Cities to face house help shortage as migrants return home to vote

New Delhi: There will be a shortage of domestic helpers like cooks, nannies, maids, babysitters, drivers and security guards in metros like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, with nearly three in 10 people leaving for their hometowns for the upcoming assembly elections, according to recruitment services firms and platforms.

They said most took leave for a month or more. Platforms are trying to alleviate this shortage by distributing more salaries and incentives.

Facilities management provider Bluspring, with over 56,000 frontline employees, has implemented a six-point strategy to ensure uninterrupted service delivery, said Nitin Trikha, CEO, Facilities and Catering. It includes early salary payments, engagement-based incentives that can increase monthly earnings by 20-25%, proactive manpower mapping with 5-6% staff buffer at critical customer sites, and referral bonuses of ₹500 per successful hire.

Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in Kerala, Assam and Puducherry on April 9, in Tamil Nadu on April 23 and in two phases in West Bengal on April 23 and 29.

“We see this (elections) playing out with regional variations, with around 15% absenteeism expected in Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR (where most workers are concentrated in cleaning, pantry and security duties), 8% in Hyderabad, and 5% or lower in Mumbai, Gujarat and South India,” Trikha said.

“Workers across sectors, whether domestic workers or those in manufacturing, engineering and construction, are increasingly synchronizing their annual leave with key moments such as elections and important religious or seasonal periods,” said Aditya Mishra, managing director of CIEL HR, a recruitment and staffing firm. According to Mishra, there may be a 40 percent labor shortage this month. For employers, this cluster of permits has translated into a temporary supply shortage, leading to an increase in both labor cost and time to fill for roles such as drivers, warehouse staff, domestic helpers and plumbers, experts said.

According to Suchita Dutta, director general of the Staff Federation of India, the crisis is not just due to the upcoming polls but also rising fuel prices and geopolitical instability. “This is expected to have an impact on reverse labor migration by squeezing urban labor pools,” he said.

Dutta said several surveys reflected 25-30% of female domestic workers planning to return home temporarily following income shocks, family security concerns and high living costs resulting from oil price inflation.

In major metropolises, the average vacancy period increased from 5-9 days to 12-20 days. “Staffing firms are reporting a 10-20% decline in the number of permanent workers available, with job segments affected the most,” said ISF’s Dutta.

Staffing Solutions Nitin Dave, CEO of staffing services company Quess, told ET that the impact of migration is marginal (less than 5%) as of now, though the impact is higher in the case of domestic workers.