Salient Sunday -Help them to help you!

17 years is a long period! Thats the period we planned to have a permanent helper at home. Yesterday, I bid farewell to the last one. She served us for six long years. She deserves a mention in LinkedIn because of the support she provided me for the past six years so that I could focus on my career, kids' education and family matters while she covered the basic needs of cooking, cleaning etc.

Domestic workers like her choose to leave their family and come abroad and stay with another family for years together sacrificing their own attention to their family matters. The hard work they put in are often translated to better education for their children, building their dream homes and supporting their spouse's business. I am glad that her family is better off now than when she started with us 6 years ago.

I am grateful to Singapore Government for having policies supporting working mothers, making the hiring and maintenance of domestic helpers easy by taking care of the interest of the employee and employer equally.

I learned a few basic lessons of people management by employing a helper. I learned to treat them well so that in return they respect us and deliver more than what is expected. I learned to compensate them well so that they remain honest. I learned to guide them to plan ahead so that our home function seamlessly. I learned to like them genuinely so that they do the same in return.

After all these years, apart from a couple of unpleasant incidents, all that we remember are the good times we had together, the good food she prepared and the relief when she returned from vacation...though this time is a final good bye!