Volunteering, Working, and Living in the Maldives

8. What can I expect, Living and Working in the Maldives?

Living and working conditions on resorts in the Maldives can vary a lot. Here are some things to consider that you might not have expected, as life can be significantly different to your home country!

🛂 Maldivian Work Visa is arranged by the hotel, who will also cover the costs of your international and domestic travel, and for each annual holiday. There can be delays in processing work visas, especially during the busy period up to high season, so be aware that your employer is likely doing everything it can to expedite the process. Delays can also be experienced for new hotels (large number of staff) and can vary between different skill/career categories.

💵 Your salary will be paid in USD into your bank account, and supplemented with a monthly service charge (which varies widely between resorts and throughout the season). Note that (much) lower rates of service charge are available to staff employed by third-party companies operating on the resort (such as Spa, Dive, Watersports, Marine), so ensure this is clear in your contract. The income tax threshold is high (MIRA), and you will likely not pay any income tax at all (0% tax on MVR 720k annually, equivalent to USD 3800/month).
Your earnings may be lower than similar employment in other countries (USA, Australia). When making comparisons to the Maldives, be sure to factor in that you will have zero outgoings here for things like food, accommodation, utilities, transport … and zero commuting time! This means that it’s perfectly possible to save 90% of your income if you so wish.

🛌 Accommodation & Food – You will live in shared same-sex accommodation (2 to 4 pax), which is a great way to make instant friends, and also to learn tolerance of others’ foibles! (If you’re unlucky, you can request a room change via HR). You will eat at the staff canteen – the buffet-style staff meals are generally good and varied. Note that you will not eat at the guest restaurants, and you cannot cook your own food. There will be a staff ‘tuck shop’ to buy snacks (and toiletries), and there may be a café to buy meals. As a marine biologist, your active lifestyle will keep you fit but also give you a large appetite!
On all island resorts, there is a strict management hierarchy for food, accommodation and benefits, that rewards managers with private quarters, regular meals in the guest restaurants, and more off-day perks.

🗓️ Working Week is 6-days, and your scheduled off-day can be used to do laundry and catch up with sleep! You may be able to join guest excursions and dive classes. There is flexibility if you need to visit local islands for banking or medical services. You can expect 30-40 days annual leave, usually taken as 1 or 2 holidays.
Some work days will be so busy that you can barely catch time for lunch, and will crash early to bed completely exhausted. Other days will be slow-paced, so you will need to be creative and proactive, pushing the boundaries and scope of your role to keep productive and feel fulfilled.

🌴 Island Life – The Maldives is a beautiful country, and every day you wake up to white sand and turquoise waters. Living on a small island, you will quickly build a fascinating community of new friends from all over the world. But remember that Instagram is not reality, and your staff life will be very different to the guest experience! Seeing the same faces every day can be fun, or… occasionally awkward! It’s life in a small gossipy village, and almost impossible to be physically alone. You will come to savour moments on a deserted beach, become lost to time on a tranquil solo snorkel, and treasure an afternoon watching your favourite TV show.
The diverse array of staff cultures means there will be numerous birthdays and celebrations, especially during Xmas and Easter, when peak season brings peak activities and peak levels of fun!

⚽ Staff Facilities can include: beach, football/futsal, gym, volleyball, snorkelling, rec rooms, etc. Some resorts have badminton, tennis, swimming pool, paddle boards, etc. In addition, there can be dive lessons, language classes, dance sessions, movie screenings, karaoke, games nights … things can become very competitive!
Resorts vary widely regarding staff socialising with guests, from strict rules and guest-only zones, to more freedom to mingle. On smaller islands, you can expect more rules to respect guest privacy, and at newly opened hotels there can be some frustrating operational issues.

🥋 Dress Code is a modest uniform (provided), with covered shoulders, covered tattoos, and below-knee shorts. As the vast majority of resort employees are male, female staff may receive good-humoured attention, or encounter clumsy flirting at mealtimes! On off-days, a strappy top and short skirt might attract uncomfortable stares, and you might prefer to wear board shorts and a rash guard rather than a bikini.

