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SINGAPORE: As Ms. Heather Huang approached her due date in early August, she felt desperate because she couldn’t hire a confinement babysitter.
The 30-year-old business owner was expecting her firstborn, but the agencies she contacted told her they couldn’t provide one for the dates she requested.
“I was a little scared because I didn’t know how to bathe, feed, or just care for the baby when it was born,” Ms. Huang said.
“The agencies told me they had a limited supply and with border restrictions, they needed to make arrangements earlier to ensure that the nanny work permit and quarantine can be completed,” he added.
Ms. Huang told CNA that she preferred to hire Malaysian nannies due to the relatively lower price for one who would stay with her family and her rich experience.
She is one of the many Singapore-based parents who are interested in hiring Malaysian confinement babysitters to deal with the initial challenges of welcoming a newborn.
Nannies often care for newborns while mothers recover from childbirth. When the parents are ready, the confinement babysitters will teach and equip them with the basic skills necessary for parenting.
However, these arrangements came to a halt in March when Malaysia implemented the motion control order and Singapore subsequently entered the “circuit breaker” period, blocking non-essential travel between the two countries.
Now that border restrictions have been eased, workers have been allowed to travel between the two countries through the Periodic Posting Agreement or Reciprocal Green Lane schemes.
A view of the Woodlands causeway linking Malaysia and Singapore on August 17, 2020 (Photo: Try Sutrisno Foo)
Although the confined nannies industry has not been classified under any of the schemes, they are still allowed to enter Singapore for work by obtaining a work pass from the Singapore Ministry of Manpower (MOM) from June 17 .
According to MOM requirements, Malaysian confinement babysitters arriving before September 1 must apply for approval for a work pass, take a COVID-19 swab test, and submit a Stay-at-Home Notice (SHN ) 14 days upon arrival before they can work.
However, for confinement nannies entering Singapore from Malaysia after September 1, they would only have to meet a seven-day SHN upon arrival.
READ: FAQ: How can workers travel between Singapore and Malaysia and what are the COVID-19 protocols in force?
Fortunately for Ms. Huang, after she gave birth to her daughter on August 10, her husband’s aunt offered to live with the family for two weeks to care for the baby while she recovered.
“I am very grateful to her. I wish I didn’t have to bother her. But I still felt that she needed a babysitter to stay with us for a longer period, so I tried to contact the agencies again,” Ms. Huang said.
She eventually managed to hire one from an agency and said she was “very satisfied” with the service of the confinement babysitter assigned to her.
“It’s better late than never, but I wish I was assigned one earlier,” he said.
The confinement babysitting agencies that CNA spoke with said there is indeed a shortage of babysitters, due to COVID-19 restrictions in both countries.
As they struggle to meet the demand of Singaporean families, new parents should be prepared to fork out more to help cover the costs of the SHN and swab test.
Meanwhile, Malaysian nannies also see their income falling as the mandatory quarantine reduces the number of days they can work in Singapore.
THE AGENCY OF BABY BABIES IN CONFINEMENT CANNOT MATCH THE HIGH DEMAND
Mishell Lee, Senior Business Manager at PEM Confinement Nanny Agency (PEM), shared that the demand for nannies in confinement has soared recently due to travel restrictions imposed by countries around the world.
Many of these families initially wanted to depend on their parents living abroad or were going to hire a maid to help them. However, with travel restrictions, many have turned to confinement nanny agencies.
Ms Lee told CNA that the company can currently activate only 200 of its total workforce of around 400 nannies, at any one time. This is due to the lower approval rate for their work permits and the need to attend SHN on every trip.
He said PEM has not been able to match the “high demand” as not all of its babysitters can be activated on short notice.
“Since the inception of MCO and Circuit Breaker, PEM has been receiving a large number of requests from clients to extend the service of their confinement babysitters, but we are unable to fulfill (these requests) due to a lack of manpower and this is still it continues to this day, ”he said.
(Photo: Unsplash)
He also noted that families often hire babysitters for 28 days, but for some, especially first-time parents, this is not enough.
“Many of the mothers who signed up with us… have not yet fully recovered from childbirth, and leaving them alone will make it more difficult for them to care for their newborn,” said Ms. Lee.
A new father who wanted to be known only as Mrs. Long is faced with the exact situation.
She had no trouble finding a babysitter when she gave birth, but is currently having trouble trying to extend her babysitter’s contract for another 28 days.
Ms. Long told CNA that she initially hoped that her parents, who live in China, would be able to travel to Singapore to help her after she gave birth.
