Helper4u is a platform for employers from homes and offices to hire blue-collared helpers, by just using the internet and mobile phones. At the same time it enables employees to register for a job and connect with employers, by using their phones. All this can be done without the need of any agent or intermediary for either side.
The idea for Helper4U was conceived one morning on the eighth floor balcony of a multi-storeyed society in Mumbai. Meenakshi, the person behind the idea, was having her morning tea when her phone rang and her maid announced that her daughter had just delivered a baby. This meant she would be unable to come for work for a few days. In Meenakshi’s own words: While I was happy for her, and for the young mother, a louder thought nagging me was — The house has not been cleaned, we have guests coming over tonight, and I have a tight schedule for the whole week. How will we manage her absence?
At that moment Meenakshi’s husband Punit joked: Yellow pages of maids in Raheja Vihar are what you need right now to find a short time replacement.
Meenakshi says, “I just looked at him and said: Yes, you are right. Why don’t we make one?”
The result of that conversation was the conception of www.Maidforu.in The plan was simple: Make available an online database of the maids and cooks roaming out there looking for work for the prospective employers looking for maids, cooks, or babysitters. The first job on hand was to get these maids to register for the listing. A little advertising within the society was all that was needed, and soon maids were coming in for registration through the word of mouth. With the first few registrations also dawned the realisation that Meenakshi had touched the tip of the iceberg of a big need. The maids came up with horror stories like there being a casting couch for women looking for maid jobs. Housemaids often ask for help from security guards in societies, who invariably want something in return, either in the form of money or something else, or both. And, the desperation to get a job could be gauged from the fact that a woman even sold off her “mangalsutra” to register with an agent. Further getting a job through the agent entailed paying a monthly commission to the agent after getting a job.
Meenakshi says, “All my life I had thought the maids ruled the world because there is less supply and more demand. But, the truth is that there is a need on both sides. The need was for a platform to get the two sides to meet.”
The idea was so overwhelming Meenakshi decided to give up her job with a Tata Group company and help these ladies find a job respectfully.
Meanwhile, her driver sowed a seed in her mind by saying, “Why are you looking at only the jobs women want? There are so many uneducated, unemployed men also looking for jobs. You should help them too.”
This complaint was heard so often that www.Maidforu.in became www.Helpere4U.in : an online database of unskilled, and/or uneducated people looking for jobs, mainly in the unorganised domestic sector. The registered profiles now include drivers, security guards, cooks, babysitters, elder care professionals, housemaids, housekeeping staff, courier boys, delivery staff, gardeners, electricians, plumbers.
Helper4U did a trial run in Powai, Mumbai and was a hit. Be the employees and employers were curious, amazed, intrigued and excited. Registered helpers slowly started getting hired and registrations increased by the day.
At the start of 2015, Helper4U.in expanded to Pune, with plans to spread out to Delhi and Bangalore in the same year.
To know more about the offerings, follow Helper4u.in at Linkedin Facebook Twitter
