AED 2000 per month - Is this reasonable for a live-in helper?

Sounds like a very fair salary. As for what she is spending on food, it's probably because she is also feeding the boyfriend, that is not your responsibility.

Ladies - what do you think is reasonable for a live-in helper - 6 days per week, boyfriend allowed to stay at weekends, 1 flight home per year ( however she has had 2 flights each year for the last 2 years!) I will buy some food, rice etc, otherwise she buys own. Visa obviously too and medical. I am very interested in your thoughts and what others pay to see if I am somehow below market rate as my helper is now saying this is not enough and she is spending so much on food etc etc. thanks! crikey!! If she ever absconds (cause clearly you are being abusive), give me a call and I'll take that gig;)

1) depends how much experience maid has ie new to dubai or working here 10 years 2) size of your home (5 bed villa or 2 bed apt) and number if children, if any 3) 1 flight home a year. that's it. 4) give them fair but standard base salary (1500-1800 ideal in my opinion) and then small bonues each month as incentive (if they work hard, do a lot in a particular month, visitors in town). if you start off with a high salary, then there is no incentive to work hard. make them earn the money 5) NO men in the house at any time. i know families whose unmarried maids got pregnant (illegal, will be forced to leave) played house while they were gone, had parties, etc. Of course you want them to have a social life, just not at your home. 6) you can tell them to save receipts for food and reimburse them but set limit ie no more than 200aed a month and they can eat some of your food perhaps (bread, extra servings, etc)

you are in essence giving her 2600 a month all inclusive and that is very generous... though I question you giving her 600 for the food because she acquired an expensive taste so is wanting more money...

As mentioned earlier, everyone imposes different obligations and expects different things from their maids. From my previous experience in ME I figured out what is appropriate for our family (may be not for others). We hired unexperienced lady, who still haven't learned "local" tricks. Basic salary is 1500 (it is double of minimum salary for Sri Lankan) + bonus = 2000. It gives her a motivation to work honestly. It was mutual agreement before contract was signed, that she will have no days off, but on Friday she is no cleaning, but stays at home. Our previous maid had her days off and she brought to our house "bouquet of deseases" after this days off. Unfortunately, many of maids getting extra money from labourer guys... (no explanation...). Surly, it is not great idea to keep this person in my house, who may pass this bad stuff to my kids. If my maid need to go somewhere we always aware where and with whom she had gone. If she needs to buy anything - I do it for her (with limit, of course). After work her working hours she may visit her friends but she must be at home before 10 pm. We use to give a food allowance to our previous maid. She didn't want to spend this money for food - instead, she was buying cheap and rotten food, that couse stomach problem - you will end up paying doctors more, than you might spend for her food. Our decision - she may take and cook anything she wants from our fridge. She is cooking for all of us and she doesn't have to spend time and money for her own food. After all - storry about boyfriends. It is not a secret that maids sharing their stories with each other, sometimes they are not real, but they "good enough" to generate envy in others... One maid feels envy, because sponsor of other allowed her to have a boyfriend, get part time job and always gave her extra clothes, money etc. Envyous made simply reported the case to police - as a result - sponsor paid big fine, maid is in prison. The fine may reach 50,000 AED. Do you have extra 50,000? Don't let anyone misuse your kindness, but be fair - and maid will be your good friend. <em>edited by Mamanna on 18/01/2011</em>

To the OP The only think I would like to comment on is the boyfriend visit, it’s against the law make it very clear to her, we are not talking about a slap on the hand if the authorities find out the punishment is harsh.:\:

I think sometimes people want everyone to pay the same going rate for the maids so that there would not be any issues. but I think that in any job,you pay what you think the job is worth to you. Not all marketing managers get the same salary for example, it depends on the company and the person's experience. If you find a good maid with good experience, why not pay a good salary. I think Dhs 2000 is a fine salary. We pay ours Dhs 1800 - started her off at Dhs 1500 and we pay all her food bills too. So to me Dhs 2000 looks pretty good as I am sure would for a lot of maids. When it comes to the boyfriend staying, do not go there. I know you want to be liberal and nice and allow your maid her life - which would be ok in any other country but not here. My maid is allowed to have a friend over for the night - as long as she is a woman and it does not become a habit - so every now and then a friend of hers does stay - but that happens roughly onceevery two months. You open the door to the boyfriend staying at your house, and you open a whole new can of worms. That is my opinion.

