Are you in search of a maid employee in Singapore? If you’re a working professional with young children or elderly parents to look after, having someone to lend you some extra hands could bring great relief. Employing a foreign domestic worker (FDW) to stay at home with you and help you do the household chores will allow you to spend more time with your loved ones.
Even though hiring a housekeeper in Singapore has its advantages, you need first to consider whether you can afford it or not. Finding the right maid employee in Singapore will require more than paying the monthly bill and, more often, necessitates a long financial commitment.
Before you make this choice, you must research your legal responsibilities as an employer and the actual costs of employing a maid in Singapore.
The one-time expense of employing a maid
You first need to consider whether you wish to recruit a domestic worker from abroad or locally via maid transfer. Prices will differ depending on the options you select and whether you choose to hire a maid from the agency.
For instance, most people find it less hassle to coordinate with an agency when hiring a new maid. Although it’s more practical, it is more expensive. When compared to other options, a maid transfer will cost less.
The term “maid transfer” is commonly used to describe the practice of hiring foreign domestic helpers (FDWs) who are already in Singapore but want to transfer to new employers. Although maid agencies facilitate transfers, most clients find their new housekeepers through personal connections.
Here’s a rundown of the initial costs that might be involved, depending on the choice you make:
A domestic helper in Singapore may expect to earn anything from S$400 to S$650 per month. The agency you use to recruit your maid and her country of origin will affect the final cost.
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- Myanmar: S$450
- Philippines: S$570
- Sri Lanka: S$497
- Indonesia: S$550
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The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) authorizes Singaporeans to recruit MDWs from countries including but not limited to the ones listed above. These countries include Thailand, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam, India, Malaysia, Macau, and Vietnam.
Remember that the following are just the bare bones of what you might expect to pay an MDW from one of the countries mentioned above each month. The cost might increase if the MDW you hire has previous job experience in Singapore or abroad.
Hiring a maid with experience or already working in Singapore would cost you more money. While the low number of new MDWs is at least partially attributable to border limitations created by the COVID-19 outbreak, other variables are also at play.
The going rate for a transfer maid is between S$800 and S$1,000, compared to the prior range of $650 to $800.
Please keep in mind that the salaries shown do not cover the costs of food, lodging, utilities, transportation to and from work (if applicable), or other extraneous charges such as medical care for any accidents that occured to the maid while at home alone without a household member present.
Maid Levy
When hiring a foreign domestic worker in Singapore, employers must pay a monthly tax known as the “maid levy.” The fee contributes toward the expense of training and supporting migrant domestic workers in Singapore.
In Singapore, the monthly maid levy is worth S$300. For those MDWs who have previous experience, the fee jumps to S$450.
To those who cannot afford to pay for the maid levy, don’t worry. You can apply the concessionary levy fee. If an employer cannot afford to pay the full monthly maid charge, they can request a concessionary levy.
If an employer cannot afford to pay the full monthly maid charge, they can request a concessionary levy.
To qualify, you’ll need to provide your bank account details, proof of income, and evidence that you can’t afford to pay the maid levy.
Families who are eligible for an exemption to the maid levy for Singapore include:
- Children under 16 years old or those who are disabled and need personal attention
- Members of families who require assistance with at minimum one activity per day
- Family members of an elderly member of the family that is at least 67 years old
The people who aren’t qualified for an exemption to the concessionary maid tax in Singapore are:
- Families without children or dependents less than 16 years of age who live in the same home
- Non-citizens who have had their work permits revoked been denied due to poor conduct and/or criminal convictions
- The people who require care are not Singapore citizens.
- The person who requires care is no longer with you.
Day-to-Day Functions and Scheduled Breaks
The Singaporean government guarantees domestic workers one day off every week or eight days off in a row every two months. They need at least 12 hours of sleep every day, including another seven hours of undisturbed sleep at night.
The employer cannot make the maid work on her day off but may ask for her assistance if necessary. If that’s the case, they need to compensate for it by paying an extra day’s wages.
If her monthly salary is S$600, those extra two days would cost her about S$46.
If an employer has a maid work overtime without compensation, the employer is required to provide the maid a sufficient amount of time to relax before allowing the maid to return home or engage in other activities.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is thinking of mandating MDWs to take a day off once a month. Its purpose is to boost MDWs’ health and shouldn’t be compensated. This is to be implemented anytime this year.
Cost of daily living
The fees you need to consider when hiring a housekeeper should not just include her salary but also the money she spends on food, lodging, and miscellaneous expenses.
In Singapore, a domestic worker may expect to spend around S$200 per month on meals. This figure is flexible and will change based on her tastes and nutritional needs. For instance, if your assistant is a vegetarian, you may need to allocate more money to their diet.
Furthermore, these prices might change based on your family’s spending habits. For instance, your bill would be more significant if you frequently take your maid on holidays and treat her to expensive restaurants.
One-time expenses
When employing a maid, you’ll have to pay a monthly price in addition to other one-time expenses like the maid’s insurance, airfare, medical exam, the fee charged by the employment agency, and the application fee.
The ideal option if you need a maid for the first time and don’t know someone, in particular, is to go with a maid agency. A suitable maid service can help you obtain domestic help that fits your requirements.
The maid agency will also file the relevant paperwork and manage the maid’s salary.
The standard agency fee ranges from S$1,000 to S$3,000 and is typically non-refundable. You might have to pay the maid’s first month’s salary in addition to the agency charge.
Maid Placement Fee/Loan
You may be required to pay a placement fee to a maid agency to get a maid. This will help defray the costs associated with hiring, training, and insuring your maid and is often equal to one month’s income.
Fees for placement or maid loans are not included as part of your costs because you will pay the loan back through deductions made from the maid’s paycheck in the first few months.
If you want to save money, a maid transfer might be the way. Instead of paying the higher cost of bringing in a maid from her home country, you can save money by hiring one already working in Singapore for another household.
Costs associated with the COVID-19
The price you have to pay has skyrocketed due to new COVID-19 travel limits, safety precautions, and increased administrative and coordinating efforts.
During the pandemic, additional regulations and safety protocols must be followed when hiring a housekeeper. Among these include authorization to enter the country from the Minister of Manpower (MOM), swab tests before the maid leaves and completion of a Stay-Home-Notice (SHN) term at a sanctioned institution.
These costs remain whether or not an agency was used to find and hire a maid. For instance, a ten-day stay at an SHN dedicated facility will cost you S$1,050, while individual COVID-19 tests will cost you anywhere between S$125 and S$160.
Therefore, service rates have increased at agencies to compensate for the extra work involved in meeting these stringent deadlines, and airfare may have increased due to flight limitations.
Moreover, MOM suggests that transfer maid employers split the SHN and COVID-19 examination charges that were spent upon the maid’s original entry into the country. The only people for whom this is applicable are MDWs who are moved within 12 months after finishing the SHN.
Paying for a housekeeper is a costly endeavor. Although this may seem to involve a lot of money, when you factor in the time and energy spent on housekeeping and other responsibilities daily, it may be worth it to have peace of mind and spend more time on what truly counts.
It is essential to research the various agencies and their rates if you are considering hiring a maid, as the placement fee is typically non-refundable.