Top 20 Trustworthy Maid Agencies in Singapore That Offer Well-Trained Maids Committed to Employer Satisfaction

How to Select Maid Agency Services That Provide Reliable Helpers for Your Home

As families grow and other responsibilities become more demanding, it becomes necessary for some households to avail of outsourced cleaning services to do the simple yet time- and energy-consuming tasks of maintaining a clean, comfortable home and taking care of the young and elderly members of the family.

According to a government report, 17% or about one in every six households in Singapore employ foreign domestic helpers. This is understandable as hiring local resident to perform cleaning services is often too expensive for most households and work quality of the more affordable foreign maids is enough to satisfy most families’ cleaning and guardianship requirements. Making this arrangement possible and readily available is the purpose of maid agencies.

Maid agencies are companies that connect employers with well-trained, trustworthy domestic helpers who have been screened for good character and quality of service. Maid agencies follow a meticulous selection process – involving background checks and reference checks on potential maids, as well as considering their experiences, competencies and histories – to find the maid that meets the specific qualifications required by each client. In effect, maid agencies standardize and regulate the process of getting a maid, caretaker or domestic helper.

Advantages of a Hiring Through a Maid Agency

Many families in Singapore find themselves needing the aid of foreign domestic helpers to assist with their household chores. This is especially true in households where both parents are full-time workers or are operating their own businesses. Having a trustworthy domestic helper to clean the house and care for the family is simply invaluable.

The following are some of the advantages of hiring a maid from a certified maid agency:

High-Quality Selection Process

With the help of a maid agency, you can find a suitable domestic worker who you can trust to clean your home and take care of your family. In matching a maid for you and your family, your chosen maid agency carries out an extensive selection process that factors in your exact needs and preferences – such as if you are looking for someone with experience in childcare or elder care – until they find a trained maid whose background and skills perfectly suit your requirements.

Agencies have a set of criteria and requirements that potential employees must meet before they are recommended to clients. They are also trained if necessary.

Professional Assistance and Consultancy

Entrusting your home and the care of your family members to another person requires a great deal of trust. This is why hiring a domestic helper through a certified maid agency is important. Agencies provide clients with an assurance that they understand exactly what the clients are looking for and will use their large talent pool of background-checked maids to find the perfect candidate.

Maid agencies offer more than simply finding people who can clean houses. They also ensure that all necessary paperwork have been completed and provide advice on how both the clients and the maids can maintain a good work arrangement. Furthermore, certain agencies even conduct home visits to guarantee that both parties are happy and satisfied.

Trainings and Enhancements

Before assigning domestic helpers to any client, maid agencies make sure that the helpers have been thoroughly trained primarily on how to perform their cleaning duties, but also on how to effectively communicate and get along well with their employers. This ensures the reputation of the agency as well as the satisfactory relationship between employers and their maids.

Maid agencies that transfer foreign domestic helpers provide various trainings and certifications to guarantee high standards of service in the maids' performance of their cleaning and caretaking duties. In some cases, the placement or recruitment company may be different from the training company so that each can focus on their respective roles in getting the maids fully trained and matched with the right clients.

Cost-Effective Services

Hiring nannies can be expensive particularly for households with multiple kids. Daycare centres normally charge on a per-child basis whereas nannies are usually compensated through one lump sum fee.

Not only do nannies often possess an abundance of childcare experience they can also have professional training or qualifications related to teaching or child development. This means that you can be confident in the fact that your nanny is thoroughly equipped to handle any situation they may encounter along the way. Furthermore, if you are new parents looking for guidance during this phase in parenthood, then hiring through a maid agency might just provide the additional support and assurance you need.

What to Expect from a Maid Agency

Maid agencies work similarly to employment and staffing agencies, except that they specialize on recruiting maids or domestic helpers. They provide clients with a range of cleaning services, including conducting ad-hoc, informal or casual job referrals, deep cleaning, cooking, and laundry services. Maid agencies can also provide more specific services, such as pet care, integrated care and child-minding.

Maid agencies work differently from direct hiring. Employers can find foreign domestic helpers without enlisting the help of transfer maid agencies, whether they are based overseas or already in Singapore. This direct-hiring method could be a time-saver but also limits the pool of potential candidates.

Affiliated house helpers can provide services tailored to customers' requirements – be it larger companies who might need more thorough cleaning than a typical household or the convenience of booking your cleansing services based on their schedule and preferences.

The best maid agencies are highly selective when picking their employees, making sure that they only hire reliable, honest and hardworking individuals that they can confidently assign to their clients. Doing this is critical in ensuring the agency's reputation in a very competitive industry. To this end, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) requires all operating agencies to be registered and possess all necessary licenses. The agencies are also required to have their maids undergo reinforcement training and to conduct medical examinations and background checks on the maids to make sure that they can safely work in Singapore.

Agencies also offer other services, such as visa processing for foreign domestic workers, additional training, and regular health assistance, to ensure that the maids legally, safely, and adequately. Agencies also help transfer maids into their new homes, advising their clients on how best to manage and communicate effectively with the maid, and conducting regular follow-ups to ensure the working relationship is going smoothly.

FAQs About Maid Agency Services

Here are some of the most common questions about maid agency services:

Who can hire a maid? 

Singapore citizens, permanent residents and expatriates 21 years or older, with valid employment passes, can hire a maid in Singapore. However, it is still subject to the approval of the MOM after reviewing your financial capability to hire and maintain a foreign domestic worker.

After the application process has been finalised, it takes 1–4 weeks for an overseas hired helper to arrive in Singapore, depending on which country they are coming from. If they agency already has trained maids available in the country and are ready to work, deployment can start within just a few days.

How much is a maid service?

