Maid to please! This online initiative puts your never-ending hunt for a domestic help to an end

Let’s face it. Nothing can be more horrendous than running the house without a domestic help. But you couldn’t agree more that the most challenging part is getting the right person to help you with the household chores. To top it all, in our busy-as-Piccadilly Circus life, it becomes even tougher to hunt for a maid—reliable, punctual and meeting our standards of hygiene– who belongs to the unorganised workforce.

The potential of the hitherto-untapped industry dawned on the founders– Anupam Sinhal, Vikash Chowdhury, Alcino D’Souza and Ashik Shah– who have had expertise from their online venture Nanojobs, an interface between employers and more than five lakh registered blue- and grey-collar jobseekers. And this February, the go-getters launched their one-of-a-kind project BookMyBai that currently operates in Mumbai catering in four different areas: cleaning, cooking, baby sitting and elderly care.

The online forum that boasts of a database of 3,500-odd housemaids is not just a balm for your aching back but it also provides the jobseekers with a hassle-free life. Sample these:

Alka Khujur, baby sitter

“I was constantly being harassed at my earlier workplace. The employer used to scold me for no reason and the workplace was also very far from my home. But I had no choice. I had to go there to work since I did not have any other means of livelihood. Every day, I used to spend Rs 65 to commute which burnt a hole in my purse. But this online initiative landed me a job like a windfall. I didn’t have to knock at doors for interviews. My current workplace is walking distance from my place. I save lot of money and can send my children to good school.”

Poonam Vinod Wagadi, cook

“The maid agency I contacted earlier used to bungle money from the recruiters by frequently changing my jobs. Almost every month it would ask me to join a new place which took a toll on me. But things changed largely when I got a job through the online platform for maids. The best thing is they regularly call me to check if everything is fine and know about the employer’s behaviour. I also got a hike of Rs 2,000 on my salary for their timely negotiation with the recruiter.”

Owner of a leading movie production house; hired a full time maid and cook

“We had tried a lot but could not get a maid living up to the hygiene standards of the production house. Thanks to the initiative, we got an experienced and, most important, a background verified domestic help. “

Megha Agarwal; hired a full time baby sitter in Juhu

“The entire hiring process was so smooth. We didn’t have to dole out any advance payment. The video interviews of maids came too handy and saved a lot of time. I and my husband sat down together and watched the interviews to cull out the best baby sitter.”

Rashmi Dutta; hired a full-time maid in Bandra West

“I am a working woman and it was not possible for me to interview maids on weekdays and most of the agencies do not work on Sundays. Your video interviews were of great help. My most important criteria for selecting the maid was that she should be comfortable with my pet dog. The customized search options on the portal got me exactly what I wished for. I am so happy with her work that when she asked for a raise, I obliged.”

The 2-minute video interviews of maids are fast becoming their USP. Anupam, director of BookMyBai, says, “It saves a lot of time and energy. As in this sector, people are generally paid on a daily basis, for the jobseeker, it saves him/her a lot of money. Plus, they don’t have to go through the ordeal of knocking every possible door in the hope of getting some work. One registration and that’s all. We will do it for them.”

What sets them apart is their professionalism and effort to discipline the unorganized workforce. “We conduct identity checks, document verifications, in-person interviews and training sessions. To foolproof our clients, we do the background verification of the jobseekers. We also call up their previous employer to take feedback. We keep ready the data with us so that in case anything goes wrong the cops can also use them as references.”

The young entrepreneur looks forward to expanding their reach to Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune in the next phase. “To make the system more disciplined, we are planning to put the maids on our payroll so that they can be enrolled with PF and ESIC,” he signs off.