Shopping for an Agency

Yet, some people who need to shop for a good agency to help them find a job as a domestic helper fail to shop for a good agency, but just simply register with the first agency they come across. They are relying on luck. Some are lucky and some are not. Remember Ms Pachino, the Filipino domestic workers whose agency subjected her to a strip search not once, but twice?

Of course those who are not already working abroad, who will be going to a foreign country for the very first time, really cannot do the checking themselves if they are "direct hires", depending on their OFW friends or relatives to help them get a job abroad. Then their friends or relatives have a duty to shop for a good agency. If intending FDWS are relying on an agency in the home country, then they have to shop around for a reliable one.

Let us pause for a while and consider what is a good agency from the point of view of the FDW. A good agency should secure the best terms possible for the applicant. The salary must be close to the prevailing rate. For example, if the prevailing rate is $350 per month, then the home agency should insist that the foreign agency should secure $350 for its applicant. If the standard is one day off every fortnight, then the home agency should not accept an offer where the off day is only once a month.

But clearly some agencies in the home country are not securing the best terms for their clients, for in Singapore we frequently come across an agency which asks only for a salary of $300 without a single day off for two long years!

But besides salary and days off, there are other factors to take into consideration. A good agency is one which treats its applicants with the respect due to a human being. Some agents or their servants shout at a domestic worker whenever her employer lodges a complaint. Unlike a responsible agent, they do not take any trouble at all to find out what the real problem is. Just because an employer has lost one earring is no justification to conclude that the FDW is guilty of theft.

Sometimes a problem arises because of a misunderstanding or ignorance of a local custom. For example, Chinese people, the older generation especially, generally believe that adults crying brings bad luck. So if the a new arrival gets emotional because she misses her loved ones, a good agent will explain to her, instead of shouting at her just because her employer called to complain.

A good agent will not automatically conclude the FDW is bad because the employer complains. An unworthy agent will shout and cow the FDW into submission for she clearly has no empathy for the newcomer.

Now that we have a better idea what we mean by a good agency, we are in a better position to locate one. We can do this by visiting an agency and talking to the owner or her staff. We have to observe the body language to see if the agent or her staff is sincere. If they are impatient, then it is likely she will have no time to listen when you seek their help later. Often it is not what is said but how it is said that is important.

And of course, we should be observant. How does the agency handle prospective employers. Do the people there blissfully say yes to an an employer who demands a lot from an FDW. For example, one prospective employer wanted an FDW to care care of his elderly mother who was in poor health and also care for his son of 8 months while he and his wife went to work.

He could have been a good employer, but what he later said should ring alarm bells. He told the agent, "The work is easy. There is very little to do." Taking care of a baby alone is a big job, having to care of an elderly sick person at the same time makes the job even harder. Clearly the prospective employer expects a lot from an FDW and will probably require her to do a lot more.