Breige, You say she is good, trustworthy and has been with you for a long time so AED 2000 doesn't seem out of line at all. We have had ours for 3 years and she's fantastic so we pay AED2200 per month all inclusive. Personally I wouldn't want to get into all the issues you've described shopping for her; putting it all in salary and letting them decide how they use it is so much simpler. I think anyone thinks a bit more about how they spend their own money than they do if they are on someone else's dime. If she has been with you a long time and made the move from Abu Dhabi with you, maybe give her a slight raise if you feel it is warranted but tell her she's responsible for everything. You could also think about bonus instead of increasing salary (since salary is already fairly in line for a good maid in Dubai). Our maid's new husband wanted her to go to another country where she could earn more money (she doesn't want to go). We weren't going to raise her salary to match what she could get elsewhere but told her for each year she stays we'll give her a lumpsum at the end. She's very good and we didn't want the hassle of trying to find someone else so it is worth it to us and good incentive for her to have a nest egg at the end of each year. Like others, I wouldn't allow a boyfriend to spend the night. We did allow our maid's husband to spend the night from time to time but we asked for a copy of their marriage certificate (as well as passport, visa and labour card).

Dear Breige As it has already been suggested, have a look at other threads as there have been many in the past two weeks. it is not an easy topic. To be fair, we do not know what your maids job entails and what you are offering may be very fair and reasonable . The "average " maid as people refer to may not be with alot of the families for a long time and this is why people may think higher salaries are not in line. if a maid is with a family a long time 5 - 10 years it is not unreasonable to be giving them a higher salary than the " average ". Yet, if you were to compare the average salary of long term maids with one family maybe there would be earning over 2000 dhs and that would be the" average " for that segment. Goes back to compare like with like ! More responsibilty and depending on how much your maid runs the house hold will determine if one should pay more or less and if you can afford and she is worth it, don't screw the maids, be reasonable and fair. One lady will have a maid worth 1500 dhs and other 2500 dhs but quite sure their roles within the homes are very different. One has to compare like with like . Your maid will have developed expensive taste in food because our income /conditions allow it. No harm in her improving her diet and taste in food but only if she can afford it and not putting additional strain on you either emotionally or finanically. Not wise to bring shampoo back from Uk but if you have the luggage allowance ? most people wouldn't. If you are not working and have the time start pricing the toiletries for a month and then you can decide if it is reasonable for you to pay for all. I am sure alot of women here in Dubai on reasonable incomes use cheaper brands especially as times are tough maybe your maid needs to do similar. Not wise to have boyfriend stay at your home. Good luck

We just increased our maid's salary to 2000 a month, but only because she's been with us for three years now and she's been a superb maid. She started out at 1500 and if she leaves the new maid will start out at 1500. She gets the weekends off with the understanding that when she comes home at night she needs to do the dishes and wipe down the kitchen. When I first hired her I didn't know it was common for maids to spend the nights away, but ours never does and is always back late every Friday or Saturday nights. I buy extra rice and cooking oil for her and she's allowed to help from our staples, such as salt and pepper, but beyond that she usually buys her own food. She gets two months' paid leave to the Philipines every summer but that's because the boys and I are in the States for the entire summer and DH doesn't want to be alone in the villa with the maid. He likes having the place to himself (when you take into account that he flies to the States and joins us for two two week periods during the summer, there's only about a month that he's entirely on his own). It works for us. She has been an excellent maid and in the time with us she's never broken or damaged anything and I keep a close eye on our inventory and nothing's gone missing. The one thing I would never do is to allow anyone to sleep over in her room on the weekends. That's a flat out no. <em>edited by Tallybalt on 18/01/2011</em>

Just a couple of observations to throw in: - I know someone who gives the maid two flights home per year, but this is purely because she prefers her maid to be gone only for two weeks at a time as it's easier to manage with small children. - Re the food, don't ever get into taking the maid shopping while you pick up the bill. I did this with my first maid and she started spending Dhs 300 a WEEK on things like organic pesto, organic brown pasta, smoked salmon, 18 chicken wings (which she would cook and distribute to the other maids in the street). What a mistake I made with that lady. It's a fine line between being fair and being taken for a ride.

look like you feeding her lifestyle and you'll be running dry soon! By all means, treat them nice and all is fine. but keep it simple. can't you just give her AED2000 that is inclusive of food. She can do her own grocery food shopping. And if she has a boyfriend, trust me she will go shopping. Plus, i know they will go food shopping mostly in Satwa for their local delicacies. They get things on cheap basis! Tell her shampoo is not your probs. And the pork bit. assuming she is filipino- they loveeee their pork. You set on the wage part. Give her that and close the chapter. if she is not happy, there are many out there that need work. edited by tipahtertipu on 18/01/2011 <em>edited by tipahtertipu on 18/01/2011</em>

One thing is she did not actually ask me for more money directly - just that I now pay for all food and toiletries. When I asked how much she would spend on food per week (never mind shampoo etc) she says abut 150 dhs - meaning about 600 dhs per month on food ( I buy rice) out of her 2000 dhs. Now if I give this to her in cash to shop for herself suddenly the salary becomes 2600 per month and this seems a lot. What does everyone else do about food and toiletries.. My maid seems to have developed expensive taste in food - she only likes pork apparently.... And has asked me to buy her Aussie shampoo from e UK which I would bring back for myself! Pls tell me you are joking about the shampoo??!!

