How to hire a Lao maid/nanny in CR?

[ChaangNoi]

We had to fire our last maid/nanny becasue she showed up drunk to watch our 1 year old son plus a bunch of other older problems. After talking with many people we were told that Lao girls are often the best. The Thai lady who we fired did not really care as she was getting 300 Baht a day for 8 hours and that was not a significant amount I guess.

Anyway we were told that we could go to the Labor Office and give them our name as we were looking to hire someone. However once we got there we were told they only offer this service for Thai people.

Ideally we would like someone to stay here full time. We have detached maid's building with a private bedroom and bathroom. How could we go about hiring someone and what would be a good rate of pay since housing and food would be covered?

The job would be basic cleaning of the house and keeping an eye on the kids while we are away.

Also I'm not set on Lao but I'm going to be cautious with Thai, Hill Tribe or Burmese as I have heard many bad stories.

Thanks.

Oh, the Lady MUST have a legal passport and work permit. My wife will be happy to help them with sorting out the work permit assuming they are in the country legally.

[ChaangNoi]

Because of the lack of replies I'm going to assume this is not as easy or common as my wife was lead to believe.

[pomchop]

I just sent an email to a Thai lady who is head of english department at CR high school....the kids just graduated this week and maybe one of the new grads might be interested? I'll let you know if any luck. What area do you live?

[ChaangNoi]

Just east of the new bypass road headed to Wiang Chai. So about 4 km outside of CR.

Thanks.

[pomchop]

Just east of the new bypass road headed to Wiang Chai. So about 4 km outside of CR.

Thanks.

OK my friend has some people interested... I have sent you a PM with the information...good luck

[AjarnP]

I just escaped from yet another trip to hospital in Chiang Mai. The cleaning maid, not the nursing staff, we're all Thai Yai hailing from Sipsong Panna.

The surprising part of the story is that when I asked them what salary they were receiving they answered very clearly 300 Baht/Day. It Wasn't so long ago that imported (transient?) workers were not given the same salary and privileges as their local cousins which led to heir employment in the first place.

Definitely need to start factoring these numbers into the new budget. Unless of course we need Minnie's, in which case the old peanut rates will probably suffice.

[AjarnP]

Sorry, I meant monkies, not minnies

[ChaangNoi]

What would be the going rate for this type of work? thx

[AjarnP]

Local visages and Hill Tribe folks can normally be hired for around 250Baht/day for light or menial tasks, grass cutting, brush clearing that kind of thing.

The official Labour Department rate is three hundred per day but there are others considerations. eg. If you feed and/or house your maid or worker the regulations permit you to deduct the costs from sslary including electric and water consumption.

The downside (cost-wise) is that to make such a foal employment arrangement the the maid is also eligible for overtime. Overtime is calculated at 150% hourly rate for weekdays and 200%!on Sundays Public Holidays are 300%

There was a policy a few years ago that permitted the employer to employ for a specific contract period to avoid dome costs, mainly severance pay (redundancy). That was soon scuttled though when regs were clarified to state that anyone employed for a period in excess of 119 days was automatically deemed to be "permanent" and thus paid in full for everything.

Edited March 6, 2015 by AjarnP

[ChaangNoi]

Hmm, just doing some math in my head if they stay 24 hours and live here I could be paying 40 to 50k a month. That honestly seems a bit high and understand why all the locals around here hire illegal Burmese.

I'm trying to do this the legal way but it might just be better to hire two people and have them come in shifts. That would save massively on overtime costs.

[AjarnP]

Regs state that overtime is calculated at the %'s I have before. Hourly rate is deemed to be 1/240th of monthly.

[ChaangNoi]

Was reading this at the BBC "The country training people to leave" http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31762595

And was thinking about all the adds for 15,000 a month for Filipino teachers. That might be the way to go, and hey extra tutor for the kids?

I just wonder, would I be able to get them a work permit.

Edited March 9, 2015 by ChaangNoi

[angiolo]

My Burmese g/f cleans house to perfection No work permit needed.

