway). She usually eats our food, so we don't give her a food allowance. Is it appropriate to give her food allowance for her visit to her home country on top of a Christmas bonus?

 

[alice wong]

Hi Guys ~
I think you guys pay too much for the maid ~ well, we (HK people) will only give small gifts to the maid and maybe only $100 for the Lai See. And during the CNY, mostly the Lai See is only $20. But it really depends on how much you know them. Eg. my colleague I only give $20 per px, but the girls from my team I will give $100 per px. Or sometimes only $50 with my best friends.....so this is what I mainly pay in HK.
But when I am in Australia, I pay more than that. Mostly give people around AUD $20 (which is around HK$100).

 

[aussiegal]

I don't think you can say 'you pay too much for your maid'. Everyone has a different level of gratitude and respect for their maid depending on how good the maid is, what your background is etc. And of course, some people can afford to pay more. I'm sure for most westerners like me who didn't grow up with a maid we're just so thankful to have one that we don't mind paying for the privilege and rewarding good work and good attitude. After two bad helpers we've finally got one that deserves to be well remunerated. Over the last 6 months we have moved her salary from $3600 (starting point) to $4900 and we will give her another pay rise when our third child comes along. She is a true gem. Our house has never been happier and we feel no tension having her around. I think that is priceless. We will also give her a reasonable christmas bonus. Maybe half a month's salary commensurate with how long she has worked for us. NY bonus will be much smaller. Maybe 500.

 

[sherwes]

I have heard from more than one long term HKer that there is a tradition of the "13th month" here. Apparently many employers pay their employees an extra months salary at Christmas. I know that Cathay used to do this for their employees but not sure if they still do. I would be interested if any users who work for HK organisations have heard of the 13th month concept.

On this basis we were going to pay our helper for a 13th month at Christmas. However, we might scale this back now given that we will both be taking big cuts to our own pay packages given current market conditions!

I wasn't thinking of paying anything extra at CNY.

 

[sherwes]

p.s. I am not suggesting that everyone should pay an extra month as bonus. Obviously, it is a matter of what you can afford and is about showing your helper than you appreciate her work rather than giving a specific amount of money.