If you haven’t heard of hiring an ayi, you probably haven’t lived in Beijing long enough. Just about every Beijinger who has the means to hire an ayi would consider one because they can relieve you of grueling everyday responsibilities like pesky housework or even entertaining young children.

Yet for many foreigners (and locals, for that matter) the ayi industry is shrouded in mystery. What exactly does an ayi do? How much should you pay her? What are reasonable working hours?

In an effort to gain some clarity for Beijing families, every year, Tobal Loyola, an expat who works at the Beijinger and beijingkids parent company True Run Media, runs the ayi survey. He quizzes respondents about their ayi‘s work hours, pay rates, experience, responsibilities, and benefits. The first Ayi Survey was conducted in 2014, and in the years since, the industry has undergone subtle but evident changes such as higher pay rates and the growing popularity of part-time ayis.

Below are the results from the latest survey, which was conducted in October 2019. A diverse sample of 134 respondents took part in the survey, ranging from newbies to old Beijingers spread throughout the city.

Full Time vs Part Time Ayis: Work hours

37% of respondents hire a full-time ayi, while 63% of respondents hire part-time ayis. The majority (42%) of respondents have their full-time ayis work 40-50 hours per week, so about 6-7 hours per day.

For part-time ayis, the numbers range from less than 10 hours to more than 40 hours per month.

Full Time vs Part Time Ayis: Pay

On average, pay rates have grown substantially in the past years. Keep in mind that different ayis with different amounts of professional experience won’t have matching salaries, so disparities in pay rates are completely normal.

Monthly salary ranges widely with the majority spanning from RMB 5,000 to RMB 7,000 for full-time ayis.

On the contrary, most part-time ayis have hourly rates between RMB 30 and RMB 50.

Household Details

The majority of survey respondents live in households of either three or four people.

If you want a pet but not the responsibility that comes with it, you could consider hiring an ayi. Approximately 30% of respondents had pets for the ayi to care for, and many of those respondents own more than one pet.

Hiring and Experience

Most people in our survey (58%) found their ayi through a referral from friends, neighbors, or colleagues, while some were introduced to their ayis through WeChat and contacting online agencies.

Although most respondents have only had their current ayi for less than two years, the majority of their hired ayis have over six years of experience. Formal Domestic Training, First Aid, and English speaking skills aren’t considerations or priorities of most of the respondents, and most respondents don’t know if their ayis have had training or knowledge in first aid, while more than half of the respondents labeled their ayi’s English skills as nonexistent.

Tasks and Responsibilities

The most common responsibilities for ayis are housekeeping, cooking and preparing food, doing the laundry, receiving packages, ironing clothes, and dealing with building management and workers.

When asked what qualities they enjoy in their ayis, the words most often used were reliable, friendly, caring, and nice.

Benefits

Aside from salary, many of our respondents give their ayis various benefits, including 13th-month pay (60%), a bonus in the form of hongbao (40%), paid vacation days (50%), paid sick days (38%), official national holidays off (77%), and compensation when the family is away (70%).