禁漫天堂

Out in the province? Or the city? Makes a difference I believe.

We have our Piggery worker. She's a cousin by marriage. But she's married and they have two teenage kids too. She works 6 days a week and has the spare bedroom. She rarely eats with us, even invited. But we provide her meals. She also between hours not actually in the piggery, helps around the house. Doing dishes, sweeping, etc. But we also have another distant cousin, older woman whom comes 2 days per week to clean up around the property. Just light yard maintenance, sweeping, picking up dog poop, tending to some of the plants. And then we have my sis-in-law that comes two days a week. Covering in the piggery on the off day, and working the veg garden, helping in the sari-sari store when we leave the house, etc.

According to my wife, it's actually hard to find a good live-in maid here in the province. Young ones don't want to do that work, and are lazy. Older ones usually have a family to take care of. Funny though, OFW's do it all the time. Years at a time away from home/family. And they ain't getting rich.

Well we have had the same聽 housekeeper for several years. Along with time she has taken on more responsibility of her own initiative.

My wife & her will prepare a list for the wet market and she goes for us.

She now is a semi caretaker for my wife when it comes to medications. She makes sure my wife takes the right medications at the proper time and keeps an inventory of the meds.

She now is the closest thing to family without being family. She has her own private room, enjoys the same meals as us. She prepares many meals, also sometimes aiding my wife.

When we go to Landers she makes a list of things she needs in the household. She also goes to Landers with us and if we eat out she enjoys the same meals as us.

Seldom does she take time off 24/7, this is of her own choosing. Twice a year she visits family for about a week, we still pay the same wages. (P2,000 on the 3rd & P6,000 on the 19th.)

She is 41 years old, no children and single. She doesn't need instructions and is a self starter.

This post is AI free.

Thanks Larry.

We are in the province of La Union, some 5/6 hours drive north of Manila but still plenty of souls in the district. Some 400K in San Fernando City and our small town of Bacnotan 3/4 klicks away is around 45K

I remember you mentioning that lady that works in the piggery and you were very happy with her if my old timers didn't let me down.

The trust factor? Can you go on a month or 2 holiday and know everything is in safe hands? No uninvited guests/parties? Deal with bills and running the home if you are not around? Feed and care for loved dogs properly by western standards? PhilHealth and SSS? Family workers or an unknown quantity from a different Province?

Enough questions from me for now.

Cheers, Steve.

Thanks Bob.

Love the AI quip.

Cheers, Steve.

聽 聽 We have been thinking about getting a house keeper or an all around caretaker live in.What they are expected to do, conditions we supply, cooking and eating together, trust/boundaries etc.All input appreciated.Cheers, Steve.聽 聽 聽 聽 -@bigpearl

I guess we have a lot if experience in this so I will give it a shot:

1. If you hire a relative you will not have the distance that is required between employer and employee. Lacking that distance, what you have is a relative living with you and things they did for you are more of a favor. What you want is an employee who refers to you as "sir", not by your first name. Also, although theft is a common concern (more on that later), relatives especially may seem to have a sense of entitlement, being "family", thus helping themselves to various items in your house.

2. In our case, there is also the issue that my wife was once poor and there is a set of people who absolutely could never fit in our household because they could never view my wife as an actual employer but more of a "friend" who believes they can debate their responsibilities and discuss with you, frankly, about how they disgree with how you are running the house. These helpers are equal in standing with the employer and they will make sure you know that.

