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Why do I need a
confinement nanny?
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You may find yourself in a situation where you are unable to trust your maid with your newborn as she does not have the expertise in the area of baby-care. Tried to seek help from your mum or mum-in-law but you realize that they have either lost touch with the fundamental skills of baby-care or such tasks are too tiring for them. At the same time, you feel guilty having to trouble them. Left with no choice, you decided to go through the whole confinement period by yourself without realizing the various side effects on your health condition.
Should you anticipate such problems or believe in having a complete recovery from the aftermath of labour, a confinement nanny will be the answer to your woes. Not only will she be taking great care of your newborn with her specialty in the field of baby-care, a confinement nanny will also be whipping up a variety of dishes with high nutritional value for your daily consumption. On top of these, she will guide you through daily baby-care procedures at your own time and pace. Furthermore, a confinement nanny can highlight to you all do’s and don’ts during the period of confinement which will greatly help in negating all the various side effects on your health condition due to improper care and nourishment.
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What are the differences between getting a nanny by myself and through PEM?
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Getting a nanny yourself indicates that you will have to contact, arrange for her arrival on the delivery date and applying work permit for the nanny all by yourself. Furthermore, you still have to face a risk that she might not turn up due to various reasons like;
- She is still working for another client.
- She is feeling unwell.
- Another client is willing to pay her more then you do.
On top of these, even if she turned up on time, what if you are unsatisfied with her services. You will not be able to get a change as she is your only help on hand. Therefore, why go through all these troubles and face such risks when you should be busy enjoying the precious moments with your newborn and your beloved spouse.
By engaging a nanny through PEM, we negate all the hassles that you will have to face by helping you to make all the necessary arrangements from the first stage of contact till the nanny arrival at your doorstep. Furthermore, we ensure the deliverance of a nanny regardless of your delivery date. Most importantly, we have a group of dedicated crew who will provide you with the utmost support and assistance that you require throughout your entire confinement period with services like replacement of nanny if necessary.
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Do I need to pay more for the services provide by your company?
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We do not impose any additional agency fees in your charges which mean that you will be paying the same price if you will to engage a nanny by yourself from the market.
Reason being, instead of imposing the agency fees on your side, the nanny will be giving us a recommendation fees.
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When should I start to engage a nanny from you?
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Due to limited vacancies and rising demand for confinement nannies, we do urge you to book from us as early as possible. Therefore, you are strongly encouraged to book at least 4 to 5 months prior to your estimated delivery date (EDD).
However, if you were to booked five months in advance of your EDD, you will be entitled to a full refund* of your deposit should a miscarriage or pregnancy failure occurred and with doctor certification. On top of this, clients who booked 6 months earlier will enjoy an additional S$50.00 discount off their package price.
*Do note that adminstrative charges applied.
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Will I be able to select a nanny?
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We are sorry to notify you that selection of nanny is not possible. Reason being, all our nannies are exclusive full-timers whereby they usually work 8-10 assignments a year. Therefore, in order to attain such high work rate, precise planning of job schedule has to be in place.
As such, selection of nanny is not possible due to the fact that your delivery date is estimated and not exact. Moreover, there might be unforeseen circumstances which might result in the nanny being unable to work for example; she might be feeling unwell, personal problems back at home, immigration restriction and etc.
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Will you recommend me an experienced nanny?
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All nannies residing in PEM are exclusive to our company. This indicates that neither do they freelance nor work duo agents. Such exclusivity enables us to monitor our nannies work rate at a minimal of 8 cases annually.
Due to the high work rate, it allows our nannies to be constantly in touch with confinement work. This enables them to meet a considerable number of customers where with each different customer, they learn to meet different requirements and fulfill different needs. As such, it has molded them to become very adaptive and accommodating towards different working environment. These help to distinct our nannies from freelancers and their counterparts from other smaller agencies where their work rate is much lower.
At the same time, such practice allows equal opportunity in heightening their experience. Therefore, each nanny’s experience does not have a vast difference and thus you do not have to worry about the quality of the nanny that is assign to you.
While for nannies that freshly join our company are no new to this job too. Reason being the entry requirement for them to our company is that they either need to freelance or work for other agencies for a few years before. Other than their existing experience, they are required to go through a stringent screening base on essential pre-requisites such as baby care, culinary skills, herbal knowledge and hygiene, etc. After fulfilling all the requirements above, they will undergo a set of training and evaluating sessions to ensure that they meet our existing nannies standards.
