Let's talk helper pay. The standard rate, bonuses, and what really keeps a great helper.

So what is the going rate?

For contracts signed on or after 3 October 2026, the Minimum Allowable Wage is HK$5,220 a month. It was HK$5,100 before that, and the government reviews it every year, so expect the number to move most autumns. On top of the wage you provide food, or a food allowance of at least HK$1,236 a month, plus suitable accommodation in your home.

Here is the part first-time employers often get wrong: the standard rate is not a floor you are supposed to negotiate up from out of embarrassment. The vast majority of Hong Kong families pay at or near it. Paying the standard rate is normal, lawful, and complete.

Does paying more get you a better helper?

In our experience, no. After more than two decades of placements, we have not seen a reliable link between paying above the going rate and getting better work. What predicts a good placement is the match itself: the right person for your household, expectations she actually understands, and how she is treated once she arrives.

A higher offer can even work against you at interview stage, because it attracts applicants chasing the number rather than the job.

If not pay, then what? Bonuses.

If you want to reward work you are genuinely happy with, a discretionary bonus beats a permanently higher base salary. A bonus at the end of a good year, or after something specific was done well, connects the appreciation to the work itself. Racing to the top on base pay does not: it resets the baseline and buys nothing extra the month after.

The same goes for the end-of-contract moment. A thank-you that arrives with the final paycheque of a good two years is remembered far longer than an extra hundred dollars a month that was never mentioned again.

And the hours side of the question?

Live-in employment is not a nine-to-five, and it was never designed to be. The shape of her day flexes around your household: early mornings if you have school-age children, quieter stretches in the afternoon. What the law does guarantee her is one full rest day every week, and reasonable rest overnight matters as much as anything you put in a schedule. If you want the detail on rest days, that has its own article: How many rest days is a foreign domestic helper entitled to?

Ready to budget for a helper?

The wage is only one line of the real monthly cost. Before you commit, it is worth seeing the full picture: the wage, the food allowance or the cost of feeding one more person, insurance, and the agency fee itself. See GMA's pricing, or talk to us about what employing a helper costs for a household like yours, with nothing added later.