You are being more than generous, Average wage for a Filipino is 1500 with a flight home every one or two years but thats up to you. If she thinks she can find better than I suggest you let her go and find someone as I'm not sure many families would allow boyfriends to stay over. I certainly don't. If your helper gets pregnant and it has and does happen and I speak from experience and they are not married well you know the rest. It;'s not up to you about the flights now - they are entitled to a fligth home every year according to the domestic workers contract that you and your housemaid will sign at immigration.

You are already paying more than enough imo - there are a couple of ladies on here whose maids literally run their household and children for them as they work full time and are single parents ( I think?) and they do pay this and more...we don't know your situation - is it this? Otherwise I think you are on a sticky path here and you are going to end up paying more and more as time goes on.

She is having a laugh with the shampoo. If you give her the 600 she will not spend it on food. I gave my last maid 1500 per month and 300 as a food allowance. Then it was up to her to spend it how she decided. When I was initially buying her food for her, she had very expensive tastes! Yet when I gave her the money herself, she bought hardly anything. She demanded 500 for food, I gave 300 and told her she can use her salary to pay for anything else. I would sometimes give her extras such as rice etc but that was discretionary and not part of a set agreement.

OOOOps yes i mean Breige. Sorry. :\:

Advice Seeker. Seems like you are paying the norm if not more. I would use caution in letting boyfriend stay over but it's your personal choice. Wouldn't advise to give any more. Never feel held to ransom about what you offer. You seem like a resonable sponsor, so hold onto your purse strings for abit and keep reminding her that this is all she's getting..for now. I am sure as nice as she may be, she may be seeing just how far you are willing to go. Let the relationship and trust build and also ensure that the sponsor and employee lines are never crossed. Just my advice. You mean Breige right?

Advice Seeker. Seems like you are paying the norm if not more. I would use caution in letting boyfriend stay over but it's your personal choice. Wouldn't advise to give any more. Never feel held to ransom about what you offer. You seem like a resonable sponsor, so hold onto your purse strings for abit and keep reminding her that this is all she's getting..for now. I am sure as nice as she may be, she may be seeing just how far you are willing to go. Let the relationship and trust build and also ensure that the sponsor and employee lines are never crossed. Just my advice.

no - just to clear this up - we are not paying 2 flights per year!!! IT just happened that we let our helper go back twice last year due to the way our holidays fell and her mother was ill. ahh ok... got it, well you're offering a perfectly fine package IMHO

Breige - I think what you offer is reasonable although I wouldn't allow the boyfriend staying over. I pay my live-in 2100dms but she is worth every penny & she's only been with me 18mths!

Breige, are you giving two flights a year????

I started paying my two maids 1500 each. One was to help with the children as a nanny and one to help with just the cleaning as the house is pretty large. Then when one left and the Nanny was taking on the cleaning aswell as helping me with my youngest 2yr old, so we increased her salary to 2000AED with 150AED for food allowance. We are vegetarian, so do not keep meat in the house. This was our way of paying for the extra meat that we could not give her. Anyway, she's been with us for nearly two years now and have since hired another maid as a cleaner to ease both of their duties. As i was paying the nanny 2150AED before the second maid was hired, I didn't reduce her salary back down to 1500AED, as she had established a good relationship with the family and was working well for eveyone. My new maid that earns 1500AED is not as experienced and we pay her as accordance to what her job role is. Hope this helps.

They have risen significantly over the past 10 years to be honest, they've gone from the norm of 600-800 per month to 1500-2000 per month.... To answer your question Breige, you are paying more than the average, but I wouldn't say its too much... what you need to do is work out a package you are happy with paying then find someone to fit into that, and don't change your guidelines because a maid says she gets more or can get more etc etc... it will be a never ending situation of asking for more and more and more once you open that door! Two tickets a year is way excessive, maybe she meant 1 ever 2 years and got her numbers backwards ;) One flight a year is fine, and many employers only give a flight every 2 years, but its a choice you have to make. And the boyfriend staying over is a no-no... it is illegal and shouldn't be an option...

I don't think the salary she is offering is too low. I just think the 2 plane tickets home a year is a little greedy. We certainly didn't get that from my dh's employer.

It does raise the question though, why people expect the salaries to always stay so low. They will have to rise eventually.