By the Sevetu team
On this page
Why write it down at all
Households in India have hired help on a handshake for a century, and the handshake mostly works for the first month. The trouble arrives in month two or three, and it is nearly always the same trouble: the tasks have grown, the pay day has drifted, the weekly off has been "just this once" three weeks running, and each side remembers the original conversation differently. Nobody was dishonest. Nobody wrote it down.
A written agreement is not about distrust and it is not a legal weapon. It is a shared memory. It also does something quieter: the act of writing the tasks out forces a family to decide what the job actually is, which is the decision most hiring skips.
The ten lines
1. The work
A list, not a phrase. For house help: which rooms, which tasks, how often. For a cook: which meals, how many people, which cuisine, whether prep and clean-up are included. For a combined role, two lists. This is also where the common "duties of a domestic helper" question is answered honestly: they are whatever is on this line, and nothing that is not.
Sample wording: "Daily: sweeping and mopping of all rooms, dishes after breakfast and dinner, clothes washing and hanging. Weekly: bathrooms (Saturday), fans and windows (first Sunday). Not included: cooking, ironing, car washing."
2. Days and hours
Which days, and the start and finish time. For a full-time cook, both halves of a split day. For part-time work, the slot, because the slot is what you are really agreeing.
"Monday to Saturday, 7.30 am to 9.30 am. Sunday off."
3. Pay, and the date it is paid
The amount, the month it covers, the date, and the method. A fixed date matters more than families realise; a worker's own rent and school fees run on it.
"₹9,000 per month, paid on or before the 5th of the following month by UPI to the number below."
4. Weekly off
One fixed, named day. "One day a week, as convenient" is the clause that produces the "just this once" problem.
"Weekly off: Sunday. If the household needs her on a Sunday for a special reason, another day that week is given off and it is agreed in advance."
5. Leave
How many paid days a year, how much notice for planned leave, and what happens with sickness. Eight to twelve paid days a year is common in the metros; many workers take them in one block to travel home.
"12 days of paid leave a year, with 15 days' notice for planned leave. Up to 4 days of sick leave a year with pay; beyond that, unpaid."
6. Festival bonus
How much, at which festival, and how it is calculated in the first year. About one month's pay, at Diwali or the worker's own main festival, is the custom in most cities. Pro-rata in the first year (six months worked, half a month's bonus) is fair and should be written, not assumed. The Diwali bonus guide covers the norms.
"A festival bonus of one month's pay at Diwali, pro-rata for the months worked in the first year."
7. Notice, both ways
The same period for both sides, or pay in place of it. A clause that binds only the worker is unfair and, in practice, unenforceable.
"Either side gives 30 days' notice, or 30 days' pay in place of notice."
8. Food, room and travel (live-in only)
Where she sleeps, that it is hers, meals, and who pays the fare home for leave. If the role is not live-in, delete the line rather than leaving it vague.
9. Extras and how they are paid
Guests, festivals, a second visit in the day, the car, a new baby. Each is fine if agreed and paid; each is a resignation if assumed.
"Cooking for guests beyond 6 people: ₹300 per occasion, agreed the day before."
10. Names, phone numbers, date, two copies
Both names, both phone numbers, an emergency contact each, the start date. Signed, or accepted in the app. Two copies, one each. A photograph of the paper on both phones is enough.
What must never be in it
- Holding original documents. An employer who keeps a worker's Aadhaar, voter ID or passbook "as security" is committing the oldest abuse in this industry. Copies for a police verification, with her knowledge, are the only legitimate use.
- Fines and pay cuts for breakages, lateness or a bad day. Talk about it; do not deduct.
- "All household work." It is not a task list; it is a blank cheque.
- A one-sided notice period, or a "training bond".
- Anything you would not accept in your own job. That is the whole test.
How it works on Sevetu
When a family and a worker agree terms in the app, the salary, hours, weekly off, duties, leave and notice are recorded in a digital work agreement that both accept. Each side keeps a copy, and it can be updated by agreement when the job changes. It is free, and Sevetu is not a party to it: the family employs the worker directly and pays her directly.
Hire a maid → · Hire a cook → · Hire a nanny → · Hire elder care → · Workers: how to get household work without an agent →
Questions people ask
No law requires a written agreement for domestic work in most states, and the agreement here is not a court document. It is a record both sides keep, which is what stops most disputes. Where a state notifies a minimum wage for domestic work, as Karnataka does, the agreed pay should not sit below it.
Whatever the agreement lists, and nothing else. Typical house-help lists cover sweeping, mopping, dishes, laundry and bathrooms; a cook's list covers meals, prep and kitchen clean-up. Combined roles need two lists. The most common failure is a list that says "all household work".
Eight to twelve paid days a year is common in Indian metros, often taken in one block to travel home, plus a fixed weekly off. Write both into the agreement with the notice needed for planned leave.
Do not. Deductions poison the arrangement and are the thing workers resent most. Raise lateness in conversation; treat breakages as the cost of having someone work in your home.
Update the agreement. A new baby, an elderly parent moving in or a second visit a day is new work, and the pay line changes with the task line. On Sevetu the digital agreement can be revised by agreement at any time.
No. The agreement is between the family and the worker; Sevetu records it so both have the same version and provides in-app chat that keeps a record. If either side breaks it, the notice line and the record are what you rely on.
Written by the Sevetu teamSevetu is a hiring marketplace for household work in India, operated by Fiel Private Limited. These guides come from the questions families and workers ask us. Nothing here is sponsored, and where a number has no defensible source we say so instead of inventing one. About Sevetu