[ChaangNoi]

My Burmese g/f cleans house to perfection No work permit needed.

I'm not sure if my wife would be okay with me getting a Burmese g/f but I will bring it up

But seriously we were able to find a Thai lady who has evidently gone for training to do this sort of work. She was working for a cleaning company that is down sizing so it works out.

We will not get her 24/7 but she is willing to be flexible when we want to go out at night.

Thanks everyone.

[AjarnP]

Thank you Chaang Noi

I find it very refreshing when posters bring their original post to a conclusion.

[smiles793]

This has been a very interesting read.

If you don't mind me asking, if your wife is Thai, why not just work through her personal and family connections?

[ChaangNoi]

This has been a very interesting read.

If you don't mind me asking, if your wife is Thai, why not just work through her personal and family connections?

Family and friends tend to act like family and friends, not like a good workers. Also most of her family and friends are educated and well traveled. Why be a maid for 300 baht a day when you could live/work in Australia?

We did try this with one of her friends aunts but it was not something that worked out. She showed up drunk to watch a baby who was about 1 years old. Not what we find acceptable. Also she was not very respectful and over all lazy.

Anyway so far we are really happy with the lady who we have working for us now. She seems really happy as well so it seems to be a good fit. The only thing I wish that would change is that she would be here 24/7 but she is flexible enough to spend the night when we need to go out. However just going for a quick dinner with just the wife still never seems to happen.

Soon after we got the current maid the lady who owns the company that did our lawn work brought over an 18 year old Burmese girl who did have all the correct working documents. We would have given her a shot as she would have been happy to stay in the maids living area and be here 24/7 but we had already committed. I have no idea if she would have worked out or not. Partly because I wonder how well my wife would deal with a younger lady being around 24/7, seems like it might be asking for trouble.

[smiles793]

Thanks for the clarification. I wasn't suggesting employing her relatives and friends as housemaids, but using the family and friends network to find a good solution, whether that be locating a trustworthy employee, or shared childcare. Anyway, glad to hear you found an acceptable solution.

[ChaangNoi]

Oh, well in the end my wife was the one who found the two. I thought I'd try here but it was not as effective as my wife.

[villagefarang]

We tried several times before giving up on finding a maid. They always ended up being more trouble than they were worth. We did get lucky with a neighbor who is our full-time gardener, however. She keeps the plants looking good and is great with our Golden Retriever, taking her for walks when we go into town. She likes working outdoors and doesn’t want to do housework, unfortunately.

[ChaangNoi]

We tried several times before giving up on finding a maid. They always ended up being more trouble than they were worth. We did get lucky with a neighbor who is our full-time gardener, however. She keeps the plants looking good and is great with our Golden Retriever, taking her for walks when we go into town. She likes working outdoors and doesn’t want to do housework, unfortunately.

We lived in Chanthaburi for a while and had a great maid who was ethnically Cambodian. We really wanted her to move up here with us but she did not want to be so far away from family. We have had 2 really good maids out of 6. We have kids so it is really helpful to have one and for us it was worth the trouble.

I do know other people who have had a higher turn over rate than myself and was always worried we would never find a good one again but I think we got lucky. That was mostly because of my wife just being really friendly to everyone and getting to know the maid before she worked for us. I did not know this at the time but the maid was being sought out by different households in the area for work. She picked us and I'm sure it was because my wife is seen as kind.

[cgphuket]

or pay a decent wage and get a Thai person?

[ChaangNoi]

or pay a decent wage and get a Thai person?

Thanks for the very helpful suggestion.

[LburtonL]

my thai nanny who those everything I mean everything,stay with us,get 15 000 per month and get every sunday off

Edited May 5, 2015 by LburtonL

[LburtonL]

my son 5 years old

I have a big house 3 bedroom on two floor with a huge garden that she love to take care .... also a zoo 4 dogs,4 cats, fishhhhhhh, 3 lovebirds and 2 sugar glider

Edited May 5, 2015 by LburtonL