A century ago, it was defined as a status symbol to employ domestic workers. The status in which these people were employed at the time was by no means regulated. Stories of compensation by “room and board”, sometimes even passed on to the next generation, were no exception in the higher social circles. It was therefore difficult as a worker to get out of this socially dependent situation.
Today, in 2018, in which we have given the household help market a full social status, we have also undergone a social evolution towards families with two working parents, single professionals, one-parent families, and all possible forms of life in which the individual can freely place himself. can find. The demand for and finding a suitable household help has become more acute, faster, more efficient and sometimes also more volatile.
Fortunately, working as a household help is increasingly a conscious choice. This profession enables the employee to fully build up financial independence in combination with a solid social status and a family life. After all, as a household help you choose, in consultation with the recognized company, how many hours you wish to work, in which region, for which period, etc … – a flexible, adaptable form of ‘work-life balance’ as you personally feel as an individual and wish to fill in. This is also the big advantage and often the factor to win over new qualitative employees, looking for a new challenge.
Although the service vouchers system started reluctantly in 2004, almost as a “try-out” to combat undeclared work, it turned out to meet an enormous need and this market continues to grow to this day.
However, this does not imply that the job has become easier. The more than 10 years that we assist household helpers from -in the meantime- 7 locations in Flanders, proves the opposite. Every week, the household help enters the private world of different customers with different expectations, habits, lifestyles and life views. This requires a lot of empathy and adaptability. Our role as coach and sounding board has therefore evolved significantly over the years and is constantly gaining in importance.
Based on this insight, Dome Assistance has always focused on relieving its employees since the start: the local presence of our coaching team has long since ceased to be dictated by logistical requirements to regularly receive paper checks, issue performance lists or schedule schedules. discuss. We work for 80% with electronic service checks (the national average is only 50%) and our in-house developed ‘Dome-App’ ensures that planning and two-way communications run digitally, much to the appreciation of our ‘Dome Assistants’ and of our customers, who know themselves connected to a company that, in the midst of the digital world in which we live, responds to social and technological trends and is a forerunner in that area in the service check world.
Conversations in the local offices mainly focus on the well-being of our Dome Assistants, on the positive development of their relationship with the customers entrusted to them, on their safety at the workstations. The team members in the offices mainly act as a sounding board and ensure that the household helpers feel “heard”.
Of course, correct, punctual and timely payment contributes to this feeling of appreciation. Like many, our employees also see a number of payments registered on their bank account on the first of each month such as rent, loan, maintenance, etc. Since the service check market is regulated by hourly wages, it is necessary to wait for the last working day of the month before a correct statement can be drawn up. The law and the corresponding collective labor agreements provide for prompt and correct payment of wages; it is customary in our sector to pay an advance no later than the 20th of the month and the balance must appear in the bank account of the service check employee no later than the 5th working day of the following month. However, when the public holiday falls at the beginning of the month with the associated bank closures, the payment still reaches the account within the legally determined time, but in practice this is often very uncomfortable in function of planned fixed payment orders. This can lead to a lot of worry and frustration for our employees and of course does not contribute to the peace of mind and sense of appreciation that we are committed to.
Hence our decision and point of action to pay everyone a second, as large as possible advance, in the last days of the month; this takes us a step further in our mission to provide “quality” to our Dome Assistants, and therefore indirectly to our customers. After all, being heard presupposes that there is listening and that an improvement or action point is subsequently linked to it.
We are happy to unburden our employees so that they in turn can continue to unburden their entrusted customers, worry-free.