What Should I Pay My Maid/nanny?

[peregrine8]

Hello

I am going to start interviewing maids this week and need some advice on what to offer. I am hoping to find a live in maid/cook. So how much to start with an english speaking live in maid/cook, english speaking live in maid, just a day cook or a day nanny (who will have to help me with 5 kids and a baby on the way)? Is there any additional questions I should ask her that I am unaware since I am new to the country? What is a normal work week here? How many hours a day is a normal work day?

Any info would be really appreciated. If any of you are about to leave and have a maid, nanny or cook that needs a job I would definitely be interested.

Thanks Peregrine8

[kurnell]

I pay my live in nanny/maid 9k + food. She is Thai. Burmese will work for less.

[patklang]

mine is about 15,000 a month

[peregrine8]

mine is about 15,000 a month

Is she both a maid and a cook?

[patklang]

she does everything

[angiud]

I pay my live in nanny/maid 9k + food. She is Thai. Burmese will work for less.

Yeah, and Zimbabwe for much less.

[jumnien]

Our nanny/maid gets 11-12k.

[yeti]

A normal work day would be 08:00 - 17:00, but it depends on you, and on how easy it is for her to get to your house (if she is not live in). Most people would expect 6 days/week.

[peregrine8]

Thank you everybody for your replies. It seems that the several maids I had to interview all have found jobs already. I was hoping to find one by march 1 but it is not looking good.

Thanks Again\

Peregrine8

[Sandstone Art]

I pay my live-in maids from Burma 8,500 baht each / month. One rest day a month.

They work like 8.00am to 7.00pm but some rest in between. Duties includes washing my children's clothings, bathing them, preparing 3 meals for the children ( less than 3 yrs old ).

Washing and ironing my clothings. General house keeping.

I also supply all their toiletries and pay for work-permit. Addtional bonus for Songkran and small gifts every now and then.

..........

You need to define what are the actual duties before determine the salary. Different household has different duties.

Also how many maids are you employing to help you take care of 5 kids and another baby on the way. Age of all the children are important considerations because they need more attention and care too.

ps

Maids are easy to find.

GOOD and HONEST maids are very rare and hard to come by!

Wishing you good luck to find a good and helpful maid.

[madjbs]

Wow, it is amazing that people are paying so much for a maid. Live in Burmese maids regularly get 4000-5000 a month, 15000 is crazy, that is the salary for a university graduate!

[peregrine8]

I pay my live-in maids from Burma 8,500 baht each / month. One rest day a month.

They work like 8.00am to 7.00pm but some rest in between. Duties includes washing my children's clothings, bathing them, preparing 3 meals for the children ( less than 3 yrs old ).

Washing and ironing my clothings. General house keeping.

I also supply all their toiletries and pay for work-permit. Addtional bonus for Songkran and small gifts every now and then.

..........

You need to define what are the actual duties before determine the salary. Different household has different duties.

Also how many maids are you employing to help you take care of 5 kids and another baby on the way. Age of all the children are important considerations because they need more attention and care too.

ps

Maids are easy to find.

GOOD and HONEST maids are very rare and hard to come by!

Wishing you good luck to find a good and helpful maid.

How do I find these maids? My kids range from 13 to 3yr so I will only need help with the 2 youngest and the one on the way. I am wanting 1 live in maid/cook and then a day nanny ( I also homeschool). I have called several agencies and they charge a lot. Having a large family of 7 (soon to be 8) I do not want to pay 12000.00 to 15000.00 per helper especially a live in who is getting free room and board. If you guys know of anyone available please PM me or email me direct at [email protected]. We move into our permanent house Feb 28. So I am needing to find one to start Mar. 1. I am starting to get a little overwhelmed and am not sure how I am going to be able to homeschool and take care of all the daily household chores.

Thanks Peregrine8

[Sandstone Art]

Wow, it is amazing that people are paying so much for a maid. Live in Burmese maids regularly get 4000-5000 a month, 15000 is crazy, that is the salary for a university graduate!

Crazy as it may sound, I do not judge a maid and pay her according to her Nationality.

I see what she can do and how best she can work and reward her with a reaonable salary package.

Such reasonable remunerations comes with the responsiblities that she under-take.

Results of how my children grow up and their health speaks for her work.

The house cleanliness and my clothings wash clean and well ironed is all her testimony.

Edited February 11, 2009 by Sandstone Art

[Sandstone Art]

I pay my live-in maids from Burma 8,500 baht each / month. One rest day a month.

