If you ask Nigerians why they engage in using domestic staff services, they will tell you it is to make their lives easier. If you ask them, what are the factors they consider before hiring one? Answers such as “reliability, character, ease of communication,”. will ensue. There are several factors to consider before hiring domestic staff, and key among them should be the safety and security of your family & loved ones.
If you have kids running around the house all day, you want to make sure that the person looking after them will be just as careful and responsible as you would be yourself. You also want to ensure that the health and safety of you and your loved ones are not put in jeopardy because of an employee.
Screening your domestic staff before hiring them can be beneficial, as it eliminates potential risks (health, safety, security, etc.) To you and your loved ones.
So, what are the benefits of screening your domestic staff? What are the components involved in the general screening of your domestic staff? Is medical screening an important component in evaluating your prospective domestic staff? This article explains all this and more using the best approaches.
Read also: Pre-Employment Medical Exams: Why Your Company Needs Them.
Benefits Of Screening Your Domestic Staff?
- It provides vital information about the health of your prospective employees.
- It ensures the safety of you and your family : Staff such as cooks, cleaners, nannies, and drivers are always in close contact with the food, the kids, and the living space. You can ensure that they do not have any transmittable diseases (that can be passed to you and your loved ones) by ensuring they undergo relevant health tests and screening, hence keeping you and your loved ones safe.
- It allows you to screen potential employees ahead of time for both character and performance.
- When working with domestic staff after screening them, you can be rest assured that they will fulfil their duties dependably and that your health and safety are not at risk.
- Through the medical screening, staff can also learn about their health status and health risks and, by effect, start mitigating factors that can help them stay safe and well.
- A background and health check of domestic staff can produce loads of valuable information about the individual involved.
Related: 7 reliable health tests for your domestic staff
General Domestic Staff Screening Steps
The process involved in the screening of domestic staff includes:
Interview to Evaluate Candidates
It involves administering a series of interviews and tests to the candidate. Some of these tests include personality tests, psychometric tests, etc. to measure whether they are suitable for the prospective position.
Check Employment History and Background Checks
Employers can conduct background checks on domestic staff. This usually involves looking up an employee’s criminal record and checking court records for arrests or lawsuits. These results often help employers gauge whether a domestic worker is trustworthy or has shown poor judgment in past jobs. When you run a background check on potential employees, you will learn more about their past employment history and education, giving you more detail on their character and moral values.
Conduct Reference Checks to Verify Background Information Provided by the Applicant
When picking a domestic employee for your household, check references to find out who you can contact regarding the applicant. Before deciding on whom to hire, call references, such as; former supervisors, colleagues, customers, or even friends, to ask how well they completed specific tasks and interacted with others at work. The best thing to do would be to verify the information from multiple sources to get the most results.
Performing a Health Screening Test
This is a vital part of your domestic staff screening process. Employers should screen their domestic staff for conditions that may affect their ability to carry out tasks and that can affect the health and safety of their employer (and loved ones). For instance, an employer will need their household cook to undergo several tests to ensure they do not carry transmissible pathogens that can be passed from them through food handling. Some of the tests involved in domestic staff medical screening include:
-Hepatitis A screening test
-Hepatitis B screening test
-HIV
-TB test
-Full blood count
–COVID test
-Eye test
In conclusion,
Do you want to carry out a comprehensive domestic staff medical screening? Choose a company that specializes in this with years of track record.
At Medbury, we treat your domestic staff with respect and dignity, whilst offering you peace of mind when we carry out their health investigations. Need our service? Book an appointment with Medbury. Click here to get started.
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