Maids-Cooks-Child Care -Nannying-Au-pairs...why do we mix this all together and expect some wonderful, high servicing super nanny/housekeeper? The employment of staff here in the Middle-East is contentious at best! Most families, working couples and even single business professionals require structured support in just being able to survive here in Dubai! Families, without their immediate (family)support structure, can find it increasingly difficult to manage and juggle daily life.....thats why its great to have domestic assistance, and child care when required....but lets map this out, and not clump everything together believing that what we have is Super Nanny/Mary Poppins. When you consider a full time maid, (primarily from Asia and Africa)...you need to consider whether or not you have the motivation, and persistence in training her in your routine, the basics of household management, and installing confidence in how best to manage looking after your kids in your absence. Just because a woman (housemaid )has given birth to her own children, this does not make her have the basics of great social skill sets , nor understand the cultural and societal differences in child minding, child safety, and child rearing. Varying nationalities may have opposite child care princliples, and being British, American, Dutch, French etc etc, certainly does not qualify us for being the best or leading the way in child care. WE all have much to learn in how we have to integrate, encourage, motivate, and ultimately support the very person we engage to look after our children. Assuming! that most families are really looking for housecleaning, assistance in meal times, and looking after kids from school, and nights of baby-sitting ...here is what we recommend. 1. Establish a work charter immediately you engage your new employee.clearly define the role i.e.: 40% cleaning, 60% child care 2.Clearly define working routine into AM/PM and Evening Baby sitting.....then allocate 4 hours housecleaning, lunch/rest, then afternoon assistance with Kids, after school activities, meal time, bed time etc etc...... 3.Write your own guide of reminders/pointers/presentation..even take photos of the sofa/bed in how exactly you prefer the room to be left after cleaning/how you like your cushions etc....this will save time ! 4.Spend the next 30 days training and supervising, and evaluating . Set up everything so that each day you give her defined duties, responsibilities, and then when you come back, give time to check her work, or listen to feedback from her. This is the exact time to request she finishes this properly, and the exact time to give her positive and negative feedback...do not delay, and have feelings festering..... Managing staff is not an easy thing to do, but its a lot better with clear defined working charter......!
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 07:24:45 +0000
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