Maid agency hiring male caregivers

Helpers from Myanmar to arrive by end-February, to look after old men

By Amelia Tan, The Straits Times, 28 Jan 2013

A MAID agency is planning to bring in a batch of about 30 male domestic workers trained in caregiving from Myanmar by the end of next month.

Homekeeper, one of the largest players in Singapore, says there is a strong demand for male helpers to take care of elderly men whom the more petite maids may have difficulty handling.

The agency is also ramping up recruitment to bring in about 60 male domestic workers from Myanmar in June, and more after that if demand is good.

This is the first time an agency is bringing in male foreign domestic workers on a regular basis.

Only a handful have hired men on an ad hoc basis at their customers' request in the past two years.

Agencies estimate there are fewer than 20 male foreign domestic workers in Singapore. Most of them are Filipinos who have been hired to care for elderly men. In contrast, there are 208,400 foreign maids.

Agents say the Manpower Ministry allows employers to bring in foreign male domestic workers if they have strong reasons for doing so.

Employers have to send a letter to the ministry explaining their situation.

Homekeeper managing director Carene Chin said many of her customers point out that their maids struggle to carry their wheelchair-bound or bed- ridden fathers.

The employers also find it is less awkward for their fathers if their caregiver is a man.

She added: "They feel that their father will be more comfortable to have a man to help them with showering and changing their clothes."

Ms Chin said hiring foreign domestic workers equipped with caregiving skills will allow more Singapore employers to avoid sending their parents to nursing homes, which are facing a shortage of places.

She said Singaporean employers like maids from Myanmar for their patient and hardworking nature. She believes that male workers from Myanmar will have a similar temperament.

Homekeeper is also sourcing women from the same country to be trained as caregivers. The agency will bring in about 60 of them by next month.

Both the male and female workers will be trained as caregivers in Yangon. They will be paid about $500 a month, higher than the average of $450 which foreign domestic workers earn in Singapore.

Most of them are high school or university graduates. But those who are trained nurses will be paid about $800.

Homekeeper has struck a deal with Singapore training course provider Grace Management and Consultancy Services (GMCS), as well as Yangon private school ACM School, to put all the workers through a 45-day caregiver course.

Conducted on ACM's premises in Yangon, the sessions will equip the workers with knowledge on dealing with the elderly and spotting health problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

They will be taught in hands- on segments and classroom lectures, and will also learn conversational English and Mandarin.

GMCS managing director Richard Khoo said a team of its Myanmar doctors, nurses and trainers will conduct the classes and ensure the course is up to the mark.

GMCS runs the compulsory one-day Settling-In-Programme in Singapore which teaches first-time maids how to work safely and adjust to life here.

Employers with elderly parents said they are interested in hiring male caregivers. Shipping company director Serene Tan, 41, said her Filipino maid has trouble shifting her 82-year-old bedridden father-in-law to prevent him from getting bedsores.

"Hiring a trained caregiver will also free my maid up to concentrate on doing household chores."

Stronger pair of helping hands
By Amelia Tan, The Straits Times, 28 Jan 2013

MADAM Fatimah Ismail, 42, was troubled when she saw black and blue bruises on the arms of the female Filipino caregiver she had hired to take care of her bed-ridden father.

They came about when her 75-year-old dad gripped his caregiver's arms instinctively as he was afraid of falling when he was moved from his bed onto a wheelchair. The caregiver also had trouble lifting the 1.8m-tall man from his bed due to his bulky stature.

Madam Fatimah, a bank officer, started thinking that a male caregiver would be better suited for the job and began sourcing for one.

Three months ago, she hired a 24-year-old male helper from the Philippines through recruitment agency Aseana HR Consultants. The trained nurse is paid about $800 a month - almost twice the $450 that foreign domestic workers earn in Singapore.

Madam Fatimah says she is happy with her choice as the caregiver does not have any problems lifting her dad. She is also comfortable with having a male worker in her home and gives him his own room.

Agents who bring in male foreign domestic workers say there is a big demand for them.

