We've been using Yunnan housekeepers off and on for several years. NEVER found a single housekeeper in this province who is trustworthy and "professional", so we try to avoid using them - usually just to give the wife an occasional break from house chores for a few months...hmm...valentine's day...
1. Yunnan housekeepers are NOT professional - so basically whatever tasks you need done around the house - sans childcare - fall within their regime. That being said - they're NOT professional - so if you expect he/she will properly organize your meds/vitamins - guess again.
2. Shopping for groceries - Yunnan housekeepers will take the money you give them and usually pocket the change - the more change they can pocket, the happier they are. So if you give the housekeeper ¥100-200 to buy a week of groceries (vegetables) - you'll probably end up with a day's worth of pitiful looking greens.
3. If you use an agency - once the housekeeper is settled - usually within a week or two - the agency will try to flip your housekeeper for new agency fees. It's unethical - live with it. You'll notice your housekeeper will be receiving a flurry of calls combined with requests for leave during working hours "to take care of a sick relative". Ayi's are also poor liars.
4. Finally - and to your point - a daytime ayi from roughly 10am to 7-8pm will run about ¥2k per month - to include so-so cooking and lazy cleaning. You'll have to TRAIN them to clean as per YOUR specs and check their work daily. A checklist helps, so you both know your expectations - similar to professional checklists at hotels and upscale restaurants - but which are probably rather generally non-existent in Yunnan. If you don't watch them - and let them KNOW you're monitoring their work hourly and daily - you should expect a drastic drop in quality.
5. Gossip. Unprofessional people generally have big mouths. If you live in an apartment compound - ALL your neighbors will know your personal business. When I lived in Beijing - my neighbor told me she overheard our ayi telling the grocery clerk near our home - all sorts of personal things about our home and home life. In the USA - this would have made us a prime candidate for a potential home invasion, burglary, or any other number of criminal activity - not to mention ALL your neighbors know your personal home activities. May as well install an internet cam and broadcast it to the world.
Good luck with your search - try NOT to have expectations of professionalism - assume you're training unskilled labor and you just might get lucky...but I doubt it.
The BEST ayi's usually come from Sichuan - but they usually go to the big cities as the pay is significantly higher AND the ayi agencies are professional - they train the ayi's - for example when an ayi buys groceries - she's required to record the expenditures in a book along with receipts. Difficult to do here if your ayi shops at wet markets (farmers' markets).
For Yunnan - best to find an ayi with a Kunming hokou (ID card). For bottom of the barrel - the KM ayi's tend to float on top of the dregs - they're the top layer of dregs.
Other's may have better experiences to report - I'm not a terribly inspiring people manager and am polarized at the opposite end of the professional scale, my eyes and ears are sharper and more critical than most, and I'm an overbearing, meticulous, demanding professional by trade and experience - because the people I work with are the same and demand the same. I don't believe in nor do I expect to micromanage my staff, once they know their duties and I'm intolerant of fraud and deceit - the one thing in which Yunnan ayi's which we've used, are unfortunately professionals.
Again - YMMV - your mileage may vary. Good luck - hope you'll be able to discover a brighter spectrum of the ayi rainbow.
I could have said all of the above in a less inflammatory manner - but hopefully, you get the point. That and I'm not a particularly nice person - which definitely contribute to the ayi's delinquencies.
