In today’s blog I am writing about a very general topic which is about one problem faced by most of the senior citizens of our country. In the present time most of the senior citizen or senior couple are facing one issue, which is most of them have to live alone. The reason being most of the people who became senior citizen, let us say after 2005 belong to the that generation which do not have many children, say may be one or two. The issue is that the children of most of these couples are well educated and they are in good jobs, may be in some city in India or abroad, with the result these elderly couples have to stay alone in the house. There are few lucky elderly couple whose children work in the same city and they either live with them or separately in the same city. So in majority of cases the elderly couple have to depend on hired help for their survival.
The different kind of hired help which one may need, can be in the form of housekeepers or maids for cleaning, dusting etc, cooks, drivers, gardeners etc. and many times people pick these helps from around the neighbourhood, through some known contacts, like from another known household. This gives a sort of comfort factor and safety in doing so since the person who is hired is already known to them.
However, this may not be a good practice after all, as there have been cases where the house help has committed or aided in criminal activities like stealing, kidnapping and ransom, or even murders. So, a better way may be to depend on hiring through certain agencies that provide services of these type of household help. These agencies are expected to do the necessary checks before providing the hired help. All these reputed agencies are bound by police rules.
It is quite important that one has to play safe, when hiring such help. If the help is hired through agency , then it is better to discuss with the agency about how they are sourcing their staff, and whether the agency has checked person’s background thoroughly, as prescribed the police, and ask the agency to provide copy of verification, and the persons temporary and permanent address. Secondly, a background check can also establish if the person concerned has been involved in any criminal activity in the past and nature of the same. If the record of person’s previous employer is available, then feed back can also be obtained.
It case the person is not hired through agency, and taken the person through other known channels, the details of the person concerned should be checked. In case, one may hire even private agencies that run the background checks at a nominal rate to make sure that the person is right, without any unwanted issues in the past. Since the hired people will become part of your everyday life and household, it is the utmost important to take this step.
Now if the person is from the same city, one can check the authenticity of the information provided by making surprise visit. Ask the person for the contact numbers, address, and contact details of some other member of the family. Unless one get comfortable and find the person to be fully trust worthy, do not let down your guard. Watch out for money and costly items in the house, keep an eye on- if the person is cooking to see if they mix something in your food etc. Do not leave the house with the person, or your car keys with the driver, so that vehicle is not misused in your absence. It is always better to be safe than sorry afterwards. Also do not divulge any personal information about self, and money matters, and travel plans in advance to these people. With a little care, it is possible to play safe and good life can be led with hired help.
Similar precautions should be taken by young couples who leave their house with the hired helps. And some times the couple if not having a family member to look after kids, then in that case they should be extra cautious before hiring any maid or servant to look after their children. Some couples for want of getting good hired help leave their children either in crèche or day care centres.
This process of hiring help works in both ways- as the hired help who is from the less privileged class needs the work to survive and the other side need them as they need these people help to go on with their day to day life. But one has to ensure that no wrong person comes to the house and instead of helping, they might become nuisance or trouble makers.
So friends, what are your opinion on this issue.
Please do write your views/comments/feed backs.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
27th Feb 2020.
R. N. Mungale.
I fully agree with Mr . Malik.