Erwiana and indentured servitude in Hong Kong, an employment agent's perspective
Torture and slavery in Hong Kong! Headlines like this are pouring from the news outlets lately. I feel horrified as I hear the stories and see the pictures. I own and operate a domestic helper agency in Hong Kong. Our agency finds jobs for Filipinos who wish to work in Hong Kong. In our 7 years of operation we have had to remove two helpers from a customer's home. In one case, Grandma was suffering from senile dementia, couldn't remember the helper, and threatened her with a knife. The police were called and we removed the helper from their home on the same day. In another case, a helper came to us saying she was fearful of her employer, because she had poured hot water on her hand, burning her. When she told my wife the details of what happened, my wife wouldn't allow her to return to the employer's home. We later escorted her to the home to pick up her things, and found her another employer.
The vast majority of our customers are kind and good employers who share our values of treating all people with respect and dignity. The come to our agency because they want to find a good helper who can fit long-term into their family.
How does a helper get trapped for months in an abusive working environment? The answer is simple: money.
HOW TO CONDUCT AN EMPLOYEE EVALUATION
Many of us hope that our domestic helper will eventually become a "member of the family". Although we hope to have a good, close relationship with our helpers, it is also important to remember that they are employees and we are employers. At Arrow we talk to employers every week. They give us feedback on how the helper is doing. Most employers (including me) do not regularly sit down with our employeesand do a "job assessment". Instead, we allow little "irritants" to build up and finally "lose our temper" over some relatively minor offense. It would be much better if we set aside some regular feedback time (once every two weeks for the first two months; once a month after that).
Establishing a "feedback habit" will ensure that