Shanghai Daily news

Liu Jiangang, a native of Baotou City in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, says he always dreamed of owning his own company.
After graduating from the electrical engineering department at Tongji University in Yangpu District, he held a job for a few months before deciding to dump it and start his own business.
"Even though you worked as a top-leveled white collar with 10,000 yuan (US$1,204.82) monthly in pocket, most of the value you created is kept by the bosses," Liu said.
He had tried many business at first, some related with his major and some not. Finally, he focused on the housekeeping industry with the hope that the city's immature service sector would bring him his first bucket of gold.
Last April, Liu set up Shanghai Easy All Home Service Co Ltd, to provide housekeepers for expats families.
"People can not easily find a satisfactory housekeeper in such a big city since the industry is not operated very well," said Liu.
According to Liu, there are many irregular companies who make profits by acting like an agent for housekeepers.
They find some migrants who are willing to work cheap and urgently introduce them to their potential customers to make money. The instant housekeepers usually lack training and don't go through any health examination before work in the service sector.
Witnessing the mess in the market, Liu sensed great business potential. He set up the company and determined to spread his brand by providing qualified and reliable employees.
Though Liu's company has just broken even after months of operation, he feels confident toward the future.
The company hired about 40 migrant people and laid-off workers aged 40 to 50. Each employee needs to report their arrival time on the job every day. A housekeeper charges 20 (US$2.41) to 30 yuan per hour depending on the distance between the company and the customer's home.
Usually, families who ask for daily care will be charged at least 10 yuan less an hour than the customers who only need one to two days service a week.
The firm also employed seven service supervisors who speak good English to deal with customers requirements and complaints as well as help with communication.
Liu and his partner are also developing software that can assess each employee's behavior while cutting the current costs.
At the same time, the boss is seeking a proper place to set up an employee training base. Liu expects his fresh staff will assemble every day and be taught the standardized service attitude and gestures.
"I'd like to launch a program that uses military style training," Liu said.
"Many of the housekeepers are from underprivileged families and their bad habits, say, scratching their legs when talking, will make our customers feel uncomfortable."
Liu served in the army for two years before he enrolled in university. He believes the more qualified training will make people more professional.
Hou Jirong, Liu's partner, was his former primary school classmate. She once worked for a travel company before Liu persuaded her to drop the job and help him open his company. Due to her fluent language skills, Hou is responsible for the service side of the business while Liu is trying every effort to open new markets.
"Both tourism and house service are tiring jobs," Hou smiled. House service is very detailed work, there are many things you need to take care of, she said.