The Malaysian Insight

WHEN Siti Nursyazalina Zailani graduated as a materials engineer, she tried for several months to secure a job.

After several rejected job applications, she decided not to wait any longer and took up a job as a domestic cleaner with cleaning agency Maideasy, in order to help her single mother cope with the rising cost of living.

“I was attracted to this job because of the flexible hours, and if I work hard, we can take home about RM2,000 or more (a month),” she told The Malaysian Insight.

“I didn’t have time to be picky (with jobs) because I came from Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur to look for work and help my mother.”

Nursyazalina said she gets paid RM80 for each home she cleans. Her work includes tidying up the house, mopping the floors and cleaning the toilets. The agency takes a RM20 commission from each job.

“I’m getting paid to work eight hours a day, five days a week, and I can earn the same wages as a university graduate, if not more,” she said.

Her sister, 21-year-old Siti Nurdiyana is studying for her Association of Chartered Certified Accountants certification at Intec College in Shah Alam and has also recently joined Nursyazalina at Maideasy.

Unashamed

According to Higher Education Minister Idris Jusoh, 54,867 or 23.9% of the 228,568 university graduates nationwide in 2015 were unable to find employment three months from the dates of their convocation ceremonies.

As the number of jobless and cash-strapped graduates increases, more are turning to jobs that they would otherwise have never considered.

Nurdiyana said she cares little for the stigma attached to domestic work, which is usually left to foreigners. She said the job was “honest work”, and that what was important was that she had a job and income.

“Lots of people will always ask ‘Isn’t it disgusting to be cleaning someone else’s house?’” she said.

“For me, if you want to work, there’s no need to think or care about what people say.

“We’re not doing anything wrong.”

Nursyazlina said she has never felt ashamed of the work she does, but admits to feeling uncomfortable when clients express their surprise at finding out she is a graduate.

“When they communicate with me in English, sometimes they are surprised and will ask my how it is that my English is so good,” said the eldest of five siblings.

“They can never guess that I am a university graduate, and will ask me all sorts of questions, like why I’m cleaning people’s homes.”

Not a popular with locals

Maideasy chief executive officer Azrul Rahim said convincing locals to work as domestic cleaners was initially challenging for the start-up, which offers online cleaning services by a purely-Malaysian crew.

“To get Malaysians to work for us as maids was initially very hard. I had to beg them to accept this job,” he said.

“But eventually, many of them were willing to take it when they found that they could generate an income that was two, even three, times more than if they worked at a fast food restaurant.”

One of the reasons the company does not use foreign workers is because of the expensive and complicated process of hiring. Azrul said he was also not willing to take the risk of hiring immigrants without valid working documents.

The company, which was set up in 2015, trains its crew for three months before sending them out. 

The training includes cleaning techniques, communication skills and how to manage customers.

Azrul said there has been an increase in the number of university students taking on work at Maideasy.

“Most university students prefer to work at fast-food outlets. But we do have crew members who are university undergraduates.

“They do it secretly, and don’t want others to know. Recently, there are more students who are doing it, and they even invite their friends to join them.”

Azrul said that even though the stigma attached to working as a domestic cleaner is slowly being lifted, the response to the call for more cleaning crew is still slow.

“Our main challenge is changing people’s perception towards this kind of work,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

“They never hear of Malaysians working part time as maids. We always only hear of foreigners or illegal migrants doing it.” – August 3, 2017.