Domestic helps, also known as maids form an ubiquitous part of our lives in India. We grew up with them being an integral part of our household. Given how important their role was, it was always surprising that very little was done to ensure an improvement in their standard of living.

In addition, we were also surprised by the lack of formalization of their job type, leading to an inefficient market with variable rates and work ethic. This was a growing problem for employers as well. With our project, we hoped to solve both sides of the issue, by formalizing the job type, aggregating maids and offering them through a modern, unified channel, ensuring high quality for both parties involved.

Maid in India is an attempt to improve the lives of maids and their families by using simple and effective tools to manage their time, efficiency, talent and skills. In addition, the project provided a formal channel for employers to source services of every kind, and be assured of highly skilled and reliable service providers. We believe that skill improvement is a critical part of improving their standard of living, and providing them with growth opportunities available to all other labor forces. Finally, their need for other benefits, like financial security, health and life insurance etc is most acute, and largely unfulfilled. Our project systematically answered these dilemmas for the maids, leading to a happier and more productive workforce.

Problem

Maids in India have always been an essential part of our lives, but their treatment and compensation have not reflected that. They earn less than other workers with comparable physical labor and time, and do not receive any additional benefits as part of their compensation, like paid time off, health and pension benefits etc. The root cause of these problems is the lack of recognition of their profession by the government, making them unable to demand minimum wages, access public benefits available to other labor forces, or even demand for basic non-financial benefits from their employers. The maids don't have access to formalized training to improve their skill sets. Our pre-launch survey indicated that an average maid earns 46% of minimum wage (in Mumbai) and 41% (in Navi Mumbai). health insurance coverage is less than 5%. Our research also shows that employers complain of the lack of standardization of salaries and accountability, questionable quality of work, and unavailability of a uniform hiring platform to name a few.

Solution

Maid in India is a service provided to employers that offers maids trained at various skills, in a variety of packages (hourly, daily weekly etc). Maids are guaranteed enough jobs to fill up 8 hours each day. By enrolling in our program, maids get a 'benefits package' that includes health and life insurance, gratuity and pension, day-care, vocational training etc at no cost. Employers, on the other hand, get trained maids, customized to their needs, guaranteed maid replacement services, all with standardized rates and high quality service. This model is beneficial to both maids and employers, guaranteeing a high acceptance rate in both groups and solving inherent problems both groups face with status quo.

Example

Maid in India is based on a social business model. Each maid placed with the employer costs the employer a modest registration fee and a 5% monthly surcharge. The registration fee is utilized for the training of the maid and the surcharge goes towards project administration and 'benefits package' costs. The maid is not charged anything. On an average, our maids earn more than 2 times their previous salaries. Formalization of the sector has enabled us to place maids as per their specific time availabilities, and at a fixed and 'fair' salary structure.

Marketplace

With growing urban needs for domestic help and lower availability of maids, they are becoming a valued commodity. Knowing this, 80% maids find jobs on their own via word of mouth, and negotiate their own salaries. The other competitors are maid agencies that promise higher wages. These are certainly competitors in terms of creating the image of middle men in the service and their vested interests have been a challenge for us. They do not, however, provide maids with training or benefits, or even accountable service to employers, despite exorbitant charges.