"Help, I Need Somebody...Help, Not Just Anybody"

My goal this week was to work on our "staff". I've put this word in quotes because it still feels foreign to me. Or rather, it is not a word I would normally use in every day language. Apparently, this is part of most people's vocabulary around here. 

"Have you hired your staff yet?" seems to be the most common question around.

We have been here 10 days. How am I expected to hire a "staff"? And what exactly encompasses the word "staff"? Clearly it is more than one person. A driver is a given. Most everyone we know or meet has a driver - expats and locals.  Plus it is company policy that you use a driver to and from work. While the primary employee is in the office, the spouse can utilize the driver to take the kids to and from school, run errands, etc. In my opinion the driver is not as difficult to hire as other staff since they have to have passed various company tests and are trained in the company's safety protocols. Most have worked for other families in the company so you can usually find someone through word of mouth.

The challenge for me is the "steward" or helper, or the housekeeper, or the nanny, or the cook, or god willing one person that does some or all of it since I really don't have the energy or the patience for all these people. It just feels odd to share my day with another person. In addition we will be sharing a car - and the driver. Since we arrived, I've talked to a lot of people in an effort to find the best option but as it turns out everyone has a different set-up.

A lot of women with young children have nannies. They may also have a steward who does the marketing and the house keeping. Some people have a steward and a cook. Some have a steward that preps meals during the day but leaves in the afternoon. Some stay all day cooking all three meals including lunch for the employee to take to work.  All of them earn different pay. Many get bonuses. Some utilize the extra housing that the company offers to the employees. The housing is a separate one-bedroom dormitory on the compound with shared bathrooms and kitchens. Sometimes it is called the "steward's quarters" or "the boy's quarters".

And this is where it gets really tricky. Do you offer your extra accommodation to the driver or the steward? We can't drive ourselves and if you need to go somewhere, you typically want to go as quickly as possible because of the traffic. But if your steward is also your housekeeper and your cook, wouldn't you want to make their lives (and let's face it, yours) easier by allowing them to live in your apartment building? 

Today we interviewed both a steward and a driver. It was painful. The two currently work as a team for another family so that felt like a bonus but it became very clear very quickly that I still really don't know what I want from a steward. And if you don't know what you need, you can't discuss expectations or salary. Or bonuses or housing. I am also terrified of making a wrong choice and then having to undo that choice at some point down the road. Frankly, I've heard some horror stories. And who could blame the person? For many people here, being a family's steward comes with room and board and a secure job for the next 3-4 years.

Help.

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