Helper employment contract checklist for Singapore employers
The agency usually hands you a standard contract to sign in a hurry. Ten minutes with this checklist before you sign saves most of the arguments that come up in month three. Where MOM sets a rule, the contract can't go below it, so check MOM's pages for the current rules and follow them over anything here.
1. Salary and how it's paid
The monthly amount, the pay date, and how she's paid (bank transfer leaves a record both sides can see). Write down any deductions you have both agreed, and get her signature on each payslip or transfer record.
2. Rest days
How many rest days a month, which day, and what happens if she agrees to work on one (compensation in pay or a replacement day). MOM's page on rest days and well-being sets the minimum, including the rest day each month that can't be paid away. Put your arrangement on paper so nobody has to remember it.
3. Duties, in one honest paragraph
Who she looks after (children, an elderly parent, a pet) and the main jobs. If eldercare is part of the work, say so in the contract, not on arrival day. Duties that are a surprise later are the most common reason a match breaks down.
4. Placement loan and fees
Ask the agency for the full breakdown: what you pay, what she pays, and how any loan is repaid from her salary each month. Get the repayment schedule in writing so you both know the month it ends.
5. Food, room and phone
Meals provided or a food allowance, where she sleeps, and the phone rules. These belong in your house rules too. Our house rules guide has a list.
6. Replacement and transfer
How many free replacements the agency gives, within what period, and who pays the costs if it doesn't work out. Get this in writing from the agency before you sign.
7. Ending the contract
Notice period on both sides, who pays her flight home, and how her final salary is settled. Agreeing this at the start keeps a hard conversation calm if it ever comes.
8. Her copy
She should keep her own signed copy, in a language she reads. If her English is still new, go through each line with her, or give her a translation.
Salary + pay date · Rest days + compensation · Duties written out · Loan breakdown + end month · Food, room, phone · Replacement terms · Notice + flight home · Her own signed copy
Our free first-week checklist covers what comes after the signature. If you'd like the house rules and routine written up in English plus Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia or Burmese, see the sample handbook.
You will have to send a first-time migrant domestic worker (MDW) for the Settling-in Programme within 7 days of her arrival in Singapore excluding Sunday and public holidays.Source: mom.gov.sg, Settling-in Programme. The handbook is a home guide. It does not replace the SIP or give legal advice.