Commentary: After COVID-19 labour crunch, do maids have more bargaining power?

This place employers on observe. Hiring requests can include weekends and public holidays away from, access to a Netflix account and, in one case, an right away stay with her partner on her birthday.

The common reaction is that these maids are asking for too much. And to be fair in order to employers, there are employees who will do what they can to dairy a situation geared in their favour.

But this is an excellent time to look much deeper into this issue. Inside my mind, it is not a bad thing that the balance associated with power has gradually shifted between service personnel and their companies. For too long, we have come to rely on a comparatively cheap source of labour and have treated all of them as such.

GREAT RESET HAS HIT HOUSEHOLDS TOO

The altering dynamic in families reflects broader shifts in work because the pandemic, from the great resignation wave to quiet quitting, where workers are taking on their bargaining strength. Companies, stretched simply by manpower crunches, are usually weighing outsourced, freelancer options; automation as well as role redundancy.

Probably employers should think along the same lines in reviewing their relationship with migrant domestic workers. Just like we are demanding increased pay, enhanced perks and better work-life balance, maids are asking for weekends off or to be compensated in lieu and getting their salaries credited on time.

Just as we expect some details at the workplace to be a given, so ought to maids. For example , we would assume the company we work for will not refuse us from using our own mobile phones, so why do some employers have limited phone policies for his or her helpers? And surely we would not stand for our managers shouting at us whenever we fall short of a function target or make a few mistakes.