First time maid employment

[Steve1960]

Just found out my wife is pregnant with our second child so it's time to draft in some help!

I have trawled this site and the MoM web site (but forgive me if my searches missed a post which answered my question). I understand choosing a maid could be a nightmare and in my case it could well be! My wife is Filipina and we will no doubt employ a Filipina maid so that could introduce some interesting personality dynamics into the household

My question, to anyone who currently employs a maid, is have I covered all the potential costs with this list. I know they are not all compulsory, I just want to make sure I consider everything before doing this for the first time:

Employment Agency charges.
Salary.
Health insurance.
Accident insurance.
Dental insurance.
Monthly Government work permit fee.
Food, toiletries etc
Flight ticket home every 2 years.

Many Thanks

[sundaymorningstaple]

Presents/bonuses

[Steve1960]

Yea, read about the bonus on the Mom web site.

It is standard practice to reward the maid? I imagine it could be a minefield setting and agreeing the targets. Perfect recipe for a dispute!

Gifts? Probably easier to give the occassional gift rather than try to agree a bonus scheme.

Any experience in this grey area would be much appreciated.

One more question which I would just like to solicit opinion on (in terms of being fair to the maid). Our 2 year old will move out of the main bedroom when the baby arrives. We have 3 bedrooms but I use one of them as a home office and guest bedroom. Would it be unacceptable to have our 2 year old sleep in the same bedroom as the maid?

[sundaymorningstaple]

For those who value their maids, normally one month bonus (more or less) at Christmas time, or their major holiday if of a different religious persuasion.

[Steve1960]

OK got it thanks. The old fashioned Christmas / Holiday bonus! I forget its still quite prevalent in Asia