A brief conversation with an old friend has led Hale based businesswoman, Julia Harris, to develop a housekeeping recruitment company with a six figure turnover and a nationwide client base. 
A few years ago now, Julia was asked by a friend in London to check over the terms and conditions for her new Filipino housekeeper. This sparked Julia’s idea for developing a niche in the home-help market with the introduction of Filipino housekeepers for those individuals both inside and outside London who want a five-star service.

Working in partnership with a London based recruiter, Pia Goldsack, Julia formed The Housekeeper Company in January 2004. The agency is dedicated exclusively to providing high quality housekeepers, housekeepers/nannies, housekeeper/carers, housekeeper/companions, housemen/drivers and male and female couples.

Interest in the services of Filipino housekeepers in the North West has soared and the agency has now extended its range of foreign nationals to include Indian, Sri Lankan and Nepalese housekeepers.

Formerly the preserve of London’s high society, Filipino housekeepers have become popular in many Manchester, Lancashire and Cheshire households. The Housekeeper Company is the first agency to offer this service outside of London and now counts football stars and TV celebrities amongst its clients. In the last few years, it has placed literally hundreds of Filipino housekeepers with clients in Hale, Knutsford, Mottram, Whitefield, Bolton, Wilmslow and Alderley Edge. Housekeepers are placed nationwide, especially in the Home Counties, Leeds, Liverpool, Glasgow, Bournemouth and London.

Client recommendation is key to The Housekeeper Company’s success, as Julia outlines: "We regularly receive telephone calls, emails and letters from our clients, congratulating us on the impeccable standards of service provided by ourselves and the housekeepers. Many tell us that they have recommended our company to friends, relatives and business associates throughout the UK."

The agency deals exclusively with legitimate Filipino and other Asian migrant domestic workers, most of whom are already living in the UK. Treating the housekeepers with respect and care is a key tenet of The Housekeeper Company’s ethos. As Julia explains: "We're often dealing with individuals who have been treated appallingly by families in the Middle East or Far East. We place them in good homes with excellent wages and help to restore their dignity and self-pride."

Julia is keen to ensure that the housekeepers have an opportunity to tap into a network of contacts with similar backgrounds. She supplies all newcomers with a buddy working in the area and regularly arranges social events for the housekeepers to get to know each other.

The Housekeeper Company - along with its sister agencies, North West Childcare and the Childcare Recruitment Company - is a division of The Childcare Recruitment Company Ltd which now offers a uniquely wide spectrum of home based childcare options. Indeed, Julia’s expertise in all childcare related matters has been sought by Granada Media for a consultation on a Coronation Street story line involving the recruitment of nannies.

The business has evolved dramatically since its inception as a small, part-time concern, which Julia operated around her children. She said: "We're making rapid strides in achieving our aim of becoming the national market leader in homecare recruitment and the regional market leader in childcare recruitment."