Having someone else do your washing, cleaning, tidying and even cooking for you is one of Shanghai’s great pleasures. Many an expat struggles to imagine what life would be like without their beloved ayi there to pick up after them. For new arrivals to the city though, finding an ayi they trust can be something of a minefield.

Horror stories abound on expat websites of ayis doing all manner of nefarious things while the owner of the house is out. Some of this is really just racism by another name, but there remains an understandable wariness about letting a relative stranger go through your drawers, even if it’s just to put your underwear away.

Fortunately, there are several routes to finding an ayi you can trust:

Referral

Friends often tell friends how wonderful their ayi is, and word of mouth is probably the most sure-fire way of finding an ayi who’ll understand your needs. Whether you want her to mix the baby formula or throw out last night’s beer bottles, chances are she’ll already be doing much the same for your friends. And, if the ayi in question can’t help (she may have enough work already or live too far away from you), she may well be able to recommend a friend of her own.

If you don’t have any friends (either because you’ve just arrived or because they’ve all abandoned you to the squalor of your un-cleaned living room) then help is at hand online. Many of the city’s online expat forums feature regular recommendations for trustworthy help. Try Shanghai Expat for the most up to date, word of mouth recommendations.

Through an agency

Agencies ought to takes the strain out of finding an ayi, but too often finding a reliable agency just doubles the headache. A reputable agent should, at the very least, be willing to meet you to discuss what you want, offer you several candidates, and let you interview the ayis in person. Ayi Pro , CC Shanghai, and Sarah Home Service come particularly highly recommended.

Reading online discussions – again at sites like Shanghai Expat – can be helpful for testimonials for or against particular agencies, though too often you have to trawl through pages of anecdotes. It’s also worth looking in the Classifieds section of some of the expat magazines you see lying around town, or at our very own eChinacities classifieds pages: ayi agencies can be found listed under Services.

Be especially wary of agencies whose ads pop up on internet searches, but who you don’t see discussed elsewhere. And watch out for agencies posting their own recommendations (most of them do, but it’s obviously better if other people are saying good things about them too). Something else to bear in mind is going through an agency will cost you more, and they will also probably take a cut of the ayi’s salary. That may be a small price to pay for peace of mind and recourse in the event something does go wrong.

Looking online

Not many ayis post online themselves, but qualified domestic helpers do, and if you’re living in Shanghai with your family, an experienced, English-speaking maid might be a better option. Often from the Philippines, many of these maids have years of experience with expat families in Shanghai, or elsewhere in Asia, and are typically available to work full-time, though naturally they do cost more than a local hire. Many such domestic helpers post their CVs to dedicated sites like Asia Xpat’s Helper page.

By posting (or reading) an ad yourself

Some expats choose to post ads in the back of local magazines announcing that they’re looking for an ayi, though it’s not clear how successful this option is.

Ayis do put up adverts themselves on noticeboards at expat-hubs like City Supermarket, usually with the contact details of their present or previous employer who will be willing to vouch for them. Given that the process is to some extent a lottery – after all, the most important thing is not how qualified the ayi is but how comfortable you feel with them – this option is certainly worth considering if you don’t have (or don’t want to spend) the time hunting around more thoroughly. 

What to do on the ayi’s first visit

If your ayi comes recommended, your first meeting with her will typically just involve running down the chores you’d like her to take care of, and agreeing when she’ll start. But if you’re meeting an ayi through an agency, or someone that you’ve found yourself, it’s worth taking the time to find out more about them: how far away do they live, how many other clients they have, how much they expect to be paid, and, most fundamental of all, can you communicate sufficiently with them.
(If your Chinese isn’t yet up to scratch, you might want to consider investing in some Talking to your Ayi fridge magnets – a fun way to improve your own language skills while making sure the jobs you want done get done. ) And it’s perfectly acceptable to ask the ayi to come on a trial basis at first: though of course reliability is something you’ll only learn over time.

Many expats express frustration with new ayis, without stopping to think that perhaps they haven’t been explicit enough in their instructions. If you want a particular surface cleaned, say so. If you don’t want your documents cleared away, make that clear. Approach your ayi’s first few visits as a kind of experimental getting-to-know-each-other, and you’re likely to be much more satisfied.

The Ayi Survival Guide is an indispensable resource for all manner of other questions you might have. It’s available online or from Garden Books (see our recent article Where to Buy Books in Shanghai).

The rewards of finding an ayi you can trust are great – beyond taking care of all your chores many expats develop firm and long-lasting friendships with their household helpers. But it all starts with finding the right one. Good luck!

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