3. Be cautious (ie"avoid") hiring live-in maids who are married AND normally live with husbands. The husband can be a real pain since he has discussed the rights of domestic helpers with his buddies over Tanduay and try to squeeze every penny from you he can (but perhaps you cannot help because they have no official birth certificate); he is an uninvited partner, with her you get to deal with him and his demands for paid off days. Best to hire a separated woman whose children are grown up and even then I have had an older son demand 13th month, which contracted maids are entitled to under Kasambaya. However, if she has been with you only 6 months the payment is 6 months. It is payable on Christmas Eve, not the day they quit. So often people will quit to get a pile of money in a day but actually, you pay them what you owe them on the natural payday, and 13th month on Dec. 24. Our maids are always hired without contract and self-employed. It is very difficult for us to follow the official Kasambaya laws for treatment of contracted household help but we follow it as much as possible given our and their situation. We make sure they get the money to do PhilHealth and SSS but we cannot sign up for those on their behalf. Our employees are at will, they do not need to follow a contract and can quit at will. We can fire at will. Though not legally responsible for their PhilHealth and SSS payments, we offer then the money (there is always some reason that they cannot get it; so many are poor and are essentially undocumented), They usually want you to give them the contribution so they can make the payments but they never do I believe. If there is a husband in the picture he gets everything, Your maid may seem sweet and innocent and as a person she well may be but so many times the husband tells her to steal what she can and if course, always ask for raises. She makes him happy by bringing home some loot. The working wife is his ticket to alcohol and gambling money and the Phils has a sort of welfare system called P4. With that, they can still live without wife or husband working so they do not need the job "that" badly.

4. It is fine to have 1 female maid or 2 female maids but generally not 3 female maids. That is because 2 will become friends leaving the other one out. That one will usually quit after some arguments have taken place.

Good luck. If you hire men, I cannot that all of this applies but you may also find it difficult to find males who accept this kind of work.

Thanks Dan.

Appreciate your input very much, many wise words and taken onboard. We had 8 to 12 relatives working here for near 18 months, 8 onsite in the bunk house 6 days a week through construction and never a problem, Ben rubbed their egos and I was the boss/tutor. They lived in the bunkhouse and had great facilities so nary a problem, I think over that time we dumped 3 workers and were quickly replaced with yet more relatives as our construction site was a step up compared to what they were used to, the pay as well.聽 Mentioned in another post that 2 of those workers were earmarked as live-in workers as they were allrounders, building, digging trenches, cooking and cleaning, garden care, painting, trustworthy,,,,,, unfortunately they were both scared of dogs, even 9 week old puppies, simply froze if they ventured too close. Sad and not going to work for us.

A live in or 2 becomes part of the family and life in the home while reflecting on their station/obligations and responsibilities is聽 difficult to find I can see. Perhaps like others we will go through a few until we get a winner.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearl Got it Steve. We too had several workers around the house as construction workers adding on to the house for 14 months. However, these guys went home at the end of the day. For domestic help we typically employ two and sometimes 3 women and once a ladyboy, temporarily but never permanently. The domestic workers (maids) are part of the family and receive Christmas gifts and Birthday celebrations. Also, their fare is paid when going home for fiesta, family sickness etc..聽 And, although we usually try to get them Phil Health this rarely succeeds so we pay the bill ourselves. One time a maid got sick so we took her to the govt. hospital where the local Filipinos go. Stepping into the place would have been quite disgusting to any Westerner and we immediately left and I took her to Silliman Hospital (private) outpatient where she got treated properly. But for these things the employer pays; the worker has no money for that or the prescriptions but some selfish employers might deduct that from their pay. We actually have two houses so we often take one helper with us to our Siquijor home, along with a male relative, and the other maid stays in Valencia. That is where the 3rd maid comes in...so a helper is never left alone in our houses. We rotate their duties when traveling between homes and also when traveling to Cebu for shopping etc.. They do enjoy getting out of the house a bit as well.

聽 聽 Thanks Larry.
We are in the province of La Union, some 5/6 hours drive north of Manila but still plenty of souls in the district. Some 400K in San Fernando City and our small town of Bacnotan 3/4 klicks away is around 45K
I remember you mentioning that lady that works in the piggery and you were very happy with her if my old timers didn't let me down.
The trust factor? Can you go on a month or 2 holiday and know everything is in safe hands? No uninvited guests/parties? Deal with bills and running the home if you are not around? Feed and care for loved dogs properly by western standards? PhilHealth and SSS? Family workers or an unknown quantity from a different Province?

Enough questions from me for now.

Cheers, Steve.
聽 聽

聽 聽 -@bigpearl

We took off twice leaving her/them to care for the house, dogs, piggery, open the store. In those cases my wife's mom stays here. We trust they won't burn it down or sell the pigs, or cook my dog. We don't expect the store to be perfect. But not business destroyed either. But those trips have only been 4-6 days.

