How we look after your information

Who we are

Hermanus Helpers is a small local service in Hermanus, South Africa. Households book help at home from helpers whose work has been confirmed by past employers, and helpers build a work history they own. More kinds of help follow later. We are not an agency, and we never take a cut of a helper's pay.

Questions, or anything about your information: hello@hermanushelpers.co.za.

This notice covers my.hermanushelpers.co.za (helper profiles and sign-up, household accounts, bookings, references and reviews) and our main website, hermanushelpers.co.za.

What we collect

If you sign up as a helper

• Your name, WhatsApp number and email address.
• The area you live in (never your street address), how you get to work and how far you'll travel.
• Your work: the kind of work you're looking for, your experience, the ages of children you look after, what you can help with, your certificates (with photos of them) and languages.
• Your calendar: the days and times you're free, and dates you're busy.
• Your answers "in your own words", and a photo of you.
• Your date of birth, which we use to show your age on your profile.
• Some private answers only we see: your gender, education, whether you have children, the pay you're hoping for, and whether your current employer knows you're looking.

If you create a household account

• Your name, email address, mobile number and the area you live in, and whether you're here all year.
• What help you're looking for, what suits your home (if you tell us), and the helpers you save.
• Who's at home, if you tell us: your children's month and year of birth, and if you choose, their first name, whether they're a girl or boy, any special needs or allergies and a note; and your pets. Health details are kept only with your OK. Only the helpers you book see these, never on profiles or reviews, and you can change or remove them any time.
• Your bookings: who, when, and our fee. Payments are handled by our payment provider; we never see your card details.
• What you tell us after a booking, and whether you'd like updates from us.

If you give a reference

• Your name and email address, so we can check the reference with you.
• Your answers about the helper, including anything you tell us privately.

When you use the site

• Your browser remembers a few things on your own device, like staying logged in. We don't use advertising trackers or analytics cookies here.
• Which steps of our forms are reached (for example "step 3 of 6"), with a random number kept in your browser instead of your name, so we can see where forms are hard to finish.
• When you sign up as a helper or give a reference, the internet address and type of phone or browser it came from, to help us spot fake references.
• A short record of changes made in your account (for example a new rate, a calendar update or a booking) and the day you last opened it, so we can look after the service. Only our team sees it.

On our main website (hermanushelpers.co.za)

• We count your visit with Google Analytics: which pages you look at and roughly where you're from. It uses cookies, and doesn't tell us your name. You can turn it off at any time with "Turn off" on the cookie notice, or "Cookie settings" at the bottom of the website.
• If you join our waitlist or answer our survey, what you type in is stored in Google Forms.

Why we use it

• To check helpers' work history with the people they worked for.
• To show helpers' profiles and calendars to households, once the helper has agreed and we've approved them.
• To take bookings, put households and helpers in touch, and sort things out if a booking doesn't work out (credit or a refund).
• To contact you about your sign-up, a reference or a booking.
• To send you updates, only if you've said yes. You can stop them at any time.
• To keep Hermanus Helpers safe and improve how it works.

We never sell your information.

Who sees what

• You need a household account to see the list of helpers. A helper can still share their own profile link.
• A helper's profile shows their first name and the first letter of their surname, their age, area, kind of work, calendar, experience, what past employers confirmed and positive reviews. It never shows a surname, phone number, street address, ID number or private answers.
• Past employers are never named on a profile. A job that is still going shows as "A current employer", so it can't be pinpointed.
• Helpers who are looking quietly aren't listed for households to browse. Their profile is only shared with households they or we choose.
• After a booking, the helper's phone number is shown to the household straight away, and the helper gets the household's name, number and area so they can get in touch.
• Reviews: only positive ones appear on a profile. Anything else, and all private answers from helpers, households and referees, is only seen by Hermanus Helpers.

Where it's kept

We use a few trusted services to run the site:

• Supabase stores our database and photos, on servers in Germany (European Union).
• Netlify hosts the website.
• Resend sends our emails, from Ireland (European Union).
• WhatsApp (Meta) sends automatic messages: to helpers about bookings and their calendar, and to households about their bookings (confirmed, the day before, and if a helper can't make it). It passes replies back to us.
• Yoco, a South African company, handles payments. We never see or store card details.
• Google counts visits to our main website (Google Analytics) and stores waitlist and survey answers (Google Forms).

Some of these store information outside South Africa. We choose services that follow strong privacy laws, like the European Union's, and protect your information in line with South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

How long we keep it

• Helpers: while your profile is active. If you ask us to delete it, we do so within 30 days. If we don't take a sign-up forward, we delete it after 12 months.
• References and reviews: for as long as the helper's profile exists, unless you ask us to remove yours.
• Households: until you delete your account (you can do this yourself) or ask us to, or after 2 years without any activity. A reference you gave stays on the helper's work record, but your name and email are removed from it. If you'd like the reference removed too, ask us.
• Bookings, credits and payment records: for as long as the law requires.
• Internet address and device details: 6 months, then cleared.
• Form steps reached: 12 months, then cleared.
• Record of account changes: 12 months, then cleared.
• Waitlist and survey answers: for as long as we need them to let you know when we open and to learn from them, or until you ask us to delete them.

Your choices

• Ask to see the information we hold about you.
• Ask us to correct it, or to delete it. Households can also delete their account themselves.
• Helpers can hide their profile at any time.
• Stop receiving updates at any time.

Just email hello@hermanushelpers.co.za. If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, you can also contact South Africa's Information Regulator.

Changes

If we change this notice, we'll update the date at the top. If a change affects how we use your information, we'll let you know.