READ: Comment: Malaysia is slow to reopen COVID-19 for good reason
However, they were unable to travel due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and then they hired a Malaysian nanny from PEM, who came to stay with them on the day she gave birth, August 8.
Ms. Long said that she is very impressed with the service provided by the babysitter and has asked PEM if they could extend her babysitter’s service for another 28 days, but the agency so far has not been able to confirm if they can grant this request. .
“Currently, I have no other options. We want a simple 28-day extension and it will help us a lot. I would have recovered more and would be in a better condition to take care of the baby, ”she said.
ADDED COSTS TRANSFERRED TO SOME FAMILIES
Due to MOM requirements, there will be additional costs for the babysitter’s trip as they will need to stay in a dedicated SHN facility and take the COVID-19 test.
Malaysia also requires that people arriving from abroad be quarantined at designated facilities for 14 days. Citizens must pay out 2,100 ringgit (690 Singapore dollars) of partial costs, while foreigners must pay the total of 4,700 ringgit.
The additional financial costs could then be passed on to families, babysitters or agencies, or could be shared between the three parties.
Fortunately for parents like Ms. Long, PEM has said that it will bear all costs incurred by its babysitters, including the SHN swab test, COVID-19, as well as other necessities like face masks, which add up to around S $ 1,700 per travel.
READ: COVID-19 – PM Muhyiddin hopes Malaysia and Singapore can finalize procedures for daily commuting
However, other families were not so lucky.
Jason Teo, who hired his nanny from Malaysia in mid-August, told CNA that the agency he hired from had agreed to share the additional financial costs with their clients, and that he had to pay S $ 700 in addition to the $ 3,000 Singaporeans to hire babysitter for 28 days.
He did not want to reveal the name of the agency.
“I accepted because I think it is not fair to expect the agencies to absorb all the additional costs. And I think it would be even worse to wait for the nannies to pay,” said the 29-year-old engineer who welcomed his first child. August 14.
“The babysitter has been great for us, so we are fine with her,” he added.
GIRLS CARE FOR FEWER FAMILIES DUE TO THE QUARANTINE
The pandemic and COVID-19 measures have also affected the livelihoods of Malaysian lockdown nannies.
The total 28 days of quarantine they are subject to when entering Singapore and returning home to Malaysia means they lose the opportunity to work for close to a month and are away from loved ones for a longer period for each assignment.
Ms Tey May Leng, 51, who works at PEM, told CNA that she had trouble paying her two children’s college fees for the past three months when she was unable to leave Malaysia to work in Singapore during the period. of MCO.
Tey May Leng, a confinement nanny, has been unable to work in Singapore since March 2020 (Photo: Facebook / PEM Confinement Nanny Agency)
“Since I have not worked since March, I have lost around RM16,000 in total income. My children’s college fees are around RM5,000 a month, so it has been difficult, ”he said.
To support the family, her husband had odd jobs while they spent less on food and other necessities.
Therefore, Ms Tey is grateful that her work permit has been approved and is now able to resume her work in Singapore, her first assignment in about six months.
She has been assigned to a family and made the long journey from her hometown of Gurun, Kedah in the northern part of Malaysia to Singapore on August 25, and is currently serving her SHN in a hotel.
“I will serve fewer customers on each trip due to the length of the COVID-19 quarantine, but I can no longer afford to be picky,” he added.
Due to the long quarantine period and extended period of assignment, some babysitters have to be away from home and their loved ones for a long time.
PEM’s nanny, Ms Yow Yin Fen, who lives in Singapore and is staying with her daughter, told CNA that she has not seen her husband in Malaysia for six months.
“I miss my husband, but being in Singapore makes more sense to me. I can serve more families for the agency, ”said the 52-year-old from Kulai, Johor.
“But I am concerned that my husband is home alone and sometimes has problems,” she added.
Yow Yin Fen lives with her daughter in Singapore, but misses her husband, who lives alone in his hometown of Kulai, Johor. (Photo: Facebook / PEM Confinement Nanny Agency)
Ms Yow said she plans to return to Kulai once the Malaysian government relaxes restrictions and allows citizens to self-quarantine at home.
Mrs. Tey,who entered Singapore before Sept. 1, said he will be away from his family for at least 56 days, 28 days for confinement assignment in Singapore and another 28 days in quarantine facilities. She misses her grandson, whom she has been caring for, and her husband.
“I have a video call with them every day, but I also know that I am working to keep them,” he said.
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