We do not expect them to be successful in "managing" anything. At least not to the same standards we do. Nor do we expect them to pay any particular bills, as we take care of that already. But again, we've only been away a few days at a time. We wouldn't do 30 days! lol. But we also don't worry about "partying" or massive theft. Though there may be a Red Horse or two unaccounted for in the store. We don't watch them "that close", by choice. They are family workers.

@Larry Fisher We trust they won't burn it down or sell the pigs,

or cook my dog.

I see you have them trained quite well. Rover must be happy woof woof 馃槃

Good idea BP .. and a helpful forum topic. Great responses.

Right at the start, suggest you make clear your House Keeper

is yours, then also for your household. You've earned spoiling.

Second you will always require calmness and polite friendship.

Third, be clear they and their family can never inherit anything.

Explain when you clock-out, a new owner will decide their jobs.

Cheers

Third, be clear they and their family can never inherit anything.
Explain when you clock-out, a new owner will decide their jobs.

Cheers
聽 聽

聽 聽 -@Lost in Fiji

Just to put things in perspective, it is doubtful that any maid you hire would ever presume she could inherit anything from you, and she would obviously know she was without an employer at that point. I want to make this point because I do not want the casual reader to think it is common for maids here to be involved in inheritance battles or conspiracies etc. etc., there is no such drama. It is possible that any relatives-in-law that you have working for you (not recommended) might feel that way, empowered by their close relationship but your best and only answer to relatives fighting over your estate is a will.

@bigpearl where A RE YOU LOCATED

Thanks Dan,

Agree, its unlikely. But I know of a local case whereby a somewhat senile expat

made written promises to give various workers property etc when they croaked,

then promptly forgot.聽 Inheritance and wills can be quite tricky things apparently?

"Philippine Estate Laws"

Ref:

What does Philippine Law mandate regarding inheritances?

Philippine law determines who your heirs are.

Philippine law defines the proportion of the estate that your heirs receive.

The only way an heir can be disinherited is though a court case.

The proportion heirs receive cannot be changed

If an heir passes away before the estate owner, it is possible that his children may receive the portion allocated to him due to what is called 鈥渢he right of representation鈥�.

Illegitimate children are also heirs.

Even if you create a will, you can only dispose of the so-called free portion while the rest is allocated by law.

Wills require a court process called probate that validates the will.

The fastest court cases take 1 year.

People often ask who heirs are and what proportion they are entitled to. They often want to change the heirs or the amounts. If they do this though, the entire estate can be questioned and a will can be overturned.

So, to reiterate.

Philippine law determines your heirs and the amount they receive. You cannot change these mandatory heirs or the proportion received although you may dispose of a free portion through a will.

You must craft your estate with these legal restrictions in mind.

--

聽 聽 @bigpearl where A RE YOU LOCATED
聽 聽

聽 聽 -@tequilajordan23

La Union.

Cheers, Steve.

Dann, words of wisdom. Don't want any helpers inside the house but will need a gardener at some point. I will never hire relatives. I enjoy their company but not to live with.

My relatives will be about 500 yards away am i in for a bumpy ride

聽 聽 My relatives will be about 500 yards away am i in for a bumpy ride
聽 聽

聽 聽 -@renegadesric529

Could be, depends on the ground rules as well as the relatives. I hear many problems from expats that live too close to family and worse in a family compound, not all but many.

I read all this on expat sites 10/12 years ago as well as first hand chatting to expats living here.

We chose/I chose to be away from family, only 35/40 minutes by car but for them tricycle, Jeepney and a further tricycle, 75 to 90 minutes travel as well as the fares........ we don't see them here often and mostly when we go there to visit.

I think the thing is to set boundaries from the beginning whether family or workers.

Cheers, Steve.

聽 聽 Thanks Dan,
Agree, its unlikely. But I know of a local case whereby a somewhat senile expat
made written promises to give various workers property etc when they croaked,
then promptly forgot.聽 Inheritance and wills can be quite tricky things apparently?