They work like 8.00am to 7.00pm but some rest in between. Duties includes washing my children's clothings, bathing them, preparing 3 meals for the children ( less than 3 yrs old ).

Washing and ironing my clothings. General house keeping.

I also supply all their toiletries and pay for work-permit. Addtional bonus for Songkran and small gifts every now and then.

..........

You need to define what are the actual duties before determine the salary. Different household has different duties.

Also how many maids are you employing to help you take care of 5 kids and another baby on the way. Age of all the children are important considerations because they need more attention and care too.

ps

Maids are easy to find.

GOOD and HONEST maids are very rare and hard to come by!

Wishing you good luck to find a good and helpful maid.

How do I find these maids? My kids range from 13 to 3yr so I will only need help with the 2 youngest and the one on the way. I am wanting 1 live in maid/cook and then a day nanny ( I also homeschool). I have called several agencies and they charge a lot. Having a large family of 7 (soon to be 8) I do not want to pay 12000.00 to 15000.00 per helper especially a live in who is getting free room and board. If you guys know of anyone available please PM me or email me direct at [email protected]. We move into our permanent house Feb 28. So I am needing to find one to start Mar. 1. I am starting to get a little overwhelmed and am not sure how I am going to be able to homeschool and take care of all the daily household chores.

Thanks Peregrine8

May I know which province you are staying?

Usually, by word of mouth recommendation is the best.

If you are in northern part, I can give you some references.

[ArtfulD]

Too many farangs have a guilt complex about maid wages and pay way over the odds to make themselves feel better....Then like to portray those paying a rate more inline with Thai wage averages given education/skills etc as slave drivers.

[peregrine8]

I pay my live-in maids from Burma 8,500 baht each / month. One rest day a month.

They work like 8.00am to 7.00pm but some rest in between. Duties includes washing my children's clothings, bathing them, preparing 3 meals for the children ( less than 3 yrs old ).

Washing and ironing my clothings. General house keeping.

I also supply all their toiletries and pay for work-permit. Addtional bonus for Songkran and small gifts every now and then.

..........

You need to define what are the actual duties before determine the salary. Different household has different duties.

Also how many maids are you employing to help you take care of 5 kids and another baby on the way. Age of all the children are important considerations because they need more attention and care too.

ps

Maids are easy to find.

GOOD and HONEST maids are very rare and hard to come by!

Wishing you good luck to find a good and helpful maid.

How do I find these maids? My kids range from 13 to 3yr so I will only need help with the 2 youngest and the one on the way. I am wanting 1 live in maid/cook and then a day nanny ( I also homeschool). I have called several agencies and they charge a lot. Having a large family of 7 (soon to be 8) I do not want to pay 12000.00 to 15000.00 per helper especially a live in who is getting free room and board. If you guys know of anyone available please PM me or email me direct at [email protected]. We move into our permanent house Feb 28. So I am needing to find one to start Mar. 1. I am starting to get a little overwhelmed and am not sure how I am going to be able to homeschool and take care of all the daily household chores.

Thanks Peregrine8

May I know which province you are staying?

Usually, by word of mouth recommendation is the best.

If you are in northern part, I can give you some references.

I live in Bangkok. Any recommendations would be great.

Thanks Peregrine8

[skippybangkok]

Wow, it is amazing that people are paying so much for a maid. Live in Burmese maids regularly get 4000-5000 a month, 15000 is crazy, that is the salary for a university graduate!

AGREED !.

Graduates for non science even get lower, i.e. 9,000 to 12,000

If ur paying 15k for a maid, ur probably paying 150 baht for a bowl of Lad Na at a food stall

[JacknDanny]

Wow, it is amazing that people are paying so much for a maid. Live in Burmese maids regularly get 4000-5000 a month, 15000 is crazy, that is the salary for a university graduate!

If ur paying 15k for a maid, ur probably paying 150 baht for a bowl of Lad Na at a food stall

Wrong, you dont eat at food stalls when one is paying 15k for a maid

I dont understand why all this 'youre paying too much' crap.

I find that if you have a good maid or nanny, if you pay top bunce, then they will stay with you forever. You get what you pay for.

I have a live out maid who works 9am to 5pm, Mon to Sat. She does not look after my child, she just does household chores.

