Shortage of domestic helpers

"As expected," after Tet (Lunar New Year), domestic helpers take extended leave, or even quit their jobs, causing difficulties for many families in Vinh City who have to juggle household chores, childcare, and their work responsibilities...

It's a mix of laughter and tears...

After the Lunar New Year holiday, returning to the hustle and bustle of work, Ms. Nguyen Hai Yen in Quan Bau ward (Vinh City) counted down the days, eagerly awaiting the return of her housekeeper from her hometown. Both she and her husband work at a bank, with long hours and two young children. Before the housekeeper left for her hometown, Ms. Yen repeatedly reminded her to return to work no later than the morning of the 6th day of the Lunar New Year. However, the housekeeper kept delaying, asking for an extension until after the 15th day of the first lunar month, citing local customs requiring her to visit temples and offer prayers. When Ms. Yen pleaded with her, the housekeeper started complaining about the hardships of childcare and comparing her situation to other households to demand a raise. As a result, Ms. Yen had to find a new housekeeper. During that time, the couple had to divide the housework, childcare, and dropping off and picking up the children... She lamented, "Without a housekeeper, it's so difficult; even with three heads and six arms, I couldn't handle it all; sometimes I still have to ask my workplace for permission to come in late or leave early..."

Workers seek domestic helper jobs after Tet at Connect Co., Ltd. (Vinh City).

As for Ms. Nguyen Kim Ngan's family in Ha Huy Tap ward, despite "pampering" their domestic helper in every way possible—buying gifts to send back to her hometown for Tet, giving her extra bonuses every month—after Tet, they still couldn't avoid having to fend for themselves because of the maid's unreliability. On the 6th day of Tet, when she called the maid, she was politely refused, saying "there are family matters to attend to," and then kept postponing the call. Ms. Ngan's family has young children, and her husband works far away, so there's no one to help look after the children while she goes to work. Out of desperation, she had to ask her father from her hometown to come down and look after them temporarily. Without a domestic helper, Ms. Ngan's family life was completely turned upside down. She had to rush to get up early, do the shopping, cook meals, wake up her children, feed them so she could get to work on time, then rush back to prepare lunch and dinner... and in the evening, she had to cook, do laundry, and clean.

She frantically searched, asking relatives in her hometown for recommendations and friends in the city to find a new housekeeper, but to no avail. To save time and minimize hassle, she accepted the intermediary fee of using a job placement agency to find a replacement. However, finding a suitable and trustworthy housekeeper to entrust with the housework and childcare was not easy. In just one week, her family had to change housekeepers twice. Ms. Ngan sighed: "Housekeepers these days are very picky about jobs. Few want to work for families with young children, fearing the hard work; those who agree to take the job demand a salary of over 3 million dong; how can we civil servants afford that?"

Every year, the domestic helper market heats up after the Lunar New Year. Not only do families struggle with a shortage of helpers, but domestic helper agencies also face a severe labor shortage. According to Dai Thang Family Service Trading Company Limited (Vinh City), specializing in domestic helper services, the demand for domestic helpers after the Lunar New Year is usually higher than in other months. Since the beginning of the year, the company has received over 60 requests from clients seeking domestic helpers. However, supply cannot meet demand; the company has only been able to fulfill about 50% of the requests. Mr. Ho Huu Thang, the company director, said that most of the domestic helpers are unemployed rural women or women around 50 years old; their general mindset is still to work spontaneously and with the attitude of "work if you like, quit if you don't." Many people tend to stay in their hometowns after the full moon, or until the end of January, before returning to the city for work. Therefore, even though companies go to rural villages to distribute recruitment flyers with salaries ranging from 2.5 to 3 million VND, and some even pick people up at the bus station, finding domestic helpers is still difficult.”

The shortage of domestic helpers after Tet (Lunar New Year) has led to a boom in hourly and temporary helper services. For many families, this is the best solution. Students are particularly sought after by families for hourly or short-term work. The work is not very strenuous, and the income is quite attractive, so most students are very enthusiastic about this temporary helper job. Having just returned to the city after Tet, Nguyen Thi Hai, a student at Vinh University, was introduced by friends to an hourly helper job. Every day, she takes advantage of her two afternoons off from school to clean, do laundry, cook meals (sometimes even pick up children) for a family in Cua Nam ward and is paid 70-80 thousand VND for two hours. "The work isn't difficult and it provides income, so I try to arrange my schedule to work to help cover my studies and living expenses; and to ease the burden on my parents," Hai shared.

The current trend among city families is to hire hourly or half-day domestic helpers to handle essential household chores such as cleaning, laundry, cooking (for half a day), and picking up children from school. This avoids the need to provide live-in domestic help, preventing disruption to family life, and saves costs (only 1.5-2 million VND per month). This type of hourly or part-time work is mainly suitable for unemployed people in the city, most of whom are students.

Lack of binding mechanisms

Domestic work is an essential need in modern life, especially in urban areas. However, many people working in this field still tend to work in a spontaneous and unprofessional manner. Domestic work is not yet considered a profession like other jobs in society. This is because there are mostly no binding agreements between homeowners and domestic helpers, and most are accustomed to verbal agreements. The reasons for this situation stem from both sides. Domestic helpers mostly come from rural areas, have low levels of education, and are hesitant to sign labor contracts. Employers, on the other hand, still tend to choose helpers through family or friend recommendations, and therefore avoid formal contracts. Furthermore, while the demand for domestic helpers is increasing, the training of necessary skills and knowledge for them is still not prioritized. As a result, domestic helpers often quit without notice, leaving homeowners helpless. Or, when conflicts or disagreements arise, the homeowner and the domestic helper will resolve them themselves in their own way.

Drafting an employment contract between a homeowner and a domestic helper is already difficult, let alone complying with the regulations of Government Decree 27/2014 (effective from May 25, 2014), which includes provisions such as: agreement on wages, total wages including accommodation and living expenses for the domestic helper as agreed upon by both parties but not lower than the regional minimum wage; additional pay for working overtime or on holidays; and an additional payment equivalent to the amount contributed to social insurance and health insurance…

Discussing this issue, Mr. Ho Van Chien, Director of Connect Consulting Co., Ltd. (Vinh City), which specializes in providing domestic helper services, acknowledged: “Although contracts have been signed, some domestic helpers still quit after Tet because they want to change jobs or find higher-paying jobs. At this time, domestic helpers are scarce, so we haven't been able to find replacements, and the company has to return 50% of the fee to the homeowners. As for the salary and the tasks the domestic helper has to perform in the family, both parties negotiate it themselves; regarding insurance contributions for the domestic helper, the employer is currently not participating.”

Thus, when domestic helpers lack the necessary skills, professionalism, and legal knowledge, and employers lack strong legal obligations, the shortage of domestic helpers after Tet (Lunar New Year) remains an unresolved issue...

Dinh Nguyet