Expediency Of Subjecting Domestic Staff To Due Employment Process Before Job Offer -By Isaac Asabor

Unarguably to make their busy lifestyles more manageable, families with significant possessions often employ domestic staff such as a nanny, housekeeper, driver, chef, or caretaker.

Paradoxically, these families, who have achieved great success in their professional or political lives, often do not follow due employment process before offering jobs to domestic staff that would unavoidably indirectly or directly be involved in their family lives. As a result, they expose themselves and other members of their families to dangers in a variety of ways.

Gullibly enough, some of these families that find the need of engaging domestic staff extremely crucial over time adopt lovable, loyal and somewhat trusted domestic staff as members of the family. This level of trust can cause families to underestimate the possibility that a disgruntled or untrustworthy employee might harm any member of the family or commit crime they never imagined.

At the moment, the media space is literarily choked with the gory story of how a 25-year-old housemaid, Dominion Okoro, killed Madam Maria Oredola Igbinedion, 85, the mother of a former Governor of Edo State, Chief Lucky Igbinedion.
There is no denying the fact that many families have experienced the psychological fear and traumatic pain associated with crimes, orchestrated by domestic workers. In fact, with the killing of the precious mother of the former governor, there is no denying the fact that there is a resurgence of the ignoble crime of domestic workers who have the predilection of killing their employers or members of their family, and which many thought had abated.

In fact, the killing of the former governor’s mother is reminiscent of that of Hadiza Lantana Oboh, a late Nigerian Airways female Senior First Officer (S/FO). Her murder, no doubt, is a tale of greed, tragedy and assassination that emanated from the past. She was slaughtered by her domestic workers on the 8th of February, 1998 for things as useless as foreign currency and jewels.

In fact, since the sad experience of many Nigerians over the murder of Hadiza Lantana Oboh, who was 39 years old when she was murdered, with the police finding her decomposed body in the septic tank at her house after arresting her gardener for attempting to sell items belonging to her, the spate of recurrence of crime perpetrated by domestic staff against their employers so far across the country, seems to be unabated. For those that cannot do without the employment of domestic workers for the upkeep of the home, cooking, driving, and childcare, among other household jobs, and who always decide not to seek the professional assistance of credible recruitment agencies, there is no denying the fact that what literarily looks like a war against them is ongoing from the camp of both potential and employed domestic workers.

It is absurd that despite the recurring killings that are been perpetrated by domestic workers that some families appear not to be helping the situation as not few of them are wont to source for domestic workers through word of mouth. Thus, most of the people seeking to engage domestic workers often resort to asking friends and family for referrals. In some rare cases, domestic workers approach prospective employers to ‘sell themselves’ and offer their services.

Without any iota of exaggeration, sourcing for domestic workers through the foregoing crude method comes with many potential dangers, hence the need to follow due process to ensure that domestic employers are not only getting someone competent and reliable but also someone they can trust. In fact, it is germane to say that subjecting potential domestic staff through due employment process will ensure that anyone that is recruited through due process is who he or she claimed to be.

So, what is the right way to reliably recruit domestic staff? In fact, best practices that will ensure that families employ the right people as domestic workers cannot be farfetched when the following professional advice is adhered to.
As gathered from Strategic Outsourcing Limited (SOL), a personnel outsourcing company with focus on retails sales staff, and services and support staff, families that want to employ domestic staff should not in any way be in a hurry to do so. Rather, the employment agency engaged for the purpose should be allowed to take its time in sourcing the right candidate; even if it takes several months as doing that will enable the agency find the right candidate, perform background checks, evaluate qualifications, and assess compatibility with household members.
The agency warned that “With domestic staff recruitment, it is always better to be safe than sorry. Err on the side of caution, and added that “It may help to have a friend or family member attend such interviews as multiple people whom you trust can help interpret the candidate’s background. These interview sessions provide an opportunity to verify information about the candidate in person, to determine whether he or she is fit, and to gather references you can call for verification.

In a similar vein, the agency recommends conducting a trial or a probationary period before committing to hiring a domestic staff, and explained that that will give a clear insight into the way the candidate behaves, which may differ from his or her conduct at the interview stage.

It further advised that it is vital for the candidate to be supervised during the trial. “For example, if you are filling a nanny position, allow the candidate to spend some time interacting with the kids and getting to know them, but do this in a safe, controlled environment. Hiring a domestic staff opens your home to what is essentially a ‘stranger’ and places your family in a vulnerable position, which is why employers need to protect themselves. Nevertheless, candidates need to demonstrate their skills. You must determine the middle ground for such test runs”.