"Philippine Estate Laws"

Ref:

What does Philippine Law mandate regarding inheritances?


Philippine law determines who your heirs are.
Philippine law defines the proportion of the estate that your heirs receive.

The only way an heir can be disinherited is though a court case.

The proportion heirs receive cannot be changed

If an heir passes away before the estate owner, it is possible that his children may receive the portion allocated to him due to what is called 鈥渢he right of representation鈥�.

Illegitimate children are also heirs.

Even if you create a will, you can only dispose of the so-called free portion while the rest is allocated by law.

Wills require a court process called probate that validates the will.

The fastest court cases take 1 year.

People often ask who heirs are and what proportion they are entitled to. They often want to change the heirs or the amounts. If they do this though, the entire estate can be questioned and a will can be overturned.

So, to reiterate.

Philippine law determines your heirs and the amount they receive. You cannot change these mandatory heirs or the proportion received although you may dispose of a free portion through a will.

You must craft your estate with these legal restrictions in mind.

--
聽 聽

聽 聽 -@Lost in Fiji

Sure but;

Everybody knows this material.聽 It is not rocket science and for sure I will not have a snooze fest addressing each boring point, one at a time. There is no drama in hired help here as in the movies. But thank you for your comments.

Some points that we all know but a reminder, never put money into the Philippines if you can't afford/don't want to lose it, if you can enjoy.

Never trust a so called attorney here, do your own research/due diligence and do it very well, I can give examples but won't bore you.

Hired help as well as relatives/freeloaders have to follow the house rules set by the employer/owner and that goes for relatives, perhaps why we don't see many.

Don't get too involved with neighbours, cut you down, use you, tsismis etc.

Don't get too friendly with hired help.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

All this talk about family.

I have three stepsons, one in the UK and the other two living with us. They are all responsible adults, my wife and I would be lost without them.

The older we get (Wife & I) the less we can do and become more dependent on them. With us residing in Metro Manila is different than others living in the countryside.

When I was younger I was able to handle problems, now my stepsons handle all the problems, less stress on me.

They handle all the problems and red tape, they approach the problems with a Filipino mindset, while I would have approached the problems with a bull rush and that doesn't work in the Philippines.

That's nice Bob as they are direct family makes a big difference as opposed to the uncle or nephew living 2 doors up.

Different but similar my better half in his early 30's does the same for me and appreciated.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearl

thanks for the heads up on that pal

Well Members we did it, employed a caretaker almost 4 months ago and has been fantastic, turns out it was one of our labourers here that was petrified of dogs,,,,,, they taught him well and he spends as much time with them as we do, feeding, bathing, walking them,,,,,, they are almost fully grown Labs now and they taught him to give orders and commands, all that aside.

A 20 y/o single man that does everything and a self starter and doesn't stop, some times Ben or occasionally I ask him to do xyz and never a problem and in all honesty the house which is large has never been cleaner, rare these days for me to cook or do dishes so I get lazier. Great in the garden and is in control of composting as well as the nasty job of cleaning up after the dogs and burying it deep. The vacuum cleaner and mop have never had such a work out, the glass windows have never been cleaner and is easy to share our home with him. Apparently according to most we overpay him at P400 per day and we pay his PhilHealth every 3 months,,,,,, like most for some reason is not interested in SSS. He has his own A/C B/R with ensuite, TV, Cignal and wireless internet.

I asked Ben after a month why doesn't he go home on his day off? I am told that he lives in the Fishermans village, his family is very poor and he shares a tiny room with 2 siblings. Before we employed him Ben had a meeting with his father and grandmother with our worker and set out the ground rules to him and his family and his father thanked Ben for giving him the opportunity to get ahead and told his son not to muck up. He and Ben went and opened a bank account for him so he could save his excess money, I'm sure he contributes to his family as well. Well so far so good and only time will tell.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearl i wanna aplly

@bigpearl hi i wanna apply

聽 聽 @bigpearl hi i wanna apply
聽 聽

聽 聽 -@Niollette

Thanks for the interest but we still have the same worker and best thing we ever did 7 months ago.

Cheers, Steve.