How much do you pay your helper?

[kahling]

Hi everyone, we are in the process of looking for a domestic helper and are not sure how much we should pay her. I believe the minimum wage is $3400 per mth. Wondering how much everyone else is paying their helper? It would help us determine how much to pay the one we end up hiring. All your feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Kahling:thanks

 

[HKfornow]

$3,400. That is the expected wage, if you want to give more than that it is entirely up to you.

 

[ELT]

$3400. We cover her basic needs like food (she eats what we eat), soap, toilet paper, alarm clock, radio... this is her first time working overseas and she doesn't have winter clothings so we gave her jackets and scarfs we no longer wear. A couple hundred dollars / small gifts on special occassions.

 

[carang]

for our helper's first contract with us (ends next week) we paid $3400. she buys her own toiletries(except tissue/toilet paper), but she eats whatever we eat. (including when we go all out on new years eve and have king crab legs and lobster(one each)). half way through her contract, we moved to a new flat that had two tiled gardens. because we have dogs that use the gardens to do their business, we pay her an extra $200/week to clean the gardens with bleach at a minimum of once per day, sometime 2-3 times per day.

when we signed her new contract we gave her a pay raise to $3750. we have been happy with her work and since i've had a terrible pregnancy, she has been absolutely indespensible. there's no way in the world we could have gotten through this pregnancy without her.

 

[joannek]

i thought it was $3270/mth. that's what i've been paying, but i pay the govt levy for her. she eats what we eat & when i got to the supermarket I let her choose sth she likes. then i provide the toiletries & even some basic face cleanser & creams. the other helper in the house goes to the market & write down whatever food she bought for them and puts them on the market money. they're very reasonable at those, just fish, chicken & noodles & vegis usually.

 

[joannek]

oh, & i also provide uniform & wrm jackets & clothings. this one is new, she arrived 2 months ago, and she doesn't seem to have any pyjamas, socks & shoes (she was wearing slippers). so i got her her pyjamas, socks & a pair of shoes. i also bought some knickers for her, i don't want her to be hanging some rugged panties around the house. =)

but you don't have to do that, it's just i'm a shopaholic & it's fun to buy cheaper clothes in the street market!!

 

[carang]

the gov't increased the minimum to $3400 a few months ago. but i believe that if you had signed a contract before the increase, you can continue paying $3270. (we just decided to increase to $3400 as we always paid her $3300 anyway, and i figured that an extra $100 wasn't much.)

 

[ninahudd]

We pay above the minimum wage $4,500 but she is really experienced and we are happy to do so (may have been slightly duped and inexperienced about the whole thing as well - especially the more I read). But hery, if it is to look after your most precious child and she is doing a good job then she deserves it.

 

[geiboyi]

By the way, you HAVE to pay the $400 levy - it is the employer's responsibility, not the helper's. You cannot deduct this from her salary (in effect, it already has been deducted, and the minimum wage dropped to $3270 from $3670 at the same time as the $400 levy was introduced).

We pay $3400. We paid a previous helper more but she was rubbish and I really resented the extra I had agreed to pay. The very first time I contacted potential replacements I said that the job paid the minimum, if anyone wanted more then too bad. (But actually no one did ask for more...). I would pay more for a fabulous helper, but unfortunately haven't met one yet.

 

[Millerwhisk]

We pay $3400, she eats with us and we give her money at xmas / chinese new year / birthdays or presents - or both this year as she has worked so hard.

You can always give extra as a bonus for hard work but if you pay extra in the monthly salary and then run into problems you cannot take it away again.