28/01/2015
News in various media regarding the abuse and mistreatment of children under the care of nannies is very disturbing. The you tube clip from Uganda isn't far from our minds. The sale of nanny cameras is on the increase. Many are stressed out because circumstances dictate that they must leave their children in the hands of strangers.
Maids2Order is deeply disturbed by the current state of affairs in the care of children and has spent considerable amounts of time trying to understand what can be done to ensure the safety of children is maintained in homes.
There seems to be a stand-off in the employer - house-keeper arena which unfortunately is getting worse by the day. Social media sites are fraught with news of nannies (also known as DM's, or dear maids, in social media speak) doing all sorts of things in homes to the chagrin of their employers. Indeed many of these acts are infuriating and we understand why some employers are frustrated. Unbeknownst to employers, housekeepers are privy to these sites including the disparaging comments that some people make about them. As a result, there is growing disquiet in the housekeeper community which we should ignore at our own peril.
Some of you may be comfortable recommending that housekeepers are beaten whilst hiding behind the comfort of pseudonyms on facebook or because you have a good one at home taking care of your children hence you think you have nothing to worry about. This is a false sense of comfort because if the situation deteriorates, you or your relatives or friends may also be affected.
At one point Maids2Order shut down operations and went back to the drawing board to ask ourselves whether we should continue to pursue our vision which is to provide diligent caregivers to ensure the safety and comfort of families. The you tube clip from Uganda was too much for us to bear. What kept us going however was the desperate calls we continued to receive from our clients to provide them with good housekeepers. We do this but only in the understanding that employers will provide a conducive work environment for our housekeepers. Whereas we previously maintained "black list" files for housekeepers who do not meet the minimum requirements to be trained by us, we are now also maintaining one for employers who mistreat their housekeepers. Those who are open minded are working with us to improve the environment in which their housekeepers work. The ultimate beneficiary is your family.
Yes, we shall continue to train them on house-keeping, etiquette, homework management, meal planning, nutrition, child care, first aid and personal hygiene. It is not an easy job to change their mindsets but that is our biggest strength. We continue to improve on this on a daily basis and are relentless in our pursuit of nothing but happy employers and housekeepers. We are also spending a lot of time mentoring them and trying to understand their point of view. We are conducting emotional intelligence boosting skills and confidence building in the context of the bad name that housekeepers have been given. We know that if they feel valued and appreciated, their productivity increases and everyone is happy. It's not enough that we value them and give them that encouragement. You as employers have to play a role in this as well.
We have conducted informal surveys across various demographics in the last thre months.
Watch this space as we share our findings with you. Our goal is to ensure that moving forward, employers and housekeepers work together as a cohesive unit. Many of us have fond memories of housekeepers who took care of us from infancy to high school and beyond. What has changed in the mindset of housekeepers and their management by employers? What can we do about it?
