LONDON LIFE
really wasn’t that expensive, but don’t
tell her that.”
The cost of time*
i
The demand for such staff has perhaps
intensified over recent years thanks to Live in housekeeper £21,000
record salaries and bonuses in the City.
Head gardener £28,000
Nanny £33,000
Dominic Perks at SLM Recruitment
Butler £33,000
adds that the arrival of high-powered Chef (live-in) to £40,000
Russian and Middle Eastern business
Personal Assistant £44,000
people who regard well qualified English
Total cost
domestic staff as the last word in of living the dream £199,000
sophistication has added further to the
* Rates per annum of domestic staff
upward pressure on wages. As a result
in London according to domestic
of shortages: “Hybrid roles are emerging, staff recruitment specialist SLM
such as nanny/PAs and it’s not unusual
Recruitment. wslmrecruitment.co.uk
for the modern butler to encompass
being a cook, grocery shopper, gardener,
seamstress, sommelier and wardrobe obvious to new employers how to
organiser.” He is coy on the toothpaste treat staff.”
issue however, and defers to one of Another influx, this time of less
the butlers on his books for an answer, expensive labour from Eastern Europe,
although does admit to giving advice is having a different effect at the other
on etiquette: “because it’s not always end of the market, which appears to be
trying to keep up with the Abramoviches.
Classifieds site Gumtree claimed in 2007
win a private chef
that one in two British homes employs
this for a night!
domestic staff, almost a fifth more than
See page 36
the previous year. Its catch-all definition
included child minders, window cleaners
odd job men, ‘ironers’ and dog walkers.
Research showed that half of all UK
households employ an average of three
outside helpers, paying £1,924 a year for
an average of six hours’ help a week.
Finally, to the matter of the toothpaste.
Anderson Dias, an archetypal butler who’s
worked for the rich and famous for 10
years says it would be a reasonable if
unusual request: “I’ve never been asked
to do something like that although it’s
important that I anticipate what my
busy employers need doing. If it’s not
demeaning and my employer has a
professional attitude to our working
relationship, then any request goes.”
Does that include ironing the newspaper?
“If appropriate, yes.”
34 | add lib
butler spread.indd 4 10/3/08 10:08:47
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