Ways of Hiring a Domestic Helper in Hong Kong

(Updated on September 6, 2023)

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Domestic workers can be an asset for your household and of great help with your children. But where do you, as a to-be-employer, start when you want to hire a foreign domestic worker? There are over 390,000 live-in foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong and hundreds of thousands more who are looking for employment overseas and want to work for your family. How many ways of hiring are there?

Direct hire or through an employment agency

There are two ways that you can find the right domestic helpers for your family, direct hire and through an employment agency.

To compare the two methods, in terms of autonomy, direct hire gives you more freedom to pick the worker you like. You can interview as many domestic helpers as you want and even ask them to have a try-out in your house! On the contrary, if you want to look for a domestic worker through an employment agency, they might have fewer candidates for you, and you might only have a shallow understanding of each candidate.

In terms of costs, an employment agency would cost more because they have to screen the domestic helpers for you, while for direct-hire, once you have picked the right domestic helper, you either just need to appoint an employment agency to handle all the work visa documentation, or handle it yourself and pay the visa fees and other small amounts.

In terms of preventing exploitation of your worker, obviously, direct hire is better. Unethical employment agencies often overcharge domestic workers or even confiscate their passports. To avoid exploitation, directly hire a domestic helper so there is no way an unethical employment agency can charge them a ridiculous amount of placement fees.

However, using an employment agency can save you time and guide you in the process of picking a domestic worker and all the paperwork for her work visa. Note that even if you directly hire a domestic helper, most likely you may have to use an employment agency to assist with the paperwork. Read the next section to find out under what circumstances you can handle all the paperwork yourself.

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What if I want to not use an employment agency completely?

If you are going to hire a foreign domestic worker by yourself, you need to be aware before you start the hiring process that the contract and visa application can be complicated.

To hire an Indonesian domestic helper, the employer will always need to use the services of an employment agency to attest the contract and to apply for the visa. It is a rule set by the Indonesian government.

To hire a Filipino domestic helper, the employers can do this by themselves if the domestic helper is a finished contract. If the domestic helper is a break or terminated contract or if she is not in Hong Kong, an employment agency must be used to notarize the employment contract and to handle the visa application. This is required by the Philippine government.

Differences between Filipino and Indonesian domestic workers

Apart from the fact that you might be able to handle all the hiring issues yourself with a Filipino domestic helper, but not an Indonesian domestic helper, there are other differences between hiring a Filipina and an Indonesian.

To be a Filipino domestic worker, he/she has to be at least 23 years old. It is a regulation set by the Philippine government. For Filipino domestic helpers, there is quite a lot of protection from the Philippine government. They have a lot of agencies to assist them, including the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to deal with issues such as pre-departure seminars, money claims, and welfare for the domestic helper’s family.

For Indonesians, Indonesian President Joko Widodo has announced to improve the quality of Indonesian workers sent abroad, new regulations will be introduced. Domestic workers working abroad must be at least 23 years old, have attended secondary school, have training certificates of skills, and have gone through recruitment agencies. This might affect a lot of Indonesian domestic workers who are already in Hong Kong and only have a primary education level.

In terms of culture and language, Filipinos can usually speak Tagalog and English, while Indonesians usually speak Bahasa Indonesia and are trained in Cantonese if they are Hong Kong-bound. Therefore, employers that can speak English or would want to train their children in English usually hire a Filipino domestic worker. On the other hand, employers that only speak Cantonese, or would want the domestic helper to take care of aged parents that only speak Cantonese usually hire an Indonesian domestic worker.

In terms of their culture, Filipinos can usually easily adapt to food in Hong Kong, although they are most likely used to having more meat in their diet. On the other hand, a lot of Indonesians are Muslims, and thus most likely do not take in pork and alcohol. Employers shall provide food that domestic workers can eat, or else they should give their domestic helpers food allowance. They might also need to wear a headscarf. Indonesian domestic workers might also want the rest day on a day other than Sunday to go to the mosque. Please communicate with your candidates to find out their preferences regarding rest day.