What is the domestic worker service about?
At The Go-To Guy, our service aims to bridge the current gap between households and domestic workers, by providing a comprehensive platform for employment connections. Our mission is to connect workers in the market with households wishing to employ domestic workers, and to streamline and improve the process of hiring houseworkers, addressing the challenges faced by both households and domestic workers.
Why did we create the domestic worker service?
There are a number of problems we identified in the current worker and household search and engagement process, some of these are
Limited access to job opportunities: Domestic worker often face difficulties in finding employment due to limited access to households that may have job positions available. They resort to walking the streets or relying on personal networks for job referrals, which often leads to these workers eventually giving up completely to find any work, especially since the cost of transport to get to suburbs becomes unsustainable.
Safety concerns and lack of trust: Households, concerned about safety and lack of trust, are often hesitant to engage with workers they encounter randomly. This situation leaves many domestic workers unable to find work and lose hope over time.
Scams and fraudulent practices: Unscrupulous individuals exploit job seekers, particularly in the informal market like domestic workers, by requesting payments to find them jobs, only to defraud them.
Mismatches and dissatisfaction: Many households fail to clearly define their requirements when employing houseworkers, leading to mismatches between workers and households. This can result in dissatisfaction and potential labor disputes.
Lack of awareness of legislation and labor laws: Few households have a solid understanding of the evolving legislation and labor laws pertaining to domestic workers, leading to potential legal issues.
What are the benefits of this domestic worker service for households?
The aim of The Go-To Guy is to add benefits to households looking for workers, and to ease the search and ultimately the employment of a domestic worker, here are some of the additional benefits:
Access to improved quality workers: The Go-To Guy provides households with a pool of qualified and verified domestic workers, ensuring they have access to reliable people who meet their specific needs.
Efficient and convenient hiring process: Our platform streamlines the hiring process, allowing households to specify their requirements and preferences. This saves time and effort compared to relying on random recommendations or social media referrals.
Trustworthy and reliable workers: Through our rigorous screening and interviewing process, including optional value adds such as identity verification, background and reference checks, and criminal checks, households can have confidence in the integrity and reliability of the workers we recommend.
Improved communication and understanding: The Go-To Guy facilitates effective communication between households and workers by considering language preferences during the matching process. This ensures better understanding and enables smoother interactions, leading to improved working relationships.
Well-trained workers: Our training initiatives empower domestic workers with essential skills and knowledge, ensuring they deliver a higher standard of service. By sending their workers to our training sessions, households can benefit from workers with enhanced capabilities.
What are the benefits of the domestic worker service to workers?
The aim of The Go-To Guy is to add benefits to workers looking for households to work for, and to ease the search and ultimately the employment by a household, here are some of the additional benefits:
Increased job opportunities: By joining The Go-To Guy platform, workers gain access to a wide range of job opportunities in households actively seeking their services. This eliminates the need for walking door-to-door in search of employment.
Enhanced trust and credibility: Domestic workers registered with The Go-To Guy are considered more formal employees, enhancing their credibility and increasing their chances of being hired.
Matched to suitable households: Our comprehensive matching process takes into account the specific needs and requirements of both workers and households. This ensures workers are connected with households that align with their skills, preferences, and availability.
Training and skill development: The Go-To Guy goes beyond connecting workers to households by providing training sessions covering various modules. This includes essential skills such as cleaning principles, effective appliance usage, ironing techniques, and even first aid and child care. Workers can continuously improve their skills and expand their knowledge.
Continuous learning and growth: Our regularly scheduled training sessions offer ongoing opportunities for skill development. By participating in these sessions, workers can continuously improve their skills, stay updated with industry best practices, and enhance their overall professional growth.
Safeguarding against scams: Many workers looking for work had to deal with scammers of all types in the market, promising jobs only to be caught in some fraudulent scheme, working through the go to guy counters these scams.
How do we match domestic worker and household requirements
To ensure successful employment connections, The Go-To Guy conducts a comprehensive needs analysis and matching process. The key factors we consider include:
Location: Considering the suburb or area where the household is located to connect workers who are geographically close and easily accessible.
Household size: Determining the workload and scale of cleaning and support required based on the number of people in the household.
