Digitalisation of Remittances Services for Foreign Domestic Workers

HelperChoice has carried out a survey with 957 domestic helpers currently deployed in Hong Kong where they shared with us how they will celebrate Christmas this year, in-light of the current political unrest in the city. This year shows a drastic trend in the use of digital solutions such as e-wallets and online banking services to send money back to their home countries, as traditional remittance centres remain deserted.

The ethical platform HelperChoice reached out to foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong to understand how they will celebrate Christmas this year within the ongoing unrest environment. There are currently 400,000 domestic helpers working in the city, of which a majority are from the Philippines and Indonesia, and this number is expected to keep rising in the coming years.

For months, foreign domestic workers’ schedules have been disrupted by the current political unrest and protests, preventing them, for most times, to go out on their weekly rest day. 

In August, the Filipino Migrant Workers’ Union (FMWU) even declared in a statement that “some employers have capitalised on the city’s irregular protest schedule” by depriving them from their mandatory rest day. In parallel, Sringatin, the Indonesian Migrant Workers’ Union, claimed that it was difficult for the workers to adapt to the protests’ schedule. 

Out of the 957 surveyed migrant workers, an extremely large majority 94.3% will send money back to their home country this holiday. 

While our 2018 survey showed that overseas domestic workers were mostly using remittance centers to send money back (78.4%), this year we witnessed a huge trend in the use of digital solutions such as online bank transfers, used by 54.3% of the surveyed workers, or e-wallet solutions, 29.8%. On the other hand, only 10.6% will use remittance centers this Christmas, and 4.3% will send the money through a friend. 

Mahee Leclerc, manager of HelperChoice in Hong Kong comments: “The platform received a lot of feedback from foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong regarding access to the city center, including the remittance centers. The current unrest made it more difficult to travel around the city in the past months, forcing domestic workers to stay at home on their rest day, and therefore democratising the use of digital solutions such as e-wallets and online banking to make money transfers.” 

Regarding sending gifts back home, traditionally, overseas Filipino domestic helpers send a balikbayan back home, literally a “repatriate box”. Most of them will keep this tradition this year by filling their balikbayans with clothes (35.2%), groceries (33.1%), shoes (14.8%) and accessories (13.4%).

HelperChoice was acquired by ​Yoopies in 2019. With their support and technical expertise, we are now working together on new features to completely digitalise the recruitment process of foreign domestic workers and implement an automatic payment solution from employers to their domestic helpers. This pushes HelperChoice’s mission of ending modern slavery in Hong Kong and Singapore even further.   

Conclusion

The shift toward digital remittance tools shows how quickly foreign domestic workers adapt when faced with difficult circumstances. Online banking, e-wallets, and digital transfers are not only safer during periods of unrest — they also offer faster, more convenient ways for workers to support their families back home.

At HelperChoice, we remain committed to empowering domestic workers and making ethical hiring the norm.
If you’re an employer looking to hire responsibly, explore verified helper profiles on HelperChoice today — no placement fees for workers, ever.