Hiring domestic help and nannies in Ghana

Domestic help is normal here

If you are coming from the UK, the US or Canada, hiring help at home can feel strange or even uncomfortable. In Ghana it is completely ordinary. Middle-class and returnee households routinely employ a house help, a nanny, sometimes a cook, a driver or a gardener, and these are real jobs that support families and are taken seriously on both sides. Letting go of the guilt is the first step; doing it well is the rest.

As a Kasoa-based team who help diaspora clients get set up every week, we see the two extremes and want you to avoid both. Some newcomers hire in a panic on day two and regret it; others agonise for months and exhaust themselves doing everything alone. Between those sits a calm, deliberate approach: work out what you need, find the right person carefully, and run the relationship fairly and professionally.

This guide is general, practical orientation from people who arrange the on-the-ground side, not legal or HR advice. Employment obligations, and how they apply to domestic workers, are matters to confirm with a professional. What we can share is how hiring actually works here and how to do it in a way that is fair to everyone and lasts.

The roles you can hire for

Start by naming the job clearly, because "domestic help" covers several very different roles. A house help handles cleaning, laundry, washing up and general upkeep. A nanny cares for children and needs quite different qualities, warmth, patience, judgement, and often some first-aid sense. A cook plans and prepares meals. A driver gets the family around Accra's traffic safely. A gardener or a watchman looks after the compound.

Be honest about what you actually need before you hire. Many households combine roles, a house help who also cooks, for example, but do not quietly load three jobs onto one person and one wage, which breeds resentment and turnover. Write down the real duties, the hours and the days, and hire against that, rather than against a vague idea of "someone to help around the house".

Think about the level of skill and trust each role needs. A nanny left alone with your children, or a driver responsible for their safety, sits at a completely different level of trust from someone who comes in to clean twice a week. Match your vetting to that level rather than treating every role the same.

Language is worth a thought here too. A nanny who speaks the language you want your children to grow up hearing, whether that is Twi, Ga, Ewe or English, shapes their early years more than you might expect. If you want your children to pick up a local language, that can be a genuine advantage of raising them here, and learning a little yourself helps; our guide to basic Twi phrases is a friendly start.

Finding trustworthy staff

The safest way to hire in Ghana is through people you trust. Ask family, neighbours, your church or mosque, and other returnee households whether they can vouch for someone or recommend a person whose work they have seen. A recommendation from someone who has actually employed the person, and would again, is worth far more than a stranger's confident claims.

Agencies exist, particularly for nannies and trained help, and a reputable one can save time and offer some recourse if things go wrong. Vet the agency itself as carefully as the candidate: ask how they screen people, what checks they do, and what happens if a placement does not work out. Get any agency terms in writing before you pay anything.

However you find someone, vet properly and lawfully. Meet more than once, ideally see them at work if you can, and take references and actually call them. For anyone who will care for your children, drive them, or be alone in your home, do sensible background checks within the law and trust your instincts; if something feels off, keep looking. Never send money to "secure" a candidate you have not properly met, a common way people are cheated from abroad.

Fair pay and what drives it

Pay honestly and pay on time. What is fair depends on the role, the hours, the skill involved, whether the position is live-in or live-out, and where in the country you are, with Accra and its suburbs generally higher than smaller towns. We will not quote figures here, because rates move and vary widely, and a made-up number would mislead you. Ask other households in your area what they pay for a similar role, and be guided by that local reality.

Resist the urge to underpay simply because you can, or the opposite mistake of wildly overpaying and destabilising the local market and your other relationships. Aim for genuinely fair, in line with the going rate, paid reliably. Decide too how you will pay, mobile money or bank transfer creates a helpful record, and how you will handle things like transport allowance, meals for live-in staff, and any agreed bonus at festive times. Our guides to the cost of living in Ghana and the cedi and mobile money give useful background.

Whatever you agree, honour it. Late or unpredictable pay is the fastest way to lose a good worker and to earn a poor name that follows you in a community where word travels quickly. If you cannot pay on a given day for some reason, say so in advance and explain, rather than letting it slide; being treated as an afterthought is what stings, and it costs you trust that is hard to rebuild.

Contracts and clear expectations

Put the arrangement in writing, even a simple one-page agreement, before anyone starts. Set out the pay, the hours, the days off, the specific duties, notice on both sides, and how time off and sickness are handled. This is not about mistrust; it is about both of you knowing where you stand, which prevents almost every common dispute.

