do people have maids in madagascar? what about prices and safety?

Hi again,

To my knowledge, most people do have maids. The price is something like $70 per month. Of course, the risk is there: you can try and limit access to some parts of the house, but petty theft may always happen, as everywhere (not only in Africa). I plan to have one as well, depending on when you come, I might be able to tell you more in a couple of weeks.

Hi daer How U i am live in kwuait  I have offce pls contt me **

Dear Tropic Alex
Greetings my name is James and I will be seeking a live in maid when I get Madagascar. Where do you find these villages where low cost help can be found?  Of course it will be more expensive in the long run since I plan to include lodging and meals as well as medical insurance. Please post me an answer.
Thanks
James

cyrilfrench1970 wrote:

Dear Tropic Alex
Greetings my name is James and I will be seeking a live in maid when I get Madagascar. Where do you find these villages where low cost help can be found?  Of course it will be more expensive in the long run since I plan to include lodging and meals as well as medical insurance. Please post me an answer.
Thanks
James

Like most things that you want in this country, it is found by word of mouth.  Start by asking your neighbors, small store and shop owners of which there are dozens in each neighborhood, taxi or tuk tuk drivers, just people you see on the street as everyone is open to talk and be sociable . So many will have family in small villages who will want work. You will pay for their transport which is about $15  on average to bring them in by bush taxi.  It is very easy and you will have many choices as many people in this country are looking for work especially from a vazaha since they know they will get a better wage and medical including food as we Vazaha have a certain sense of treating the help well compared to local Malagasy. There have been some 50 times over the years that I have had people coming to my gate asking for work.

Of course, as in any African country you can have maid and gardener and whoever else you want for your home. The prices are cheap: a maid would cost you €50 and up per month, a gardener would probably take something like €2-3 per day of work (they work normally on a flexible schedule).
Security is an issue: the bad news is that most of them would steal. They won’t steal big, but sometimes you’d see that a flash drive you didn’t use for a while got lost. And after asking your maid, it will be magically found in a day or two.
Cameras inside the house would certainly help. When they see cameras, they become more careful.
My ex-maid stole perforator and tablet from me 4 years ago. When I threatened her to go to the police, she returned the perforator. But brought me after to the labor inspection, complaining that I harassed her for stealing. Not a nice experience at all.

Since then I found a very religious woman. And even though she’s slow and needs sometimes the follow up, she doesn’t steal. And I keep increasing her pay just to keep her working for me.

So, yes, you can have a maid, but be very careful with the selection. And beware of theft. I think 97% of them would steal. But it’s the part of life.

I have had maids for decades.

The legal minimum salary is decreed by the government from time to time.  Decree No. 2019-927, in 2019 put the the minimum basic wage up to 200,000 Ar for the M1 category. M1 refers to unskilled non-agricultural labour, most housemaids would fall into this category.  The category is not too important anyway, because in the lowest paid categories the salary differences are only a couple of dollars between the lowest M category and the highest M category.

The hourly volume of work in Madagascar varies, although the legal duration is generally 40 hours per week for workers in the non-agricultural sector.

Most expats that I know pay their staff more than the legal minimum, it is not actually possible to in any way thrive on that money, especially if you have any children.

Other considerations are paying CNaPS (social security) and FMFP (professional training fund), a health fund (where I live it is called OSIET, in Tana OSTIE) and these are all legal obligations.  Whether you can get away without paying them, and whether you morally should pay them, are two entirely different things.  CNaPS gives people access to small pension funds upon retirement, a small amount of child benefit each month, and assistance for female staff when they fall pregnant.  FMFP offers various types of (usually free) professional training that is (usually) only available to contributors.  The health fund is vital, for free consultations with a doctor, and basic medicines, and basic dental.  This can be critically important to low-paid workers.

I highly recommend if you are looking to employ someone that you ask in one of the various social media groups where expats hang out and you will often find recommendations there from people who are going home and trying to find work for their staff before they depart.  Personal recommendations from former employers, and treating people well, being kind, and paying a proper salary that is enough to live on, will be a very good start in avoiding security issues.