Hiring someone to work inside a home is not quite the same as hiring for an ordinary workplace.
A domestic worker may be cleaning the house, preparing meals, looking after children, helping an elderly family member or taking care of several responsibilities at once. In many cases, the worker may also be living in the same home.
That means the relationship between a household and a domestic worker can quickly become personal. It can also become difficult when expectations are not clear from the beginning.
For families, there are questions about safety, children, property, working hours, duties and whether the person they have hired can handle the responsibilities given to them.
For workers, equally important questions include pay, rest, privacy, workload, accommodation, and whether the job they accepted matches what they were promised.
As part of our research into domestic work and househelp employment in East Africa, Swahili Today spoke with Esther Muitha, founder of Fiftess, a popular Nairobi-based domestic staffing agency with more than 10 years of experience in the sector.
Our conversation focused not on the agency itself, but on some of the everyday questions that arise when households and domestic workers enter into a working relationship, from safety and working conditions to duties, pay, rest and expectations.
“A successful placement requires more than finding someone available for work,” Muitha told Swahili Today.
“It requires understanding the household, the worker’s abilities and expectations, and whether both sides are compatible.”
That view has shaped Muitha’s experience since she started Fiftess in 2016.
She said the business grew from helping people find domestic work and connecting families with people who could support them at home.
As requests increased, she began to see two needs at the same time.
Households needed help finding suitable workers, while job seekers needed opportunities to earn a living.
“That growing demand inspired me to build an agency that could serve both sides,” she said.
“I saw an opportunity to create jobs and make a difference in families’ everyday lives.”
The first problem can be what nobody discussed
One of the simplest problems in domestic employment can also be one of the easiest to overlook: what exactly is the worker expected to do?
A family may think it is obvious that a househelp will cook, clean, wash clothes, look after children and handle other household tasks.
The worker, however, may have understood the job differently.
Muitha said this is one area where households can sometimes create difficulties without intending to.
“Some households expect one person to manage childcare, cooking, cleaning and other responsibilities without discussing priorities or whether the workload is reasonable,” she said.
Experience can also differ from one worker to another.
Someone very good at housekeeping, for example, may not automatically know how a particular family wants its children cared for.
“Someone excellent at housekeeping may need guidance on a family’s childcare routines,” Muitha said.
That is why, in her view, the conversation should happen before the worker accepts the job rather than after a problem has already developed.
What about safety inside the home?
Safety is one of the biggest concerns that comes with hiring someone new to work inside a household.
Families want to know that their children are safe, their property is respected and everyday household responsibilities are handled carefully.
Domestic workers, meanwhile, can also find themselves under suspicion when something goes wrong in a home, even when the cause of a problem may not be clear.
So where does that leave both sides?
Muitha said screening can help, but families should understand its limits.
Fiftess’s process includes checking identification, conducting a physical interview, discussing a person’s experience and communication, and checking references and background information. Police clearance can also be requested.
But she does not present screening as a guarantee.
“Screening helps us assess suitability and identify concerns, but it cannot guarantee someone’s future behaviour,” she said.
That distinction is important.
A background check can provide information about a person. An interview can help an employer understand their experience. References can provide another view of their previous work.
None of those things, however, can tell a family with certainty how a person will behave in every situation in the future.
“Employers should still interview candidates, explain expectations and maintain communication after placement,” Muitha said.
“Vetting is one part of safer hiring.”
In other words, hiring safely does not end when the worker passes a screening process.
A worker should also know exactly what they are accepting
The responsibility does not sit entirely with the household.
Muitha said workers should also ask questions before accepting a position instead of agreeing to a job without fully understanding what it involves.
“They should understand the actual duties, household needs, location, salary, working arrangements and expectations,” she said.
She also believes workers should be honest about their own abilities.
A person who has never worked with young children, for example, should not present themselves as experienced in childcare simply because they want the position.
Workers should also be clear about their limitations.
“Asking questions before accepting a placement helps both sides make an informed decision,” Muitha said.
That can save both sides from discovering after the worker has started that the job is very different from what either party expected.
What should be agreed before the first day?
Muitha’s answer is straightforward.
The household and worker should discuss the duties, priorities, salary and payment dates, working hours, rest days, accommodation and meals where applicable.
