You leave — she stays: write the house plan
When you travel and your helper stays home (Singapore) is the employer checklist for trips where the migrant domestic worker remains in your flat while the family is away. When she travels home, use Employer Checklist Before Helper Home Leave (Singapore). When she is away and you need cover, use Temporary Household Cover While Helper Is Away (Singapore). This page owns employer-away / helper-home.
General guidance only. MOM: mom.gov.sg. SmartMaid.com.sg is a marketplace. Licensed EAs advise on employment practice. Confirm whether your situation needs EA notification.
Neighbouring hubs:
- Home leave employer checklist
- Temporary cover while helper away
- Overnight visitors process
- Written house rules sheet
- Emergency hospital and GP visits
- When to loop the agency
- Passport and documents safekeeping
- Abuse zero-tolerance
- This article: employer travels, helper stays
Step 1 — Decide if staying alone is appropriate
Consider her experience in your home, language confidence for emergencies, and whether pets/elderly/children stay with her. If children stay, you need a clear supervision plan and often a co-adult backup — do not invent illegal “loan” of her to another household (Illegal Deployment: Where MDWs May and May Not Work).
Step 2 — Write duties for the empty house
- Cleaning / plant / pet tasks (realistic for one person)
- What she should not do (invite overnight guests unless pre-approved — When Helper Asks for Overnight Visitors (Singapore))
- Rest day still protected
Put it on the house-rules / trip sheet (Creating a Simple Written House Rules Sheet).
Step 3 — Access, money, and food without inventing figures
- Keys / access cards / Wi‑Fi work
- How she buys groceries (method agreed — no $ amounts here)
- Emergency cash access process if you use one — still no public figures
- Documents access remains fair (Passport and Personal Documents Safekeeping for MDWs (Singapore))
Step 4 — Emergency tree
- Your reachable number / time zone
- Local backup adult / neighbour (optional)
- EA contact
- 995 / 999 and GP path (Emergency Procedures: Hospital and GP Visits)
Step 5 — Notify the licensed EA when sensible
Tell EA your travel dates if aftercare or WP questions may arise (When to Loop the Agency Into Early Issues). Marketplace ≠ remote supervision service.
MOM rules
She remains your employee under MOM welfare expectations while you travel. No surveillance-as-punishment; no withheld food. Confirm guidance on mom.gov.sg.
Checklist
- Stay-alone decision made (kids/pets clear)
- Duty + visitor rules written
- Access / grocery / emergency tree set
- Rest day still scheduled
- EA informed if needed
Scripts
To helper: We travel [dates]. You stay at home. Duties are [list]. No overnight visitors unless we approved in writing. Emergency: call us, then [backup], then 995 if medical.
To EA: Employers travelling [dates]; helper remaining at residence. Please note in file; contact number while away: [number].
Bottom line
If you travel and she stays, leave a written duty, access, and emergency plan — not vague trust. Browse on SmartMaid; employment practice through a licensed EA under MOM rules.