Moreover, we believe in the provision of quality nannies and services in order to receive your future recommendations and it is this same kind of support given by all our customers that has enable us to remain in the market till today.
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How do you ensure the qualities of your nannies?
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On top of their high work rate, nannies’ qualities are further ensured by the company feedback management systems where all of our customers’ valued comments are reviewed seriously. Therefore, we strongly encouraged our customers to rate the nanny by completing the feedback form given by our consultant or through our website. Through such system, we are able to:
- Recognize the effort made by the nanny
- Improve both the company and nanny’s standard of service
- Re-evaluate the nanny quality after each and every assignment
Additionally all our nannies undergo an annual medical check up to ensure that they are Hepatitis A, B and HIV free. This will ensure that our nanny physical health condition does not cause a threat to any of the family members. With such, we can assure you that all our nannies are capable of performing their duties well.
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Why can some agencies offer prices lower than market rate?
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Some new agencies may possibly use market penetration pricing strategy, where they price their services at a very low rate at first and a gradual rise in the rates after gaining market awareness. The reason they apply such strategy is due to the fact that they could not compete in the quality of the nanny and the services provided.
Likewise for the unlicensed agencies that operate illegally. They will usually persuade clients to save up on the levy by not applying work permit for the nanny.
On top of these, some agency might underpay their nannies to suppress their rate. Such practice will greatly affect the nanny performance resulting in an awful experience for you. While in other scenario, lower rates might be due to the provision of inexperienced nannies.
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How do I know if the company is a Ministry of Manpower listed agency?
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It is illegal for unlicensed confinement nanny agencies and/or housewives operating from home to provide confinement nannies. Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has stringent regulations in authorizing companies in order to make sure that your payment made is guaranteed.
A few important things you should do:
- Request for the employment agency license number (EA no.***), company name and address.
- Check through MOM website to verify that the name and address of company given is the same.
- Do not believe a company or anyone who claimed that they are operating under a borrowed licensed name.
*** EA no. is different from Business Registration Number. A Business Registration Number is obtained from ACRA to start their business. However, for certain commerce such as a confinement nanny agency, the government will issue a special license authorizing them to operate.
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Can I engage a Malaysian confinement nanny on social visit pass without a work permit?
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A government announcement on 5th July 2002 states that, all employers who employ confinement nannies from Malaysia regardless friends or relatives, paid or unpaid, will have to apply a work permit for them.
Besides, the government has also implemented penalties for employment of foreign worker without work permit. Please refer to MOM website for more information.
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Why does one still engage Malaysian confinement nannies without a work permit?
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Some are unaware about the need to apply a work permit for the nannies while the others believe that they will not be that unfortunate to be caught. However, if one is caught for hiring illegal workers, not only will he/she be fined, the authority will prohibit him/her from engaging foreign maids in the near future.
On top of this, many perceive that levy is too costly and hence decided to hire nannies without a work permit. However, the amount is just S$6.00 per day for a newborn Singaporean and S$10.00 for newborn of foreign nationality.
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Why some of the Malaysian confinement nannies are willing to work without a work permit?
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A full time experienced nanny taking the risk of working without a work permit is very slim. Due to the fact that, if her passport is filled with social visit endorsements, it will eventually increase the chances of her being suspected working illegally.
Nonetheless, there are still nannies who are experienced and yet willing to work without a work permit. These are the experienced nannies that have no financial commitments and are in this field to pass time. With 2 or 3 assignments a year, their opportunities of being suspected or caught are low.
However, these nannies are usually less accommodating and not as season to confinement work as compare to full-time nannies.
While other nannies that are willing to take the risk might be because:
- They are not within the age limit (>58 years old) set by Ministry of Manpower to apply for a work permit.
- Lack of experienced and thus willing to accept any assignments possible to furnish their experience.
- They are blacklisted by the Ministry of Manpower due to various reasons like criminal record and etc.
A sincere and experienced nanny knows that she will not gain any benefits by working illegally. Hence, she will wants you to apply work permit for her, as she does not wish to face the penalties (fine, jail or banned from coming to Singapore) and most importantly jeopardizing her career.
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Can I get a replacement if nanny is unsuitable?
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Although we are confident with all our nannies capability in fulfilling their job scope well, we do understand the existences of different family requirements, expectations and human chemistry. Hence, replacement of nanny can be done if you feel that she is unsuitable.
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Am I allowed to appoint the nanny whom my friend used before?
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You are allowed to appoint the nanny and it will be placed on your top priority but please take note that it may be subjected to changes due to unforeseen circumstances.
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