But while this may be their ticket to a better life, a lot
of them—particularly those in the Middle East, have to deal with vulgar and
abusive employers.
“They need more protection and perhaps, an even better job
environment. These issues inspired Homeking of China to embark on an endeavor
that would soon enable Filipino household service attendants—who will be
further trained and employed by Homeking—to have a chance to work in mainland
China,” explained Mr. Seung Moo Yoo, CEO of Homeking Philippines Inc.
Indeed, with a continually improving consumption level,
mainland Chinese consumers are fast becoming an attractive point for foreign
household service attendants as well as top-tier household products providers
that Homeking Philippines Inc. will soon offer.
With mainland China’s middle class expanding at an
unprecedented pace, increase in income is expected in a few years. In fact, by
2030, their consumer spending will reach a new level now seen in the European
Union, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit, which cited that about 35
percent of mainland China’s population is expected to have in excess of
US$10,000 of annual disposable income, a 10 percent rise of what they have
today.
Upper middle-income consumers—over 109 million of them are
now in mainland China—are defined as those living in China’s first and
second-tier cities, with wealth of at least US$28,000 and are able to purchase
cars, branded goods and properties (in comparison, high-income individuals are
those who can afford financial services, overseas travel and high-end consumer
goods and services).
No.1 in mainland China
Established in 2010, Homeking is now the largest household
service provider in mainland China with a customer base of over 3 million
families, 30 branch companies and just last year, a revenue amounting to close
to RMB 1 billion (US$150 million).
“With over 660,000 household service companies in China,
what distinguish Homeking from the rest are the privileges its staff enjoy,”
said Mr.Yoo. "Unlike others, a Homeking household service attendant (HSA)
is an employee of the company and thus, enjoy stable salary, follow an 8-hour
working day, with complete insurance protection and follow a promotion system
similar to those working in white-collar jobs.
Homeking has even inaugurated 'August 9th' as HSA’s holiday
in China. Now Homeking is bringing its experience to the Philippines by
establishing Homeking Philippines Inc.”.
Major springboard
Homeking Philippines announced today that besides tapping
premium household service market in the Philippines, it will make itself a
major springboard for the mainland Chinese market will be able to have access
to the best quality and dependable household service professionals. “The
company strongly believes in our thrust, ‘Global Sourcing for World
Services’,’’ said Mr. Yoo.
As explained by Mr. Yoo, the said thrust conveys two
things: firstly, by “Global Sourcing”, Homeking will seek all the best
resources from all over the world in order to provide the highest standard in
domestic (household) service industry, including providing best education and
training resources in house cleaning, care taking, nanny, butler, best business
model, best products for household use (such as kitchen ware, toiletries and
other lifestyle products).
Secondly, Homeking intends bring into the world all these
top level services and products together with its mature business and
management model. In an era of information, international and industrial
division of labor have become more diversified since our pace of life and work
is faster, and people all over the world are more and more relying on
outsourcing services.
Homeking has chosen the Philippines as the 1st station of
its global sourcing thrust, “Filipino household service attendants (HSAs) has
been known the world over for their good character and our Chinese clients will
find that they are very professional, diligent and discreet, thanks to the
well-established training and certification system here in the Philippines. Not
only are we looking forward to introducing into mainland China HSAs but also
the training and certification system we will develop here,” says Mr. Yoo.
Partnerships
To take the first step, Homeking has entered into a
partnership with Filhigh GNS Inc. and Ikon Solutions Asia Inc., both prominent
manpower recruitment and deployment agencies based in Metro Manila. This
partnership will not only include recruiting and dispatching high quality
Filipino household service attendants, English teachers and care takers to
mainland China in the future, but also involves establishing training camps
with local educational institutions, enrolling Chinese participants in courses
such as housekeeping, food & beverage service, cookery amongst others, the
aim is to produce high quality domestic service professional that could better
serve Chinese clients. The company also intends to tap household service
markets in Hong Kong, Macao and Middle East countries—while employing
Homeking’s mature business model—where these two local partners have strong connection.
In the end, Homeking aims to provide an even better protection of overseas
Filipino workers (OFWs).
“After successful pilot run in Manila, we now look forward
to establishing similar training camps in Cebu and Davao, enrolling both
Chinese and Filipino nationals, and teaching them both Homeking and TESDA
courses. We will be elevating their skills, foster their attitudes and at the
same time protect them as they will be working under the tutelage of Homeking's
full-time employment, ensuring that they get the salary
their deserve and on time. At the same time, they will be
able to enjoy the proper treatment from the families they will be assigned to,”
said Mr. Yoo.
Homeking believed its efforts will soon attract more
Filipino domestic service professionals to consider mainland China and will
think twice before going to countries in the Middle East where they are often
employed by vulgar and abusive individuals and families.
It should be remembered that last year, Philippine labor
secretary Silvestre Bello III revealed that (despite the ban and hefty
penalties involved) up to 200,000 were already working as domestic helpers in
mainland China illegally. These families from mainland China were attracted by
Filipinos’ culture and their proficiency in English, which they believed, could
help their children with their studies.
This situation will soon improve considering Chinese
President Xi Jinping, during the latest 2018 National People’s Congress in
China, was quoted saying: “Household service is a sunrise industry, especially
considering the broad employment demand in the country, people from everywhere
wants join household service whenever they come to the cities, which is just
what local residents need. Service classification and training will
professionalize job and satisfy various demands. This work is very important,
it shall create a win-win situation if we do it right."
Other tie-ups
For the past 8 years Homeking has distinguished itself as a
leader in household service industry in China. However, the challenge at the
moment is how to remain a step ahead of the competition. “It is not enough to
simply expand our housekeeping business, we have to upgrade our service by
utilizing the increasing trust of our customers that we have accumulated over
time, from housekeeping to articles sorting, to interior design, and eventually
to health care of our customers’ family. These are the so called elevation
stairs of customer’s demand as well as sequence of customer’s trust, and we
have to climb each of these steps,” Mr. Yoo revealed.
For this end, Homeking is seeking to integrate the
most-trusted household services from all over the world, besides Philippines,
the company also looks to Japan and the United Kingdom as its possible next
stations for article sorting, care taking of senior people and toddlers.
Besides, Homeking is seeking to introduce high quality
lifestyle products from independent designers worldwide as well, another
gesture to acquire more business from its existing customers. The first
Homeking store opened in January in Xiamen City, where Homeking’s headquarters
located. A total of 100 stores are to be opened in China in the coming years.
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