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Retaining housemaids proves difficult for Jakartans
Jakartans and most people living in big cities are known to be dependent on domestic workers to do house chores
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Jakartans and most people living in big cities are known to be dependent on domestic workers to do house chores.
Therefore, the Idul Fitri holiday, which provides a chance for domestic helpers to return to their hometowns, becomes an issue, as many housemaids refuse to return to the family they are employed by for a number of reasons, mostly to pursue better fortunes in other places.
Such a situation forces families to seek new maids, which is not an easy task, due to trust issues.
Juniardy Saputra Tanurrezal, 22, is among the Jakartans currently without a housemaid.
“She left because someone gave her an opportunity to operate a warteg [ food stall] in her hometown,” said Juniardy, whose house is located in Bintaro, South Jakarta, adding that he met his former-housemaid — who had worked for his family for around a year — through relatives.
Echoing Juniardy, Thomas Ginting, 24, who lives in Kemang, South Jakarta, said his family found it hard to find a new and reliable housemaid after their last helper left three months ago owing to salary discontent.
Thomas said his family now preferred cleaning their house on their own.
“It usually takes a long time for a housemaid to settle in,” Thomas added.
Aside from doing house chores on their own, both Juniardy and Thomas agreed that hiring infal (temporary housemaids), was among solutions to the problem.
In Jakarta, many housemaid agencies also offer the service, such as the Dwi Asih and Siska Bina Lestari foundations. Both agencies told The Jakarta Post that customers were asked to pay their staff Rp 150,000 (US$11) to Rp 200,000 per day depending on chore difficulties.
Widya Wicaksana is a homemaker employing infal amid Idul Fitri celebrations. “I prefer infal because hiring them is cheaper than hiring live-in housemaids. I only use the service five to 10 times a month,” said the mother of two, who lives in Rawamangun, East Jakarta.
Aside from conventional temporary housemaids, there is a growing trend to use online cleaning services, including Go-Clean, Sapulidi Professional and tukangbersih.com.
Tukangbersih.com, for instance, offers cleaning services with fees ranging from Rp 149,000 to Rp 399,000 depending on the size of the residence and duration of work. Meanwhile, Go-Clean’s service fee is around Rp 40,000 per hour.
Herdyatmoko, who resides in Kalibata, South Jakarta, said he used online cleaning service providers, which he viewed as “safe and professional”. Previously, Herdyatmoko said he hired a live-in housemaid before she left to get married.
“My family has been using Go-Clean twice a month since March. Their service quality is higher than conventional temporary housemaids,” he said.
The stiff competition from online cleaning service providers has resulted in a demand drop at conventional agencies, including Dwi Asih.
“From the beginning of July, our total infal orders dropped to only around 120 orders from 150 last year,” said owner Jasman Tedjo Pamungkas on Friday.
In contrast, tukangbersih.com registered higher daily orders of around 20 during Idul Fitri, compared to 15 on normal days, while Sapulidi Professional saw an increase in orders by 30 to 40 percent in June and July. (adt)
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