Like maids, these male helpers come to Singapore on foreign domestic worker work permits, which are valid for two years, and live with their employers.

Bosses who hire male helpers and have family members above the age of 65 get to pay a discounted monthly levy of $170. The full monthly levy is $265. Aseana HR Consultants managing director Thess Lagdameo, who has brought in four male caregivers in the last six months, says some employers prefer male helpers but decide to hire maids instead because of the relatively shorter waiting time.

Agents say it takes three to five weeks for employers to be informed by the Manpower Ministry if the work permit application for their male helper is successful. Work permits for maids are usually approved within a few days.

Some employers interviewed said, however, that they are un-comfortable with hiring a male caregiver. Mr H.H. Yeo hires a Filipino maid who is a trained nurse to care for his elderly mother. He said: "My mum lives alone with the caregiver. She will not be comfortable with an unfamiliar man in the house."

* First male helper from Myanmar starts work
Slow start to bringing in more; agency cites longer approval time, wait-and-see attitude
By Amelia Tan, The Sunday Times, 12 May 2013

The first male domestic worker from Myanmar has arrived and started work with his new employer on Friday.

Brought to Singapore by local maid agency Homekeeper, 31-year-old Lum Hkawng has already completed a 45-day caregiver course. He also speaks Mandarin, which he picked up from ethnic Chinese friends living in his village in Myanmar's northern Kachin state.

Agents say male domestic workers like Mr Hkawng can perform similar tasks as their female counterparts and more. These include caring for elderly men who are bedridden, which often requires more strenuous work.

While agents say there has been an increase in demand for male domestic workers, plans to bring in more men like Mr Hkawng have hit a snag.

Homekeeper managing director Carene Chin said her agency has received several inquiries, but the potential employers want to wait and see how the workers fare with other employers. "They don't want to be the first to try them out," she said.

Another issue is that some employers are reluctant to wait, because the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) seems to take relatively longer to approve the hiring of these male domestic workers from overseas.

Ms Chin says it took over a month to get approval for Mr Hkawng and she is waiting to hear from the ministry on at least 10 other applications.

She had said in January that Homekeeper planned to bring in about 30 male domestic workers from Myanmar by February.

Agents like Ms Chin say MOM allows employers to bring in foreign male domestic workers only if they have good reasons for doing so. Employers in turn need to send a letter to the ministry explaining their needs.

It takes about a month before the ministry informs employers if their application for their male helper is successful.

Work permit applications for female maids, however, are usually completed within a few days.

Only a handful of maid agencies have recruited men at their customers' request in the past two years.

The Sunday Times was told there are 33 male foreign domestic workers in Singapore. Most of them are Filipinos who are hired to care for elderly men. In contrast, there are 209,600 foreign women working as maids here.

Homekeeper says it is working with Singapore training course provider Grace Management and Consultancy Services, as well as a private school in Yangon, ACM School, to put all these male workers through a 45-day caregiver course.

Conducted at ACM School's premises in Yangon, the sessions equip the workers with knowledge on dealing with the elderly and spotting health problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure. They also learn conversational English and Mandarin, and are taught how to do household chores.

So far, about 40 male domestic workers have completed the course and are waiting to work in Singapore households.

They will be paid $500 a month, slightly higher than the average of $450 which maids earn in Singapore.

Agents say that some Filipino men work as domestic workers for affluent European families who live in sprawling estates. They are in charge of physically strenuous tasks such as gardening and painting the homes.

Ms Chin says she is confident that the take-up rate will improve once employers see that male workers do well here in the specific context for which they are trained.

Account assistant V. Tay decided to hire a male helper for her elderly father-in-law who suffered a stroke a few months ago, after she saw Mr Hkawng training at Homekeeper's office in Hougang earlier last week.

"I spoke to him and found him patient," she said. "My father-in- law is big-sized and he lives alone. It is more convenient for a man to look after him."

Mr Hkawng, who is not married, told The Sunday Times last Friday before leaving for his employer's home that he is a little nervous about his new job.

His employer is a man in his 50s who is partially handicapped after a traffic accident and who lives alone.

