Cultural differences: House-help (Part 2)

So. You're looking for house-help.

One of the best ways to get a reliable house-helper is by inheritance. Find someone who is leaving the country and is passing on their house help, or someone can recommend past employees. Embassy and international school staff would be good people to ask.

Hiring friends of friends or someone with no recent references almost always ends badly. We're speaking from experience here.

Make sure your house help knows how to properly wash and dry clothes. You may have to remind them to only wash similar colours at once (The purple -- formerly white -- shirt incident of 2012 taught us this) and to be vigilant about ironing everything, especially if you are in areas prone to mango flies. 

Also speaking from experience: once you've found someone, make it very clear that their first week is a trial week. IN WRITING, spell out all expectations and make it abundantly clear that it is a trial week only. If the trial week doesn't work out, culture in Togo dictates that you can not tell them what they did wrong, but only that it won't work out.

It is also standard practice to change the all locks on your house when an employee is terminated. We know several people who have been burgled days after firing an employee. Revenge is very much alive in Togolese culture.

Going back to keeping things in writing: You need to do this to protect yourself, as laws in Togo favour the worker and not the employee. You can be sued for firing someone for not doing their job, as it is your job as the employer to help them become less incompetent. If you have them sign a contract that states they are on a trial period, and on a subsequent month-to-month contract which can be terminated by either party, that helps balance the scales. (do make sure your contract still falls within the parameters of Togolese labour laws.)

In the contact you should also write down a basic idea of expectations: laundry and dishes daily, wash floor twice a week, wash windows once a week, pick up groceries on Wednesday, etc. Do make sure you go through the house with them, showing them the ropes, where things are stored, how you like your bed made, how you prefer your towels hung, etc.

Make sure the contract spells out working hours, salary, holidays and leave and miscellaneous clarifications such as whether or not loans will be provided.

Lastly, make sure your house help are able and feel comfortable asking you questions about their duties and work. They're not mind readers.

As mentioned above, make sure your expectations fall in line with the law.