They should also agree on what happens when either side has a concern.
Those arrangements should not simply remain as an informal conversation.
“These arrangements should be recorded in writing and explained in a language both understand,” she said.
And if something changes later, the change should also be discussed.
“Changes should be discussed rather than assumed.”
That could apply to almost anything in a domestic employment relationship.
A family may suddenly need the worker to take on another responsibility. A worker may find that a task is taking much longer than expected. Working hours may change, or the household’s needs may change.
If the original agreement does not cover the new situation, both sides need to talk rather than simply assuming the other person will accept it.
Living in the employer’s home does not mean working all day
The question becomes even more important when a domestic worker lives in the same house where they work.
The boundaries between working time and personal time can become less obvious when the worker is physically present.
Muitha believes that should not mean the worker is permanently on duty.
“Every domestic worker deserves dignity, fair pay, reasonable working arrangements, rest, privacy and a safe workplace,” she said.
“They should be able to raise concerns without threats or humiliation.”
Then she made the point even more directly:
“Living in an employer’s home should never mean being available every hour of the day.”
For Muitha, rest and privacy are not extras.
They are part of what a fair working arrangement should provide.
She also believes workers have responsibilities of their own.
Professionalism, she said, should apply to both sides.
Children bring another level of responsibility
Childcare is one area where assumptions can create serious problems.
A family may have particular routines for a child, from meals and sleeping times to medication, school arrangements and emergency procedures.
Muitha said families should explain those things before handing over responsibility for a child.
They should discuss the child’s age, daily routine, allergies, health needs, emergency contacts and supervision requirements.
There should also be clear discussions about discipline, authorised visitors and who is allowed to collect the child.
“Parents should demonstrate important routines and check that the worker understands them,” she said.
That last part matters because explaining something once does not necessarily mean the other person has understood it.
A family may have a routine that seems completely normal to them but is unfamiliar to a new worker.
Taking the time to demonstrate it can prevent confusion later.
What happens when the two sides disagree?
Even when a household and worker have agreed on everything, disagreements can still happen.
Muitha’s advice is not to wait until a small disagreement becomes a major one.
“Both sides should raise concerns early, explain what happened and listen to each other,” she said.
Where an agency is involved, it may also help both sides understand what was originally agreed and look for a practical solution.
But Muitha makes a clear distinction when safety is involved.
“Serious safety concerns require prompt action; they should never be treated as ordinary differences of opinion.”
That means not every dispute should be handled in the same way.
A disagreement about how a household task should be done is different from a situation involving a person’s safety.
Domestic work is also a livelihood
For Muitha, the importance of domestic employment goes beyond the relationship between one family and one worker.
Over the years, she said, she has seen workers use their earnings to continue their education, start small businesses and support relatives who depend on them.
She recalled one client who remained with a househelp placed through Fiftess for more than two years.
Those experiences changed how she viewed the purpose of a placement.
“It can help someone build a future, support their loved ones and take their next step in life,” she said.
That is also why she wants domestic work to receive more recognition.
“I would like domestic work to be recognised as professional work,” Muitha said.
“It supports families, enables parents to work and involves considerable responsibility.”
For her, recognition should not only come through words.
It should be visible in how workers are treated, how duties are explained, how they are compensated and whether they receive proper rest.
Workers, she added, also need to take their responsibilities seriously.
Ten years later, the advice remains simple
Muitha’s experience in the sector has led her back to something that sounds simple but can have a major effect on a working relationship: talk before the job begins.
A family should be honest about what it needs.
A worker should be honest about what they can do.
Both sides should know what has been agreed.
And both should have a way to raise concerns when circumstances change.
Her advice to a family preparing to hire a domestic worker is simple:
“Hire for your actual household needs, discuss expectations clearly and treat the worker with respect.”
For the worker, she offers an equally direct message:
“Understand the job before accepting it, be honest about your skills and communicate concerns early.”
After a decade in domestic staffing, Muitha’s central argument is that a successful placement is not simply about finding a person to fill a vacancy.
It is about finding an arrangement that both sides understand before they begin.
And once the work starts, it is about keeping those expectations clear enough for both the household and the worker to know where they stand.
