A significant number of households across South Africa depend on domestic workers to take care of their homes, their pets, and even their children. And yet, despite their clear importance in our everyday lives, the estimated 876,000 domestic workers in the country are still some of the most vulnerable to exploitation, job insecurity, and financial insecurity.
Unfortunately, domestic work continues to be a relatively informal and not highly regulated environment. This has exposed many domestic workers to unsafe working conditions, overworking, and unfair wages. The latest SweepSouth Domestic Worker Pay and Working Conditions report found that the median earnings of the average domestic worker in the country currently sits at R2 992 per month – well below the national minimum wage of R4 067.20 a month.
Additionally, social isolation and a lack of representation further marginalises domestic workers, making it difficult for them to advocate for their rights and secure better working conditions. This combination of factors makes domestic workers exceptionally susceptible to economic instability and personal insecurity. Meanwhile, the rising cost of living continues to highlight the urgent need for greater innovation that empowers and protects domestic workers.
Innovation in the domestic work sector is crucial to ensuring more dignified and fair work for domestic workers. This includes leveraging technology to create transparent and secure payment systems that guarantee timely and full compensation, thereby reducing financial insecurity.
Leveraging technology to ensure access to work and fair pay
Leveraging digital technologies and platforms can significantly enhance the employment landscape for domestic workers by providing a streamlined and transparent means of connecting them with job opportunities.
Digital platforms like SweepSouth can help to match domestic workers with households in need of their services, ensuring a steady flow of work and reducing the uncertainty of informal job searches. But, more importantly, these digital platforms can also establish standardised pay rates, ensuring that domestic workers receive fair wages that comply with or exceed national minimum wage standards.
This is affirmed by the fact that domestic workers registered on the SweepSouth platform currently earn an average of R4 999 a month, 67% above the average monthly salary earned by domestic workers in the country not on the platform and 22% more than the national minimum wage.
Furthermore, by integrating secure and trusted payment channels, these platforms can guarantee timely, transparent, and full compensation, ensuring fair compensation for work, while playing a pivotal role in formalising employment through clearly defined contracts, fostering financial stability and trust.
But, this isn’t the end of the value that connective digital platforms can offer to areas of “unskilled labour” like domestic work. There is also a greater opportunity to improve the quality of life for domestic workers and set a higher standard for the industry in terms of providing dignified work by using these digital platforms to provide access to a network of resources such as training programmes, legal assistance, health, and other benefits.
This could help to enhance workers’ skills and increase their employability, subsequently leading to better wages, while the expanded access to health insurance, paid leave, and retirement benefits would help to improve the overall well-being of domestic workers.
Legislative reform to ensure fair treatment
Advocacy for policy reforms that protect workers’ rights and raise public awareness about the importance of fair treatment is also necessary to facilitate a more sustainable domestic work environment. While the extensive employment protections introduced in 2002 as well as the more recent enshrining of the new national minimum wage, has helped to set more improved standards for domestic work, the conditions for many domestic workers in the country are still inadequate and unacceptable.
This is why it is vital for greater collaboration between the public and private sectors with a clear commitment to improving working conditions and fostering an inclusive and supportive environment that recognises the critical role domestic workers play in our society. We must continue to actively engage with policymakers and push for legislative reforms that ensure fair wages and safe working conditions.
Furthermore, we must continue to highlight the significant contributions that domestic workers make to our lives and the greater economy and help raise awareness of the challenges they face so that we can uplift and empower these essential workers.
The transformation of the domestic work industry hinges on the integration of technology, thoughtful business practices, and robust policy advocacy. Through these innovative approaches, we can ensure domestic workers are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve, ultimately transforming the industry for the better.
Issued by: Lourandi Kriel, CEO of SweepSouth
