Can migrant domestic workers (MDW) be replaced by Household Services Scheme (HSS)?

MDW numbers

There are about 247,000 migrant domestic workers in Singapore as of 2020. This number have dropped to 2017 level and 14,000 lesser as compared to the year before. Most likely this drop in demand can be due to border restrictions due to COVID-19 pandemic. In order to assist with care-giving duties at home and supporting families with elderly and children, the National Population and Talent Division expects demand for migrant domestic workers to increase to about 300,000 by 2030.The question on alternative help has been discussed frequently and alternative solutions were mooted when MDW worked long hours in a household setting and some MDW’s employer may not require help for the full day. In fact, a minister asked in 2019 on the possibility of short-term work permits for migrant domestic workers to provide respite support for families and to allow employment agencies to cater to families requiring short-term domestic help.

Household Services Scheme (HSS)

What Ministry of manpower (MOM) has done is that in 2017, MOM have piloted a scheme called Household Services Scheme (HSS).The Household Services Scheme (HSS) allows eligible companies to hire female workers from more countries such as India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Cambodia. This is a special arrangement to support households in need of domestic cleaning services. Households can engage part-time household services from 76 companies approved under the scheme, provided by female migrant workers deployed to multiple homes on an on-demand basis. This is no longer a pilot scheme and MOM has made this scheme permanent as an alternative model to full-time live-in migrant domestic workers (MDWs). According to the MOM, more than 10,000 households currently tap on such household cleaning services. As the borders are closed due to the COVID-19, domestic helper shortages have spurred the demand for on-demand, part time cleaning services model. This may come as a relief for households who are feeling the strain after waiting for more than a year for their domestic helper to arrive.

Current hiring cost of MDW

Majority of the domestic employers are facing difficulties in getting the limited entry approvals, extension of helper’s approval letters and postponement of entry dates. They will also have to pay higher than usual hiring cost of up to $8000 for new MDWs. Some domestic employers have switch to look for local transfer MDWs and this strong demand has push hiring cost of up to $2000 and the MDW’s asking salary has gone up to $800 on average. Households who are less reliant on MDWs may alleviate their household chores by engaging services provided by companies who are under HSS. They have a ready pool of cleaners in Singapore and most of them are foreigners. This is suitable for households who find that engaging live-in MDW is intrusive as they are considered non-family member and privacy may be compromised.

Why some MDW will switch to HSS

MDWs from approved source countries can work for HSS companies after they finished their current contract. With news on abusing of MDW circulating in the media, MDW may prefer to work under HSS model. Workers for HSS companies are provided with accommodation and this takes away the enclosed environment where abuse and long working hours that may happen. These workers are also protected under the Employment Act which set out the maximum working hours and other work benefits as compared to MDWs where their work schedule is fully packed and 12-15 hours workday are common occurrence. HSS may not be a best replacement for MDWs. Most families that engage MDW have diverse needs. Most families will require MDW to provide caregiving, childcaring or special needs help on top of doing chores like cooking and cleaning. MDW may not be adequately trained to perform caregiving or childcaring needs therefore this is not a sustainable solution for the MDW employer. Most sandwich class families will require MDWs and with the increase in workforce numbers where both husband and wife need to work. They will require someone to look after their parents or children and sometime looking after parent and children. The most cost-effective solutions are to engage a MDW to perform these tasks and the salary of the MDW will continue to rise and more work benefits will need to be provided for them.