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Why do I need a confinement nanny? |
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If you believe in having complete rest to recover from the aftermath of labour, you would definitely need one.
You may think that your maid, mum or mum-in-law may be able to help you. However, many mothers have voiced out that they either end up not trusting their maid with the baby, or feel guilty having to trouble their families. Some mothers realized that their mums or mum-in-laws had lost touch in babycare and couldn't handle the situation.
Should you anticipate such problems, then a confinement nanny is your answer. For those who believe in confinement food, a confinement nanny will be able to cook these dishes for you. Moreover, she can teach you everyday babycare procedures at your own pace & highlight to you all the do's & don'ts of confinement.
Some mothers even think of doing confinement by themselves without realizing whether they are up to the job as well as the various side effects on their health in old age.
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What is the difference between booking a nanny from PEM or by yourself? |
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Obviously, booking a nanny by yourself - meaning that you have to book, contact, pick up and apply the work permit for the nanny by yourself, and hopefully your actual delivery date doesn't coincide with the nanny's other arrangements as " she is your only source ".
Every month we have come across many last minute desperate clients who ask for help as they have book their nanny through personal recommendation and have been played out by their nanny for various reasons.
Once you book a nanny from us, worry not, and leave everything to us. Iregardless of when your actual delivery is, you will definitely get an experienced nanny by then.
Most importantly, throughout your whole confinement period, we will give you all the necessary support and assistance you need instead of you facing any difficulties all by yourself.
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Do I need to pay more for the services given by your agency? |
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To you, NO AGENCY FEE is needed, as the nanny will give us a recommendation fee.
There is no extra cost for you as you will be paying the same if you will to get a nanny by yourself in the market, but you can ease your mind and have the security that you won't be play out by the nanny when the time come and no hassle for other arrangement such as contacting and picking the nanny and also making a few trips to MOM to apply the work permit for her.
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When should I start to book a nanny? |
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If you mind getting an experienced nanny , our advice to you is to book as early as possible in order not to miss the boat of having a good & experienced nanny to serve you.
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Being in this field for over 18 years, many of our regulars who used our service before will book a nanny upon confirmation of pregnancy (7 months in advance). After booking, they will have peace of mind and leave the rest of the arrangement to us. |
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Can I choose the nanny? |
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No. As delivery date is estimated and you do not know the exact arrival date of the baby, it is very difficult to choose. Moreover due to unforseen circumstance e.g. if the nanny falls sick, has personal problems or immigration problem at the checkpoint, appointed nannies are subjected to change.
All our nannies are exclusive nannies whereby we arrange all their assignments accordingly. Hence if your actual delivery date varies from your estimated one, she may not work for you. All our nannies are equally good in babycare and confinement food, so whoever we send, no worries!
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Will you recommend me an experienced nanny? |
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We know ~ providing good services & experienced nannies equals to you recommending us to your friends. This enables us to remain in the market for the past 18 years.
Our agency is strong enough to have a pool of “ exclusive nannies ", they only work for our clients and all their assignments are arranged by us. Each nanny will have 8 and more assignments per year compare to other nanny in the market having only 4 to 5 assignments a year, our nannies are definitely more experienced & seasoned in the job particularly in the field of night-feeds which plays a very important part for baby & mother.
As they are exclusive nannies, we can monitor and control them to ensure the qualities of our nannies.
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How do you ensure the experiences of your nannies? |
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We have a department that does very strict screening on the nannies for hygiene, character, working attitude, test them on babycare & confinement food.
After every assignment, our clients will return a feedback form provided by our company or feedback thought our website on the performance of the nanny.
Based on all the homework that we have done for you, we can definitely give you the full assurance of an experienced nanny.
Reason for the feedback:
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we want to let the nanny know that we will check on her so that she will perform her duties well;
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from the feedback we can upgrade the nannies standard and our service;. |
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a form of screening the nanny for future clients. |
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Why can some agents offer prices lower than market rate to attract customers? |
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The market rate for confinement nannies is based on the experiences of the nanny and the duties she has to perform. Some agency may want to make quick money by giving inexperienced nanny or just underpay the nanny and end up getting a unhappy nanny pulling a long face working for you and not performing well.