I pay her 8k per month. Could I get someone cheaper? Absolutely! But she is competant and trustworthy, and I know she is happy and will never leave. So why try to save a couple thousand baht to have someone in my house who is always on the look out for a better deal, or decides one day to start stealing.

Nannies, in my opinion are different, as they are looking after your children. When my son was younger, he had a nanny. 18K/ month!!!! But worth every baht. What price peace of mind, when your children are involved.

[popshirt]

Too many farangs have a guilt complex about maid wages and pay way over the odds to make themselves feel better....Then like to portray those paying a rate more inline with Thai wage averages given education/skills etc as slave drivers.

Of course the employee will accept the inflated wage, but then talk about the crazy farangs behind their backs!

[angiud]

There is a reasonable half way between guilt complex overpaid people and exploitation of workers (4000/5000)

[patklang]

Wow, it is amazing that people are paying so much for a maid. Live in Burmese maids regularly get 4000-5000 a month, 15000 is crazy, that is the salary for a university graduate!

If ur paying 15k for a maid, ur probably paying 150 baht for a bowl of Lad Na at a food stall

Wrong, you dont eat at food stalls when one is paying 15k for a maid

I dont understand why all this 'youre paying too much' crap.

I find that if you have a good maid or nanny, if you pay top bunce, then they will stay with you forever. You get what you pay for.

I have a live out maid who works 9am to 5pm, Mon to Sat. She does not look after my child, she just does household chores.

I pay her 8k per month. Could I get someone cheaper? Absolutely! But she is competant and trustworthy, and I know she is happy and will never leave. So why try to save a couple thousand baht to have someone in my house who is always on the look out for a better deal, or decides one day to start stealing.

Nannies, in my opinion are different, as they are looking after your children. When my son was younger, he had a nanny. 18K/ month!!!! But worth every baht. What price peace of mind, when your children are involved.

WRONG

The maid cooks all the food so why should i eat at a stall

durghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[madjbs]

I would say 7000 is the maximum fair wage for an English speaking live in maid/nanny. Any more than that and they will just think you are stupid and when they think you are stupid is when they start to take advantage, unfortunately.

For the person who thinks that 4000/5000 a month is "exploitation of workers", I am afraid you are being naive, huge amounts of people live off minimum wage, which works out at about 4500 a month (BKK). So 4000/5000 a month with the addition of free accommodation, food and daily consumables and a pleasant and safe environment is a very fair amount, many people would be willing to take that offer. At this price however, you can't expect any English abillitiy and they will be most likely Burmese.

For live out maids, you obviously need to pay a little higher, so around 8000 would be my maximum if it was a good maid I wanted to keep.

Edited February 12, 2009 by madjbs

[Sandstone Art]

Wow, it is amazing that people are paying so much for a maid. Live in Burmese maids regularly get 4000-5000 a month, 15000 is crazy, that is the salary for a university graduate!

If ur paying 15k for a maid, ur probably paying 150 baht for a bowl of Lad Na at a food stall

Wrong, you dont eat at food stalls when one is paying 15k for a maid

I dont understand why all this 'youre paying too much' crap.

I find that if you have a good maid or nanny, if you pay top bunce, then they will stay with you forever. You get what you pay for.

I have a live out maid who works 9am to 5pm, Mon to Sat. She does not look after my child, she just does household chores.

I pay her 8k per month. Could I get someone cheaper? Absolutely! But she is competant and trustworthy, and I know she is happy and will never leave. So why try to save a couple thousand baht to have someone in my house who is always on the look out for a better deal, or decides one day to start stealing.

Nannies, in my opinion are different, as they are looking after your children. When my son was younger, he had a nanny. 18K/ month!!!! But worth every baht. What price peace of mind, when your children are involved.

Full agree.

The price to pay for some peace of mind when you are outside is nothing compared to seeing your healthy and happy children when you get home.

If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

Like I said before, Good Maids are hard to come by!

[yeti]

I live in Bangkok. Any recommendations would be great.

Thanks Peregrine8

As another poster said, most people find their maid by word of mouth, so you can try to ask your new neighbors if they know someone for the job.

[Naam]

Too many farangs have a guilt complex about maid wages and pay way over the odds to make themselves feel better....Then like to portray those paying a rate more inline with Thai wage averages given education/skills etc as slave drivers.

Of course the employee will accept the inflated wage, but then talk about the crazy farangs behind their backs!

so what?! does it hurt the crazy farang?

