Non-profit agency places first 49 domestic helpers in Hong Kong

Asia's first not-for-profit domestic helpers recruitment agency has placed 49 maids with employers in Hong Kong since embarking on its no-placement-fee "revolution" last September, one of its founders said.

David Bishop, co-founder of Fair Employment Agency and principal lecturer at the University of Hong Kong's School of Business, hopes more business leaders will follow his model so that the agency will not need to exist in 10 years.

"We hope to start a global revolution for migrant labour placement that relies on ethics, that relies on law," said Bishop, a lawyer turned academic.

Under Hong Kong law, recruitment agencies are only allowed to charge employers 10 per cent of a maid's first-month salary, which amounts to HK$411 at present. The Philippine government does not allow agencies there to charge any placement fee.

But domestic helper groups have complained that many maids often have to pay around HK$20,000 in placement fees to agencies to secure a job in Hong Kong.

Helpers recruited by Fair Employment Agency do not have to pay any placement fee. The agency will charge employers standard service fees of around HK$8,000, depending on the services required.