Chow said the helper, in her 30s, first asked to quit at the end of last year, so she increased her monthly pay from HK$4,760 to HK$5,100 to persuade her to stay.
But she added the worker raised the prospect of resigning again just two months later on the grounds of a heavy workload and family affairs in the Philippines, so she gave the woman an increase to HK$5,300 per month.
Chow said before her present helper, two other domestic workers from the Philippines quit after about two months and claimed one of them deliberately did sloppy work to get sacked.
An earlier Indonesian helper, who cost HK$26,000 in an agency commission fee, and whose arrival was delayed by a year during the coronavirus pandemic, worked only two days before she said she could not handle childcare and left, she said.
“The quitting of helpers in only a few months has cost me money, time and energy and I have struggled to hire and retain a new one,” Chow said.
She said she had made complaints to the immigration and labour authorities, but had heard nothing back.
Cases of foreign domestic helpers suspected of abusing the right to premature termination of contracts to change employers soared after strict travel restrictions and quarantine rules imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic left fewer workers in the city, which made them more sought-after.
But the trend of job-hopping had not improved since, employers, unions and lawmakers told the Post.
They added the shortfall in workers had been worsened by demand from new families arriving in the city through a variety of talent schemes, as well as competition from attractive markets such as Singapore.
Some added a growing number of helpers had been tempted by high payments to quit early and work illegally in the city and elsewhere.
They said such practices had left employers with losses of tens of thousands of dollars and called for stricter rules and legislation.
‘Hong Kong employer of late Filipino helper asked to pay HK$580,000 for damages’
Chow said she believed a one-month resignation period was too short because of the time needed to hire a new helper.
She suggested it should be increased to two months and that authorities should be more transparent about their handling of complaints.
But a group set up to represent domestic helpers from overseas insisted that the present rules were already a major deterrent to job-hopping and most of those who ended their contracts early did so because of poor working conditions.
There are more than 338,000 foreign domestic helpers in the city, most from the Philippines and Indonesia. Their standard employment contracts last for two years.
Foreign domestic helpers must leave the city within two weeks of the end or termination of their contract, with employers required to pay for their tickets home.
Frankie Ngan Man-yu, a lawmaker, said a total of more than 400 cases involving helpers who quit their jobs prematurely or just left without notice were recorded by a variety of groups over the past six months.
He added helpers were found in many cases to have taken out loans before they left their jobs and there were also circ*mstances where domestic workers were lured into illegally taking other types of work, such as dishwashing, in Hong Kong, as well as in Macau and mainland China.
Betty Yung Ma Shan-yee, the chairwoman of the Hong Kong Employers of Overseas Domestic Helpers Association, said her organisation received up to two complaints a month from employers about staff who had quit early, mostly within two to three months after starting, citing family matters in their home countries.
Yung highlighted the increasing number of people who recruited helpers directly online to save commission fees, which caused problems including job-hopping because of a lack of background checks on the workers.
“The job-hopping has become a habit as workers have become aware of its advantages and followed suit,” Yung said.
She called for stricter immigration rules to curb the practice, including the creation of a blacklist of those found to change jobs often.
Authorities said a helper’s application to change employer before a two-year contract ended would not be approved under normal circ*mstances.
The government said approval was likely only on the transfer, migration, death, or changed financial circ*mstances of the original employer, or if evidence showed the employee had been abused or exploited.
The Immigration Department set up a special duties team in 2013 to combat job-hopping and suspected cases are investigated when assessing visa applications.
Department statistics showed that the number of visa applications from helpers referred to the team on suspicion of job-hopping stood at 1,557 last year, down from 2,671 in 2022 and 5,844 in 2021.
There were 502 visa rejections among the referred applications last year, compared with 1,760 in 2022 and 2,833 in 2021.
NGOs urge help for Hong Kong’s Sri Lankan workers amid abuse claims, lack of support
The team dealt with 195 referred applications in the first two months of the year and 44 of them were rejected.
But lawmaker Doreen Kong Yuk-foon said the figures did not accurately reflect the situation as the department had staff shortages and only dealt with cases brought to its attention, which could leave others neglected.
She added that the arrival of new households with children under government talent schemes had worsened the supply and demand situation in the sector and made job-seeking easier for helpers.
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han earlier said authorities were revising the employment agencies’ code of practice in a bid to deter job-hopping.
Changes will include requesting employment agencies to better explain to helpers the requirements for changing employers and a ban on agencies from offering cash incentives to helpers to persuade them to quit their jobs early.
Sun said the revised code would come into force in the second quarter of the year.
But Kong said the code was not legally binding, and instead called for legislation to regulate employment agencies.
She suggested a requirement for agencies to disclose helpers’ previous employment records to new employers and refund the commission fee if staff they supplied ended their contracts early.
Hong Kong unions call for safeguards against sacking seriously ill helpers
Kong also appealed to the government to learn from Singapore’s approach, including the provision of professional training for helpers and improved welfare support by opening schools at weekends to hold classes for domestic staff.
“Poor welfare and new-arrival families, as well as some employment agencies and helpers, all contributed to the job-hopping problem,” she said.
Sringatin, the chairwoman of the Indonesian Migrant Workers’ Union, rejected the accusations.
She said the present rules already made it difficult for foreign domestic helpers to change positions because they could be denied new visas if they were found to be job-hoppers.
Sringatin insisted that employers and employees both had the right to end contracts and many helpers did so because of long hours, poor accommodation and heavy workloads.
She added that newcomers from Indonesia also needed to pay between HK$20,000 and HK$30,000 in total in commission fees.
“Hong Kong’s strict regulations have already made the city less attractive to helpers,” she said.
Sringatin added that a growing number of workers preferred destinations such as Japan, South Korea and Canada because of higher pay and shorter working hours.
