Certify to hire!

Back home when you wanted to hire a housekeeper or a part time help all you had to do was, talk to your neighbours or friends. Then the word of mouth spreads to others and at the end of the week you had at least three or four people wanting to be evaluated for the job. You then had the freedom to negotiate (read haggle), the monthly salary expectations with the new hire and usually you had a win lose deal… where you were the winner all the time. For starters, Indian maids work all days of the week ( except for my last one who expected a day off on Sundays, every other maid has worked 7 days a week). If you were like me, you would offer them a morning tea plus breakfast deal as well. I know of many families who dished out leftovers only to the maids, only after they suspected that the food was rotting.

It is a whole new experience to hire help here at Singapore. When we talked to an agent a friend referred to help us find someone to hire to work for us, they asked if we had completed our EOP for first time employer’s of FDW’s from the MOM? When  I was gathering my wits to tell them that I hadn’t understood what the acronyms were about, let alone completing anything, they offered to send me a detailed mail  which read like a “Wiki-How” post.

Here is the deal. We had to first certify from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) Singapore that we were a completely sane couple and capable of taking care of another human, responsibly, especially if she was not from our community or race. The ministry then pointed us to the Singapore Polytechnic (SP) that conducts a program both live and online for first time employers of Foreign Domestic Workers (FDW).  It is called the Employer Orientation program (EOP). The online course material which is formatted into an interesting ppt took about 90 minutes to complete. In the end there was a quiz to check our understanding and retention of the 90 minute material.

This was not all. Before we even applied to certify, we were asked for a Singpass. That again set us back by a few days to figure how the Singpass works. A link online helpfully directed us to a Singpass application website and all I needed was the Employment Pass (EP) or Foreign Identification Number (FIN) of the prospective employer. The Singpass, for the uninitiated, is a unique password that is allotted to every resident of Singapore to help access government services online.

When I got my Singpass, which took a couple of days to come by Singpost, I applied to the Singapore Polytechnic. They sent me a mail with another password to access the program online and a time frame by which I had to complete the program.  The experience can be compared to being back in college where you were anxious before exams. Imagine my elation when I was allowed to print an e-certificate claiming that I had completed the EOP.  Once I got done with that, the agency asked me to outline the jobs that I wanted help with at home. They sift through the profiles in their data bank and sent me a couple of profiles with the closest match to my requirements. I could choose maids who were proficient with taking care of new born, cooking, general house hold work or taking care of the elderly. There was no limit to the number of agencies that I could use to hire. The charges only applied when you decide on the hire.

Once we decided who we are interested to hire, they set up a meeting for us with the maid so that we could evaluate her in person. All this happened at the agent’s office. When we found our maid, the agent completed all the paper work related to work permits, insurance and then charged us for the cost of hire, cost of  the transfer of work permit from previous employer, medical insurance, accident cover and a government levy that all employers have to pay to the government every month.

The experience was vast and very blog worthy on my expat blog. So there you have it.