your live in domestic's duties, wage and hours of work

[mrslonely@webmail.co.za]

i have a live in domestic, who after a year, still does not clean the way i want her too, she takes 2 hour lunches, cooks hot meals for lunch and supper. she goes off duty if she feels the house is clean enough at about 4pm, showers and then cooks a hot meal again for supper, then goes to her room (in our house) and by 6pm it's lights out??? help! not sure how to handle this situation as i really dont like confrontations! i have 3 little ones, 19 mths, 2 yr and 5 yr old. my hubby works overseas and only comes home for 3 wks every 3 months. so when she goes "off duty" i have to deal with screaming kids, who are hungry, needs to be bathed, make bottles and still feed all our pets on my own. we gave her a bed, bedding, the biggest room with lockable doors and a salary of R4000.... what do i do now? oh and she's not South African and her work papers expired recently... will i get into trouble? please if someone is so kind to advise me what to do?

[H-Bomb]

Sounds like she's on to a good deal. If her papers have expired and she no longer has permission to work in South Africa and you keep her on then I think you will be in trouble. Did you not draw up a contract when you employed her? Suggest you phone the Labour Dept. [just Google them for their contact details in your area] or Home Affairs and ask them what to do. You can tell her she has to leave because her permission to work in SA is no longer valid and if she refuses then report her to Home Affairs. There are plenty of local women who would jump at the chance of working for you.

[metalicblue]

There is somewhere between allowing a staff member to get away with nonsense and confrontations. It's quite simple. You tell her that you can no longer employ her and replace her. You are risking trouble with the law for someone that you feel is unsuitable.

I do not believe that you can expect a domestic to work day and night. It sounds like you are at home during the day so between you and your helper you can have the pets fed, kids bathed and fed, and bottles made by 17h30/18h00. At their ages they should be in bed by 19h00ish

A good way to find someone that you can get along with and works well is to take someone for a working interview, for a few days or a week, on the basis that she goes home on x date, in order for you to try another applicant. If the first one is hopeless you just thank her for coming on x date and that you will let her know. A few days later let her know that the position has been filled. In the meantime you try out the next best aplicant

You dictate the working hours, duties etc. so I am surprised that it took you a year to notice that she is unsuitable.

Put an ad on Gumtree; there are many ladies looking for a job. Let us know how it goes and good luck

[mrslonely@webmail.co.za]

thank u for your replies. i have taken the matter in my own hands and dealing with it accordingly. hope it all works out
will keep u posted in due course!

[H-Bomb]

It's good that you are taking control. Keep us informed.

[seeking God]

At the risk of sounding judgemental , i do hope that from now on you will choose someone locally and not someone from Zimbabwe or some other country. We have a huge unemployment rate in this country and people giving jobs to foreigners instead of locals is the reason we have xenaphobia issues in this country. Imagine you didnt have a job and had children to feed and foreigners were chosen over you. Zimbabweans and other foreigners are cowards they run away from their own screwed up countries instead of staying and fighting for their freedom like South africans do,We should not support them!

[Soonn]

What has God got to do with this?

[H-Bomb]

"Seeking God" is the name of the poster. In none of the actual posts is God referred to.

[mrslonely@webmail.co.za]

Hello all,

I've just read my previous post of my Nanny and realised that I gave the wrong salary amount it was R2000 p/m. but nevertheless, our girl has gone back to Malawi yesterday, due to illness in her family. She won't be back.

Just replying to comment regarding locals. I don't have a problem with employing South Africans, but after employing (with good ref), gosh, I think about 4 local Nanny/Domestic's, ALL of them were caught (by me) red-handed stealing either my kids nappies, clothing, etc. It just put local's on a bad page for me, sorry

I have 2 had Malawian ladies working for me so far and they were both trustworthy, we go away on holiday about 3-4 times a year and when we come back, the house is spotless, the animals are happy and healthy & our girl would stand ready to meet us with a smile, take the tired kids and still help unpack and start washing etc. So, please dont point finger at employers who need trustworthy and reliable people to work for them, even if they are not locals.


but enough of that, i am not here to complain, but to ask your help with employing a new Nanny/domestic.

I would love to go the "right" way in doing it this time, with a signed contract and all.

What would you recommend for a salary for a live in nanny? and meals?
What would you recommend for a salary for a sleep out nanny and how many meals? Hours for both live in and sleep out?
Expected job description on both?
Rate per hour or day?

I would really appreciate your input on this.

Regards
Mom-in-need