Beware of some unlicensed agency that operates illegally. They attract clients by encouraging people to save up the levy by not applying for work permit. They may provide poor quality nanny at slightly cheaper rate.
As we are established, our clients are mainly regulars & come from recommendations. Clients come to us because of our assurance of experienced nannies. We do not want to compete with the others in the market as we only offer experienced nannies based on reasonable rates which is value for money.
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Bewared of unlicensed agency! How will I know the agency is licensed? |
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It is illegal in the eye of MOM for unlicenced agencies and housewives operating from home providing confinement nannies. It is important to deal with MOM licenced agency, as MOM has strict regulations in issuing a licence to ensure the licencee provides you with quality service and your payment made is guaranteed.
How do I know is the company a MOM listed agency?
1) Ask for their employment agency licence number(EA no.***), company name and address;
2) Check through the Ministry of Manpower website;
3) Make sure the name and the address of the company given must be the same in the website;
4) Do not believe in a company or anyone operating under a borrowed licensed name as this is against the MOM regulation.
***EA no. is different from Business Registration no. One must obtain a Business Registration no. from ACRA to get their business going. However, for certain business, government require special license for them to operate such as Confinement Nanny Agency which need to obtain another EA License from MOM in order to operate legally.
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Can I engage a Malaysian confinement nanny on social visit pass without a work permit? |
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In the past it is a common practice to hire a Malaysian confinement nanny to work on social visit pass as there is no such work permit available so people have no choice but to take the risk.
A government announcement on 5th July 2002 states that, all employers who engage confinement nannies from Malaysian regardless of friends or relatives, paid or unpaid, will have to apply a work permit.
If you are thinking of engaging a confinement nanny directly from Malaysia by yourself through mutual agreement to save up the levy, do consider the following:
Prohibition of employment of foreign worker without work permit
5.--(1) No person shall employ a foreign worker unless he has obtained in respect of the foreign worker a valid work permit which allows the foreign worker to work for him....
(6) Any person who fails to comply with or contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall....
(a) be liable on conviction to a fine of an amount of not less than 24 months' levy and not more than 48 months' levy or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both
An extract from the Ministry Of Manpower website
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Is this penalty justifiable to you? Is it justifiable to go through 4 weeks of fear of having an illegal worker in your house?
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Why are some clients engaging Malaysian confinement nannies without work permit? |
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The clients are either unaware that they need to apply for work permit or are ignorant of the serious penalties of hiring illegal workers. Clients may think that since other's are doing that and were not caught by the authorities, they too won't be so unlucky to get caught.
Some clients are unaware that they will be banned from hiring foreign maids if they are caught for hiring illegal workers before.
We think one must be crazy as the consequences one face is greater than the levy one pay.
Clients think that the levy is a huge amount but it is only $7 per day for baby of Singapore nationality.
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Why are some Malaysian confinement nannies willing to work without work permit? |
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Most importantly, is she a full time & experienced nanny? Full time experienced nannies are not willing to take the risk as they are regulars entering Singapore for assignments, if their passports are full of social visit endorsement, they will get suspected & get into trouble, you as their employer will get into trouble too.
Some nannies maybe willing to work without work permit because of:
Please note that good & experienced confinement nannies will definitely want employers to apply work permit for them as they are unwilling to face the serious penalties (fine or jail & banned from coming to Singapore) & also feel afraid in the workplace for being caught. Moreover, they do not gain any benefits by working illegally.
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Can I get a replacement if nanny is unsuitable? |
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Certainly. Though we are very confident with our nannies, we do understand the existence of different family requirements, expectations and human chemistry - hence we will allow room for replacement.
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Can I appoint a nanny whom my friend used before? |
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Recommendation is common in our agency but please note that the appointed nanny will be placed on your top priority but may be subjected to changes under unforseen circumstances.
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