💟 Relationships are common, as many employees are living away from home and are young & single (⚠️ or pretending to be!) Discretion is essential, as extra-marital relationships are officially frowned upon in the Maldives (yet remain common). For anyone seeking a serious long-term relationship, be aware that the Maldives has the highest divorce rate rate in the world! Homosexuality is actually illegal in the country (but rarely prosecuted), prompting same-sex relationships to stay completely hidden (although diverse couples & families are welcomed as resort guests).
Working-couple teams are rare, as both partners would need to be given jobs independently on the same resort at the same time (difficult). Even then, only married partners at senior management level would be allocated a ‘couples’ room (unmarried couples sleep separately in shared same-sex quarters). TIP: When applying for employment or internship, do so independently and do not ask for a couple placement (this could hinder your prospects).

🍷 Alcohol is not available on local islands, but is permitted on island resorts (and safari boats). Only a few resorts have an actual staff bar, so foreign employees have a channel to buy drinks directly from the hotel store (with monthly purchase limits) for private consumption. Honestly though, if you live to party, then choose a different country (Sri Lanka, India, Thailand). Note: it is officially forbidden for Maldivians to consume alcohol.

🕌 Religion – the Republic of the Maldives is officially 100% Islamic. The resorts are licensed for beer, bacon, and bikinis, but these are forbidden on local islands (although islands with guesthouses will have a ‘bikini beach’). Maldivians are very tolerant of other religions, although public worshipping and idolatry are forbidden. Your local work colleagues will be chilled, and you will make good friends with the same personalities that you encounter the world over.
On a day-to-day basis, you might hear the call for prayer from the nearby mosque, and annually there is the Holy Month of Ramadan, when Muslims are required to fast (no food or liquids) from dawn till sunset. The resorts will obviously allow for non-fasting staff to eat at set mealtimes. Note that it is very impolite to consume food or liquids in the presence of your fasting work colleagues (even though they will say it’s OK!)

🚤 Travel – Many islands are remote, even from each other, and you can’t simply ‘island hop’ from one to another. Transfers can be via slow local ferry (dhoni), speed launch, seaplane, or domestic flight. Practically speaking, you should allow half a day to travel from the resort, and staff will often share the scheduled guest transfers (which might be at inconvenient times). If freedom to travel locally is an important part of your life experience, or an essential cure for “small island fever”, then be sure to choose an island close to the capital Malé (Google maps), or at least close to a local island village.
Although saving most of your salary is very achievable, you could easily spend much of your income by travelling around the Maldivian atolls (staying in guest houses or on a safari boat), and exploring the wider SE Asia region, from Sri Lanka to Malaysia and beyond …
Being 99% ocean, you will soon become familiar with boats of all shapes and sizes (bring your sea-sickness meds!) and you may also fly via small domestic aircraft or seaplane (noisy and somewhat claustrophobic).

☀️ Weather – it’s hot! Straddling the equator, the Maldives is a hot tropical country, and the sun can easily burn your skin, even on cloudy days or under shade. Bring sunglasses and sunhat, along with your shorts, rashguard, sandals/flipflops/Crocs and sunscreen (v.expensive in Maldives). If you have very fair skin, then wear long sleeves and long trousers (loose-fitting cotton or linen) and carry an umbrella/parasol. (UV Index is rated 12+ ‘extreme’, see here and download the SunSmart app.) Avoid direct sun during the hottest time of day (11am-2pm) and regularly reapply your SPF50 (sun safety advice video) especially when swimming & snorkelling.
Despite all the photos to the contrary, it does rain a lot in the Maldives, although half the rain falls at night of course. Tropical downpours can cause localised floods that usually subside within a few hours. But rainstorms can disrupt travel plans, so don’t leave essential travel till the last minute.
During these last few years, climate change has certainly been affecting local weather patterns, and the monsoon rains are not as predictable or well-defined as they were just a decade ago.

🏥 Medical – most resorts have a resident resort doctor/nurse, or will have relatively easy access to a local island clinic. If you have particular requirements or concerns, consider bringing your own medications and First Aid Kit (along with mosquito spray and sunscreen). The staff shop will sell sanitary products and condoms, as well as a wide range of toiletries, but your preferred brand/s may not be available. For any specific essentials, you may need to travel to the regional atoll hospital, or even to the capital island of Malé.
You will almost certainly receive comprehensive medical insurance, but do check your contract, and do not travel without it! (eg: a simple knee injury could mean a $10k long-haul flight home in a wheelchair).