The Domestic Help Dilemma

Abhishek Bachchan’s latest IDEA ad preaches that childbirth should not disrupt a woman’s career. She could use video conferencing facilities to monitor nannies and house cleaners back at home, enabling her to continue with her office work. Is it as easy and simple as it appears? Most women would disagree. It is not that simple. The major hurdle in such an arrangement is getting a good household help.

Nowadays several agencies offer trained domestic help. In the age of nuclear families wherein one no longer has the luxury of the doting grandparents watching over the children, such support systems certainly turn out be much more convenient. Wouldn’t you prefer a well-mannered, educated nanny to take care of your kids, and train them with the right set of do’s and don’ts rather than a bai watching TV, leaving your child unkempt and unfettered?

There is an alarming increase of thefts in the city as well, and the credit goes to some of these part time maids, who have successfully formed a crime network. They steal and pass on the stolen items to the pawn brokers. Pawnbrokers are also under scrutiny, as they do not verify the actual source of a stolen ornament. There is no way to retrieve a stolen item even if one lodges a police complaint. This is exactly what happened with one of my colleagues recently. She had employed a maid, who claimed that the apartment security guard had sent her. My colleague did not bother doing a domestic help background check. Just a week in the house and there was a theft in the house. She had guests at home for a week and the maid grabbed the opportunity and stole her guest’s jewelry. My colleague lodged a complaint with the police. Attempted to call and locate the maid. The maid had simply disappeared. Later she was informed that the same maid had duped many in the colony. Moreover, no one could do anything about it. So that sums up the sad state of domestic help in the Indian cities. Now she is determined not to keep any house help without getting a complete background check done. It is a case of once bitten, twice shy.

Domestic help crimes cases have continued to increase and occupy a major chunk of the newspaper dailies. Incidents such as these – maid steals debit card – withdrawing lakhs of rupees, planned crimes by house help couples, murders etc. have become commonplace. Nevertheless, who is aiding these people to continue in such a manner? Who is to be blamed? It is “we.” We want to hire house help, pay them five hundred rupees for the month, expect complete loyalty and sincerity, and thereby end up losing much more.

It is a much better and safer option therefore, to hire house help/nannies/drivers from trustworthy agencies that provide verified and trained employees. They do come at higher price but with the promise of trust and safety. There are some reputed providers or platforms like GetDomestic Help.com and Babajob.com. These companies have a good track record of providing trained and verified individuals who help in making your life happier and stress free.