When times are tough everyone feels the pinch, and as essentials like food and fuel prices continue to increase many are tightening their purse strings.

This does, of course, have a knock-on effect and those who suffer include the men and women employed in households around South Africa.

Numbers from the first quarter of the year are pretty disturbing – check out these stats from BusinessTech:

[Stats SA] showed that among the worst to be hit, were domestic workers, with as many as 45,000 losing their job in the first quarter, to 984,000 employees, [down] from 1.029 million in the prior quarter.

According to Stats SA, domestic workers make up as much as 7.8% of the black South African workforce.

In December 2015, the department of labour announced a minimum wage increase for domestic workers from approximately R2,065 to over R2,230.

Another disturbing fact is that in many households domestic workers are the main breadwinners, so that loss of income can bring a family to its knees.

If you’re thinking that you would implement other cost-cutting measures before firing your domestic worker then you’re actually in the minority:

A recent survey conducted by Old Mutual found that 61% of households across all income groups said that they would fire their domestic worker to cut monthly costs as prices continue to climb.

So where does this leave you and your domestic worker? Well how about taking a moment to look at a way you can protect them, and others who find themselves in similar positions.

Consider this from local start-up MadeSure, who offer two insurance packages aimed at improving the lives of those who many employers often refer to as ‘part of the family’:

Take a proper look at that R195 option for a second – R200 airtime provided, which basically makes everything else free.

Some might look at it this way: instead of your domestic worker buying his/her own airtime and funeral cover, you pay him/her R200 less and rather you pay the cost of the Protector Plus package (R195) instead.

Think for a second how that tiny amount of money, less than R100 for the Protector, can drastically change someone’s life for the better. Seems like a small investment to make, doesn’t it?

More of those benefits below:

Have you ever asked your domestic worker or labourers what time they woke up to arrive in time to start working for you? Go ahead and give it a bash, you may be surprised.

Head on over to MadeSure and find out more about this game changer – go on, be lekker.

[source:businesstech]