Domestic Goddess Travels: Our Staff

Getting settled in Jakarta always takes time but finding the right staff also takes time as well. Having lived in Indonesia before I must admit it was easier this time around knowing how to find staff also how important it is to set the ground rules straight away or sometimes things don't go to plan. Doing research on salaries is also important so before hiring staff I made sure I asked many questions on salaries to other expats and what tasks their staff was expected to do.

My golden rules are staff must be on time to work, must be honest, not ask to lend money as the answer will always be no and if you don't understand something please ask.

For people who haven't had house staff before I know these rules sound pretty straight forward but living in Indonesia is never straight forward so I made sure that these rules were communicated very well and was understood.

Our house keeper "Isah" I found through a friend of a friends house keeper and our driver "Herman" I found through a friends driver. He is also contracted through where we hirer the car from so you could say we are lucky that all fell into place regarding our staff.

So let me tell you a bit about them;

Isah is 44 years old, isn't married and has no children. She speaks English and her house is two hours away from where we live. This means Isah is a live in house keeper who works Monday to Friday from 6am to anywhere between 5pm or 6pm. If I need Isah to work weekends or extra hours of a night doing baby sitting I make sure I give her extra days off during the following week. Isah is very nice and has made my life settling into Jakarta really easy. There are times I have been stuck in traffic that when Paige gets home from school I know she is here to take care of Paige. Apart from babysitting which I need as Ben works away 10 days at a time, she does the house keeping duties and helps me to deal with the maintenance department and helps translate things when I need it.

Picture: Paige & Isah, our house keeper

Herman our driver is 37 years old, married with 4 children (3 boys & 1 girl). He lives half an hour away from where we live and travels to and from our house on his motor bike each day. His normal working hours are from 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Hours out of those times as well as weekends isclassed as overtime. Herman duties are to drive us where ever it is we need to go. There are times when I have needed a hand with things and he is only to happy to help. If you asked Paige what Herman's job was she would say he has to give her door service (open and close the car door for her) its funny to see as Herman is a really good sport with Paige and plays along with her.

Only time will tell how things work out with our staff fingers crossed it will all work out just fine.