In Spain, work as Home employee It has always been quite hard and poorly paid, where migrants have occupied an important role. According to data published by the National Statistics Institute (INE), almost half of those who exercise it are foreigners and, although it is an essential occupation, salaries are usually adjusted and demanding conditions. But beyond statistics, each personal story reflects how complicated it is to have stability.
One of these faces is that of Melissa Sánchez, a Honduran who arrived in Spain in 2014 looking for better opportunities. In her country she had worked in a bank, but the lack of options and the low wages pushed her to migrate. His first jobs in Spain were taking care of the elderly, a change that, according to his words, which describes as “the most difficult” for the tasks to which he was not accustomed. “We have been thinking that here we are going to give ourselves the great life, but the reality is very different,” he acknowledges.
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After spending three years without papers, he was able to regularize his situation and leave work as an intern to start charging for hours. Today, it combines cleaning in a private house with another job in an office.
How much are you earned by cleaning houses in Madrid?
As explained in the interview, Melissa works from Monday to Friday. In the morning, clean in an office from 6:30 to 8:30, and then go to Rosa’s house, his boss, where three hours ago in the morning and another at night to prepare dinner. In total, it has a work day of 7 hours a day distributed in two jobs.
In the economical, he says he has been lucky. He started winning 500 euros for four hours in a house, but Rosa has been raising her salary every year until reaching 700 euros. To this are added about 760 euros from the office. “Between the two works, I win between 1,400 and 1,500 euros per month,” he explains. In addition, he values that on weekends they are exclusively for his daughter and family: “I do not change that for anything.”
Although she is now adapted and proud of her experience, Melissa remembers how difficult the beginning was, for adapting to new homes, learning to organize time and gain the trust of employers. “You have to be honored, responsible and do things with love,” he summarizes. It emphasizes that good recommendations are key to getting a job, since, even with papers, competition is high.
He has also lived very hard personal moments. The worst, his father’s disease in Honduras. “I had to travel without papers to see it before I died,” he recalls. Despite the risks, he did not hesitate to do so. That experience, together with the difficulties of the first works, marked it deeply.
Pride and stability
Today, with a rented apartment, two stable jobs and their daughter in Madrid, Melissa does not plan to return to Honduras in the short term. “The standard of living here could not have it there,” he says. Even so, do not forget your roots or the help you send to your family: “Work does not dishonor, what dishonor is to steal. We have to be proud of what we do.”