Be clear about days off and rest, because domestic workers are entitled to reasonable rest just like any other worker, and a burnt-out employee is neither happy nor good at the job. Agree public holidays, a weekly rest day, and how leave works. If the role is live-in, be especially careful to separate working hours from simply being present in your home, or the person is effectively never off duty.

Because employment rules do apply to domestic workers, and getting the detail wrong can cause problems later, it is worth a short conversation with a professional about your obligations as an employer, particularly if you are employing several people or a driver. Do not rely on "how it has always been done" if you want to run a household that is both fair and above board.

Live-in or live-out?

This choice shapes the whole relationship. A live-out arrangement, where staff come for set hours and go home, keeps clearer boundaries and more privacy for both sides, and suits many returnee families well. A live-in arrangement offers more flexibility and cover, useful with young children or an elderly relative in the home, but it is far more intense and needs careful handling.

If you go live-in, provide decent, private accommodation, respect the person's own space, and be scrupulous about off-duty time so their whole life is not swallowed by the job. Blurred boundaries are the main reason live-in arrangements sour. Agree clearly what happens on their days off, whether they go home, and how their meals and utilities are handled.

There is no single right answer; it depends on your family, your home and your needs. Many returnees start live-out while they build trust and only consider live-in later, if at all. Whatever you choose, decide deliberately rather than drifting into an arrangement neither side actually agreed to.

Security staff are their own case. If you employ a watchman for the compound, be clear about shifts and never expect one person to stay awake around the clock, which is neither safe nor humane. For overnight cover, people often use a security company rather than a single individual. Whatever the setup, the same principles apply: fair pay, clear hours, proper rest and plain respect.

Treating staff well

The households where staff stay for years, which is what you want, are the ones built on respect. Greet people properly, learn about their families, speak to them as you would want to be spoken to, and never humiliate someone in front of others. Ghana is a relationship-based culture, and dignity is not a nicety here; it is the foundation of a working household. A little Twi or Ga goes a long way, and our guide to Ghanaian etiquette and customs is worth a read.

Practical respect matters as much as manners: pay on time, provide the tools and cleaning materials the job needs, feed live-in staff properly, allow real rest, and take an interest in their development. Many employers help with a worker's own schooling or a child's fees, and small kindnesses like this, freely given rather than used as leverage, build deep loyalty.

Handle problems calmly and privately. If work slips, talk about it directly and give a fair chance to improve before any decision. If you must part ways, do it with proper notice and without malice. How you treat staff, especially in hard moments, becomes your reputation, and in Ghana that reputation is known.

Managing the household and handling problems

Once someone starts, set them up to succeed. Show them how you like things done rather than assuming they will guess, agree a simple routine, and check in kindly in the first weeks. Clear expectations prevent most friction, and a new employee who understands exactly what "good" looks like in your home settles far faster. Remember that your standards may differ from what someone is used to, so explain the why and not only the what, and be patient while a new routine beds in.

Be sensibly careful without being paranoid. Keep valuables and cash secured, not as an accusation but as a way of removing temptation and protecting honest staff from suspicion. Keep a record of pay and agreements. If something does go wrong, theft, a safety lapse with the children, a serious breach, act calmly, get advice where needed, and follow fair process rather than reacting in anger. For general safety-mindedness as a returnee, our Ghana safety guide is a useful companion.

Most arrangements, handled fairly, work well and last for years. The families who struggle are usually the ones who hired in a hurry, were vague about duties and pay, or treated staff carelessly. Get the setup right and household help becomes exactly what it should be: quiet, reliable support that gives you back your time and lets you focus on your family, your work and settling back into life at home.

Getting set up with local help

Setting up a household in a new city is a lot at once, and the practical side is where we come in. As a Kasoa-based team, we meet diaspora clients at Kotoka and act as their wheels and local knowledge in those first busy weeks, when you are viewing homes, meeting agencies, shopping for furniture and trying to work out neighbourhoods all at the same time.

Many returnees begin with a short orientation trip: a few days on the ground to see areas, sort the basics and start interviewing help in person rather than blind from abroad, which is always the safer way to hire someone who will be in your home and around your children.

Tell us your dates, where you are settling and what you need to organise, and we will help you use your time well. If you are also reconnecting with home after years away, our guide to Ghana for African Americans speaks to that side of the move.

Questions people ask