The former steel welder who is working for the first time as a domestic worker said in Mandarin: "My employer may get angry with me because he is frustrated but I know I have to be patient. This is my job and I want to do it well to earn money for my family."

* Plan for more male helpers hits snag
By Jalelah Abu Baker, The Straits Times, 14 Sep 2014

A push by a local maid agency to bring in more male helpers to Singapore has hit a snag because it has been found to be "not practical".

Homekeeper, which last year announced plans to bring in up to 100 male "maids", has decided there is not enough interest after bringing in 10 from Myanmar.

Issues include the longer time it takes for a male helper's work permit to be approved, the fact that he cannot be transferred to another family and families' reservations regarding living arrangements.

"If there are women living in the house, families are not comfortable with a male helper also staying under the same roof," said Homekeeper general manager Mark Chin.

The role of live-in male helpers is to take care of elderly men, who might be too heavy for female maids to lift. They are paid around $600 a month, compared with around $2,000 for a male nurse.

A Manpower Ministry (MOM) spokesman said there are around 30 male helpers here, and applications to bring them in are "very rare" and allowed only in "exceptional situations". There are more than 200,000 female maids here.

Last year, Homekeeper decided to bring in more male helpers after saying there was a strong demand for them to take care of elderly men who may be bedridden, given the ageing population. But it found that getting approval for a helper would take one to three months.

Families who wanted a male helper were willing to wait in the beginning, but as their needs grew more urgent, they became more impatient, Mr Chin said. Sometimes, prospective employers had to seek the help of their Members of Parliament to try to get the applications approved, he added. But this is only part of the problem.

One 32-year-old male helper from Myanmar decided to return home after four months because the job was not what he had ex-pected. He thought he would only be taking care of the elderly man he was attached to, but he was asked to do housework as well.

He could not be transferred to another family because MOM approves work permits for male helpers only on a case-by-case basis.

Homekeeper chose to bear the return expenses for the male helpers who wanted or needed to be repatriated. Out of the 10 male helpers the firm brought in, six have left.

The owner of employment agency JRS Business Express, who did not want to be named, said she has brought in one or two male helpers, adding that the application process is "quite tough".

As for families who hope to hire male helpers, Mr Chin said his firm will still bring them in, but on an ad-hoc basis.

Post by The Straits Times.

Timely help for father and son
By Jalelah Abu Baker, The Straits Times, 14 Sep 2014

When his 81-year-old father was diagnosed with dementia four years ago, Mr Richard Ashworth tried to take care of him on his own.

The 60-year-old found that he could not cope.

He hired two female maids, one after another, but his father, a man of substantial physique, would sometimes get violent, or try to touch them, without knowing what he was doing.

So, when Mr Ashworth read a Straits Times report last year on Homekeeper bringing in male helpers, he called the company. Now, Mr Laminn Koko, from Myanmar, has become a vital part of the family - an uncommon success story for Homekeeper's push to bring in male helpers. The 24-year-old showers Mr Ashworth's father, Mr John Ashworth, cleans him up after he goes to toilet and even continues his cross-stitching for him at the Jurong condominium where they stay.

"Without Koko's help, I cannot manage," Mr Ashworth said, breaking down as he recalled the emotional strain he went through when having to take care of his father, who had adopted him, alone.

He also has a slipped disc, which would cause him pain whenever he had to shower his father. "Koko has made my life so much easier."

The helper works from 6.30am to 8pm, after which Mr Ashworth takes over.

But Mr Koko admits he had second thoughts and had even decided to leave after paying off the fees he owed a Myanmar recruiting agency.

"At first, I will get angry. But then, I breathe, and tell myself I must understand that Uncle John is sick," he told The Sunday Times. With the help of a dictionary, he has picked up English.

When his own mother suffered a stroke earlier this year, Mr Koko went back to Myanmar. Mr Ashworth feared that his helper would not return, but he did.

When asked whether he will go back to Myanmar when his contract ends next August, Mr Koko said: "I don't want to go. If I go, who will take care of Uncle John?"