How much it pays to be a butler in South Africa
Thinking of butlers often evokes images of an old mansion, and a greying servant attending to his master and his estate – but the profession is very much alive in South Africa.
Research from jobs portal Adzuna.co.za earlier this year listed butlers as one of the jobs that was surprisingly in relatively high demand.
“People tend to think of butlers as expensive and posh, like those seen in films. However, they are also hired by hotels, casinos and private individuals,” Adzuna said.
“They are often referred to as ‘House Managers’ and sometimes manage other butlers as VIP Services Managers.”
Many students go to hotel schools, or even sign on to university courses set for the hospitality industry; however, there exists at least one group – the South African Butler Acadamy (SABA) – that specialises in butlers alone.
And according to a number of job listing on the group’s website, it is apparent that many of these positions can be considerably well-paid.
For local positions, monthly salaries for specialist butler positions range from R18,000 to as high as R40,000 per month (R220,000 to R480,000 a year). Many of these are live-in positions as well for wealthy families or business, with many other benefits included.
According to the SABA, many South African-trained butlers are also in demand overseas, and international job listings – for hotels, cruise liners or estate management – draw a monthly salary of between R27,500 and R70,000 ($2,000 – $5,000), or some cases even as high as R100,000 (£5,500).
These offers represent a very specialised kind of butler position – however, with the listings on Adzuna, some positions have lower entry requirements, and can offer between R6,000 to R8,000 a month, in a general hospitality industry job.
SABA said that all of its ‘graduates’ who are ‘fit for the butler trade’ get positions through its specialised recruitment network – though it stressed that careers are what butlers make of them, finding their fit as private hotel, private estate, luxury cruise, or any other butler.
What goes into being a butler
According to the SABA, the work that goes into training butlers is beyond teaching individuals how to wait on people; it involves proper etiquette training, as well as giving the interpersonal skills on how to deal with dignitaries.
Butlers that work through the academy’s courses are taught cooking skills, etiquette and protocol training, concierge and valeting, and au pairing, among other more specialised skills – such as language training, security training and even pet and animal care.
Note: The SABA is a privately-owned group and is not accredited by the South African Services Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA).
Read: 5 strange jobs in South Africa that are surprisingly in demand
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