Proven Methods for Sustainable Domestic Staffing

Selection of Domestic Staff

There are some actions needed. One of these options—hiring through an organized sector, going through family members and friends, or relying on referrals—might be suitable for choosing your domestic staffing needs. A family may receive specific lists of people to handle their domestic requirements if they select any of these actions.

Healthy Approach

Following the selection, medical screenings or checkups are performed. Basic infectious disease checks have become very advisable lately. Individuals are now tested for HIV, hepatitis, syphilis, tuberculosis, etc. Also, a pregnancy check is now included on the test menu. If all of these were checked on the individual, there is a general agreement that the healthy approach was met. However, recent exposures and experiences have led to the inclusion of more investigations to rule out chronic or hidden diseases that may hinder productivity.

Here are my suggestions on this for the subscribers: Do not just check a few of the tests mentioned above; do extra to check the liver functions, kidney functions, ulcers, sickle cell anemia, and even urinary tract infections. The employer should take responsibility for these checks and ensure a reputable laboratory is subscribed to. Aside from checking the employee, the employer’s health status and that of his family should also be made known, especially when they are dealing with organized recruiting agencies. Such agencies should be bold enough to ascertain the health status of these employers before agreeing to allow their subjects to work in their homes. Some may disagree with me on this, but the emerging issues from domestic staffing should be a lesson for everyone. If the employer has pre-existing health issues, such as diabetes, and the employed cook is unaware of them, such staff should not be blamed for any outcome, even if a meal is prepared that spikes the employer’s sugar level to a critical state of coma. If the worst were to happen, you might hear some unfounded allegations from family members. Our security outfits also worsen the knowledge gaps due to their hasty and unintelligent approaches to such matters. The casualties due to high blood pressure and heart-related problems are good examples to support my proposal above. If an employer has a heart condition or may have HBP, this fellow’s condition might become very critical at any moment depending on certain conditions such as stress, type of food, etc. If he had a domestic staff when the emergencies and unexpected happened and no relative was present, the domestic staff would have become a prime suspect regardless of the employer’s previous health condition.

A persistent ulcer makes domestic staff more susceptible to getting sick quickly, which might cause several service interruptions.
The employee’s family members could make the accusation if any undesirable conditions emerge.
Based on their ignorance, they would not only accuse the employer of wrongdoing but also claim that the incident might be related to the employer’s ritualistic or demonic practices and intentions.
It will be assumed that we have carefully decreased the likelihood of future confrontations or being dragged along by social pressure groups or human rights advocates if we do the actions suggested above.
If you understand what I’ve said above, both parties should be responsible for the health check because it will benefit everyone’s freedom and ability to live a healthy lifestyle.

Security Approach

Regardless of the outcomes of the health checkups, there should be proper traceability for the intended employees. For detailed security checks, the services of an intelligent officer may be required for a proper professional touch on the matter. Beyond the use of a security agent, employers should use the available information at their disposal to validate the credentials of the intended employee. Validating their dates of birth, parents, siblings, cousins, uncles, aunts, friends, educational backgrounds, etc. shall give a form of visibility to the kind of influence that these individuals would likely have on the employer. If your employees live with family or relatives in the same city with you, then finding time to meet the parents, wife, husband etc. may give insight about proper emotional intelligence to manage the staff or possible draw you closer to averting certain kind of future ugly situations.

Safety approach

No one should engage domestic employees without taking them through trainings, inductions, procedures, etc. If the employer is too busy to handle this, he should delegate it to his children if they are already adults. Beside this, I am not sure anyone may be in a better position to provide the new employees with relevant information on how the house runs. Someone at home should be aware of the locations and use of fire equipment, gas, electricity, the implications of security alarms and other alarms, favorite foods and recipes, energy conservation, and so many other household routines. Without proper inductions, the services of these employees may spell danger to the household, or they may be consumed in their errors due to their ignorance of these procedures.
Do not assume they know anything; family members needing the services of these domestic staff must dedicate time to train them and show them along the lines of family culture, e.g., their preferences in colors, fragrances, dress codes, hygiene, and food. Remember, you can only give what you have. Employers must have learned these services independently and must have ensured their households imbibed cultures of service before inviting external help; otherwise, abuses may be inevitable.

Sustainability Approach

The services of domestic staffers can be compared to those provided by healthcare and other essential service providers. Their roles have become a sensitive part of our lives, yet they are treated with little or no regard and with attendant violence and abuse.

If you seek stability on your home front, you may have to consider the following approaches to mitigate service disruptions: Through history of events, there have been frequent turnover observed among those willing to provide nanny services for nursing mothers. To curb this and prevent unintended from happening, it is better to hire two for the same services and rotate their roles around the child welfare system. This is what I term a proactive step against instability. I strongly suggest that you consider back up staffer for any role at your household that may disrupt your household peace, career, and welfare if the employee leaves with a little or no notice. This way you will not find yourself getting flustered when a staff put ups threat of quitting their role in your house.
Secondly, you may have to consider a range of 10 to 15 % deductions on their wage as a form of cation fee. This is done in anticipation of any unexpected, unforced, or irresponsible notice of disengagement. Make a careful observation, every time a domestic staff quits under short notice, the households usually start to patronize fast foods, their medical bills may increase because they now keep their children with entirely strange hands, they would start using car wash at a higher fee, and so many other instances like that. Having known the nuances of these individuals, it is important to prepare to make up for their worst kind of outcomes especially if one is unlucky to meet erratic behaviors.

If the staff continues to work for the household, the deductions will be returned to them as a total saving every 12 months, possibly with interest. However, the maximum penalty shall apply, and the monies shall not be given to the staffer if he/she decides to quit for flimsy reasons by putting the employer on emergency notice. Such deducted monies shall then be applied to the search for a temporary replacement while a permanent and suitable employee is secured.
You could also initiate stability on the home front by identifying and rewarding the most passionate and hardworking staffer. If you do this, it will encourage loyalty, ownership, and devotion and may reduce the chances of unplanned service interruption due to certain manufactured excuses.

Issue service contracts especially when hiring through the organized sector and enshrine service level agreements committing the agency to provide a back up when there is a down time or unplanned interruptions.

Treat your home workers with dignity, respect and most importantly be genuinely concerned about their welfare because they are handling your most precious valuables on the earth.