The average initial cost of hiring a maid through an agency is $1,400. This covers the agency fee, the maid’s work permit application, settling-in programme, and medical examination. Take note that this is a one-time payment only that has to be paid at the beginning.

Depending on the country of origin and years of experience, a domestic helper's salary may vary. In addition to their monthly salary, you may also have to pay for maid levy, paid rest days, medical and accident insurance premiums, food allowances, and transportation expenses. Before agreeing to any work arrangement, clarify these points with your chosen maid agency and have it detailed in your maid’s employment contract.

How many hours should a maid work?

The MOM prescribes no more than nine hours per day or 44 hours per week for contractual workers employed five days a week or fewer. Workers who work strings of six days have an 8-hour limit each day.

To ensure that maids get time to rest and recuperate physically and mentally, they are entitled to at least one full off day during the week.

Do maid agencies provide services other than housecleaning? 

Some clients may need some help at home, but not quite the full service of a domestic helper. For such cases, maid agencies offer solutions such as local home care, elderly care, and infant care services. Some maid agencies are also affiliated with other recruitment and placement agencies, particularly those offering related services, thus clients can inquire for particular services from their maid agency and the agency will try to help them out. For example, a client with an elderly family member may also request for a certified caregiver or nurse who can also be trusted to do some light cleaning.

What to Look for in Maid Agencies

Maid agencies in Singapore are expected to provide professionalism and quality services. They are there to make the clients' life easier by providing reliable domestic helpers who meet the necessary requirements.

The maid agency staff should be knowledgeable and sufficiently experienced to give you advice when selecting a domestic helper. They will also provide additional services such as securing that your chosen maid has all the necessary updated documents for employment and staying in touch with you after the hiring to ensure that you are satisfied with the services of your maid.

Look for the following when selecting a Singapore maid agency:

Experience and Placement Volume

While experience does not always guarantee quality, it is still an effective way to narrow down your list. When looking for a maid agency, prioritise those that have been operating for more than five years – this provides some guarantee that the company is stable and has an adequately large talent pool. Furthermore, the number of Foreign Worker work passes approved by an agency in one year reflects its placement volume. With a high placement volume, it means that the maid agency has successfully matched multiple helpers with employers.

Maid Insurance

Ensure that the helper is protected with comprehensive coverage for medical bills, liability claims, and all other accidents related to their job. Taking on the burden of dealing with paperwork is additional work, so you should look for an agency that handles everything correctly and quickly. Agencies assist in the smooth processing of their maids' employment, including expediting their work permit applications and renewal documents endorsements by embassies, as well as securing their domestic worker lodging.

Licenses and Certifications

It is important to avail the service of licensed maid agencies. Singapore maid organisations are rigorously monitored by the MOM and all members must hold an employment agency license and a Certificate of Employment Intermediaries (or CEI). This certification also applies to key appointment holders or other employment agency personnel.

Maid Agency Fees

Maid agency fees can range from $1,000 for helpers already located within the country to $3,000 for overseas or new applicants. This is due to factors, such as the nationality of the helper, processing fees at embassies, medical check-ups required before placement, maid insurance, and flight and transportation expenses.

Singapore law enforces a maid agency fee cap to prevent the overcharging of domestic helpers. Regarding service fees, agencies are limited to charging a maximum of the assigned maid's two months' salary for each year of service, as dictated by their work permit. (This excludes fees charged by the maid’s home country.)

A maid agency must reimburse part of the fee if an employment contract fails to be finalized. For instance, if visa renewal for the prospect domestic worker is incomplete or the client opts to hire a domestic worker directly, no expenses should be charged as no proper placement was done.

Reputation and Practice History

The Ministry of Manpower’s website has a list of licensed maid agencies in Singapore complete with client ratings and reviews. You can also check each company’s profile to know whether or not they fully observe MOM’s employment practices.

Any agency that breaks the terms of the Employment Agencies Act are assigned demerit points. If an agency accumulates 12 or more demerit points, it faces strict monitoring for one whole year. This paints an unfavourable picture and results in mistrust concerning services provided by those erring companies – signifying their unwillingness to abide by MOM's regulations.

Transfer and Retention Rates

The transfer rate is an important tool for gauging the success of the foreign domestic workers placed by a particular agency. For instance, if this percentage is higher than 1.53%, which was the industry average from 2019 to 2020, it may be best to look elsewhere as this could indicate that these maid agencies cannot provide satisfactory services in terms of quality and matching helpers with employers.

Retention rate in another important benchmark in knowing an agency's level of service. This refers to the percentage of domestic workers placed by a maid agency who have been with their employer for at least one year. The higher an agency's retention rate, the better – this means that more employers are satisfied with their service and are staying with that particular company.

Additional Training

Some families find that they like the company and performance of their foreign domestic worker but would like them to do some other specialized functions such as primarily serving as caregivers or nannies. In such cases, they can request the maid agency to provide additional training to their domestic worker, teaching them how to better care for infants, pregnant women, people requiring temporary or disability aid, and elderly individuals.

Additional Services

When you have found a reliable maid agency, check if they offer additional services. Most offers include:

• Financial assistance
• Work permit and passport renewal
• Direct hiring or replacement of foreign maids
• Counselling services for domestic workers
• Home leaves

Our everyday lives often have so many demanding responsibilities, making the tasks of maintaining cleanliness in our homes seem too taxing to do ourselves. This is why we need maids to do these chores for us, and why we need maid agencies that can refer the right maids to us. Partnering with a leading maid agency will ensure that not only will you have a clean home, but that you would improve your overall quality of life.

Visit our list of maid agencies in Singapore if you need referrals for the best companies that provide excellent services and reasonable rates.