OVER the past few years, the Manpower Ministry (MOM) has introduced measures to ensure that maids brought into Singapore do have some basic knowledge of the English language, and that they are trained in various ways to handle their job here.

I believe many maid agencies also train the maids to their best ability so that they will be a boon to their employers during the first two years in service.

I would like to suggest that, perhaps, the MOM could conduct surveys to find out from the employers the various problems they face in dealing with their maids.

For example, are the maids forgetful?

Are they careless about their chores?

Are there certain things that they keep doing over and over again, which upset their employers?

Are the maids lazy or are they simply not interested in their job?

With such a survey, MOM would be in a better position to address those issues.

It can also share the survey findings with maid agencies to find ways of improving things or make the maids' working experience a more pleasant one.

Otherwise, we will continue to read news reports about maids being abused by their unhappy employers.

Nobody should be abused. And no employers would like their maids to keep doing things incorrectly.

We need both parties to work hand in hand so that everyone benefits from the experience.

Mr Ishwar Mahtani

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