Home type: Identifying the specific type of home (apartment, flat, room, single-story townhouse, double-story house) to find workers familiar with the associated cleaning needs.
Flooring type: Considering the type of flooring (tiles, carpets, wood, vinyl, epoxy) to match workers experienced in the corresponding cleaning methods and materials.
Room specifications: Taking note of the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchens to find workers who can handle the cleaning and maintenance tasks associated with these areas.
Appliance types: Considering the specific appliances in the household (stove, washing machine, drying machine, dishwasher, ironing equipment) to match workers familiar with their operation.
Start date and schedule: Taking into account the desired start date and required working days to find workers who can meet the household's schedule and availability.
Duties and tasks: Identifying the specific duties required (cleaning, bed making, floor and window washing, dishwashing, carpet and curtain cleaning, ironing, childcare responsibilities) to ensure workers have the necessary skills and experience.
Remuneration and benefits: Considering the offered salary, benefits, transportation arrangements, and other relevant factors to ensure a fair and mutually agreeable arrangement.
Language requirements: Taking note of the languages required for effective communication between the worker and the household.
Transportation and meals: Factoring in whether the household provides transportation fees or meals for the worker.
Stay-in positions: Identifying if the household offers a stay-in position and connecting workers who are open to living on the premises.
Character and personality: Considering general suitability and compatibility from a character and personality perspective to foster a harmonious working relationship.
Our other domestic worker value and training programs
Have a look out for our training programs, these sessions will focus on further developing their skills and knowledge, enabling them to handle a wider range of tasks and responsibilities effectively. Continuous learning and development opportunities will be offered, ensuring workers can stay updated with industry best practices and enhance their professional growth.
What are the costs of the services for households?
The cost is currently a free service offered to the community, additional requirements such as Criminal Checks, ID Verification and others will incur a cost if required
What are the costs of the services for houseworkers?
There are no cost for workers for placement services.
I am a household looking for a worker, where do I start?
To start please complete our online needs capturing and job specification sheet, once completed and submitted the add will immediately appear on our platform ad we will start the process, to access the form you can click here: Online Needs and Specifications
I am a worker looking for a job, where do I start?
We have a number of options to help you find a job, these are as follows:
The formal jobs advertised with all specifications and needs from household, as well as easy links for you to be in touch on a specific job can be found by clicking on the following link: Formal Domestic Job Advertisements
The informal jobs advertised by users of the site can be found on our forum, please do be vigilant when applying for these jobs as they have not been verified by The Go-To Guy, to go to that page you can click here: Informal Domestic Job Advertisements
About The Go-To Guy
The Go-To Guy is a dynamic online platform that has evolved from its humble beginnings as a local business listing site. Founded by Mr. Frans Joubert, our primary objective is to facilitate seamless connections between households and local contractors in their area. Since our inception, we have expanded our services to become a thriving community contact page, catering to a wide range of categories and services.
Expanding Services and Building a Community:
Initially, The Go-To Guy primarily focused on house and home services, connecting households with contractors. However, it became apparent that solely offering this option lacked a sense of community and personality. To address this, additional services were introduced to cater to the diverse needs of the Potchefstroom community.
These categories and services include:
1. Accommodation and places to stay
2. Beauty, Health, and Wellness
3. Business and legal services
4. Car Care and Maintenance
5. Child Care and Education
6. Clothing, Fashion, Tailors, and Wool
7. House, Home, Garden, and Pool
8. Internet and Telecoms
9. Learn, Improve, and Develop
10. Love, Gifts, and Flowers
11. Meals, Fruit, Veggies, and Meat
12. Party Services, Supplies, and Venues
13. Pet Services
14. Photo and Videography
15. Security
16. Taxi and Shuttles
17. Things to Do
18. Weddings
In addition to these categories, The Go-To Guy has established itself as the go-to source for regional events and happenings in Potchefstroom. We proudly curate the most comprehensive regional calendar of events, which includes concerts, festivals, exhibitions, sports events, community gatherings, and more.
The Go-To Guy serves as an authorised Yoco Card Machine Agent, making Yoco-branded card machines available to small and medium-sized businesses for convenient card payments. The platform has also become a HURU approved ID verification and criminal check center, providing authorized and reliable checks for individuals who require these services.