"I hope my company will be a heartwarming domestic-service platform. The platform will provide space for domestic workers' development, and it will care for their personal needs. The platform will also help rural women find employment. We will keep improving our services, to meet clients' expectations for a better life," says Yang Lingcui, founder of Hangzhou Youzheng Domestic Service Co., Ltd. 

Yang believes the domestic-service industry is a sunrise industry. With increasing demands for domestic services, and given fierce competition in the industry, Yang believes the level of services, in general, will continue to rise. She also expects more, standardized domestic services will be provided, and more young people will become engaged in the industry. 

Yang was born in 1995. After she graduated from university, in 2019, she established her company in Fuyang, a district in Hangzhou, in East China's Zhejiang Province. To deepen her understanding of the industry, she received several months of training through a professional, domestic-service agency. She then began working as a cleaner. Although she often felt exhausted after work, she never thought of giving up. 

After several of Yang's clients learned most of her team members were in their 20s, the clients recommended the team to their friends. Some of her clients gave Yang their house keys, so Yang could do the cleaning even if they weren't home. "It is encouraging that our clients trust us. We must be honest, and we must provide the best services," says Yang. 

Running a successful, domestic-service business is not easy, Yang tells Women of China. "Domestic workers need professional skills, and they should know how to create emotional value, to bring comfort and joy to their clients. The managerial staff must highlight the observance of the law among employees, and they should ensure the highest quality of services, especially when the company's clients increase fast," says Yang. 

Yang's company provides various services, including cleaning, and the care of babies and the elderly, and it organizes skills training. The company has strict standards when it comes to recruitment of domestic workers. Recruiters carefully check each applicant's background, and test his/her vocational skills. New recruits receive training in professional skills, and in the company's service standards. 

"We have a comprehensive grading system. We grade each domestic worker based on skill level, years worked and clients' feedback. If anyone is found slacking, or being dishonest in work, he/she will be ranked a lower grade in the system, and his/her bonus will be canceled," says Yang. 

To help ease workers' stress, Yang arranges weekly events, such as tea parties and/or parties to make and eat dumplings. 

Clients can order services from Yang's company through the firm's special WeChat mini-program. The company has promoted its services on social-media and short-video apps, and, as a result, nearly 80 percent of its bookings are completed online. 

Yang's business has received support from the human resources and social security department of Fuyang. The department helped Yang obtain both funding and an interest-free business loan. 

In recent years, women's federations, at all levels in Fuyang, have organized domestic-service training for rural women. Yang has been a trainer several times. She says training has helped many women find jobs in the domestic-service sector. "With higher incomes, these women have helped improve their family's economic conditions, and they have expectations for a better future," she says. 

Longyang Ayi (the Chinese equivalent of nanny) is a brand name in Fuyang's domestic-service sector. Last year, the district's government established the brand, and based it on the business-operation mode of Yang's company. In May, the brand was selected one of the 103 national characteristic domestic-service business brands by China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. 

Longyang Ayi represents a set of standards for domestic services, says Yang. "I hope the standards will be promoted within the whole domestic-service sector," she says.

Photos from Interviewee

(Women of China English Monthly July 2024)

Editor: Wang Shasha