[peregrine8]

Hello

I am going to start interviewing maids this week and need some advice on what to offer. I am hoping to find a live in maid/cook. So how much to start with an English speaking live in maid/cook, english speaking live in maid, just a day cook or a day nanny (who will have to help me with 5 kids and a baby on the way)? Is there any additional questions I should ask her that I am unaware since I am new to the country? What is a normal work week here? How many hours a day is a normal work day?

Any info would be really appreciated. If any of you are about to leave and have a maid, nanny or cook that needs a job I would definitely be interested.

Thanks Peregrine8

I finally found a live-in maid/cook that the whole family liked. We are paying 8000 a month. She is Burmese. She spoke better English then any of the other maids I talked to and was the only one who could cook a wide variety of food. She starts tomorrow. It will be nice to be able to focus on the kids and not the dirty house.

Thanks Peregrine8

[t.s]

There is a reasonable half way between guilt complex overpaid people and exploitation of workers (4000/5000)

how many children do you have on koh phan ngan anguid?

[angiud]

There is a reasonable half way between guilt complex overpaid people and exploitation of workers (4000/5000)

how many children do you have on koh phan ngan anguid?

A beautiful one

[torrenova]

Presuming that your live in maid has her own room and perhaps bathroom then you cannot get market "rate" for that as they would otherwise live in shared accommodation, perhaps sharing a bed with a communal bathroom for a number of rooms. They may pay around Bt1500 a month whereas your room would command perhaps 6k a month.

With food, it is generally accepted (from my and others many years asking) in the bar game that the girls spend about Bt100 a day on food. Of course if you are only earning 5k a month you cannot spend this but then you probably have some family type place to live and cook in the boonies. In the maid scenario, I would "price" food at perhaps Bt2000 or so a month.

No transport costs would see them saving perhaps Bt500 to Bt1000 a month.

So they have a live in "saving" of perhaps 4/5k if things like toiletries and other bits and bobs are included. Thus, a maid on Bt8k live in is actually on a live out salary of perhaps 13k.

I agree that a few baht extra and good working conditions is the way to go but daft stuff like 15k plus plus is giving a maid some 20-25k a month. Of course some "maids" are not maids at all. Heck, the Pattaya Mail nearly constantly has some old chap asking for a "maid" offering 15k I think and I have no doubt that she will be expected to spend far more time in the bedroom than the kitchen !

[Goinghomesoon]

uote]

How do I find these maids? My kids range from 13 to 3yr so I will only need help with the 2 youngest and the one on the way. I am wanting 1 live in maid/cook and then a day nanny ( I also homeschool). I have called several agencies and they charge a lot. Having a large family of 7 (soon to be 8) I do not want to pay 12000.00 to 15000.00 per helper especially a live in who is getting free room and board. If you guys know of anyone available please PM me or email me direct at [email protected]. We move into our permanent house Feb 28. So I am needing to find one to start Mar. 1. I am starting to get a little overwhelmed and am not sure how I am going to be able to homeschool and take care of all the daily household chores.

Thanks Peregrine8

To be honest, we pay ours the upper limit of the 12-15,000 mark. What we get for our money is quality waaaay above what any of my friends get for their 4,000 or 8,000 or even 10,000 baht a month:

- someone who can do everything for our family, important because I travel frequently, often at short notice, for work. She is cook, cleaner and parent rolled into one. She lives-in and usually works 5-6 days a week and 7 days a week when I am away for work.

- a responsible, educated, older woman with years of experience in a number of different jobs, not just as a nanny. Her most recent position was working for an international NGO on a child welfare program where she earned THB 24,000 a month. She left because she burnt out being faced with daily child abuse and trafficking cases.

- a helper fluent in 3 languages (Khmer, Thai, English) and conversational in at least 2 others. Since our family is multicultural, this was important to us.

- someone who values education, reading etc and puts this into practice. She does not allow youngest child to lay in front of the TV, she is constantly engaged with some hands-on activity-or-other. She is more than capable of supervising homework and is partly computer literate, can set up the computer and help daughter plays educational maths games and surf kiddies online sites without a problem.

- someone I trust 100%. New hubby, much as he loves his step-kids, is not yet at the point where he is confident handling everything in the house on his own.

I'm not making these points simply to show-off. At a higher paypoint range you simply find a far greater pool of talent. At a higher paypoint you should also be able to hire someone with some proper teaching or childcare training.

Edited March 2, 2009 by Goinghomesoon