As a busy family, you have decided to hire a nanny! Before beginning your nanny search, it is helpful to put together a job description depicting what your family needs. If you work late hours and have an extra bedroom or an in-law suite, you might consider hiring a live-in nanny or Au Pair. However, if you just need before and after school care with light house keeping in between, then a live-out nanny or even household manager may better suit your family. A nanny placement agency can best help you find the perfect nanny match if you are able to share what unique needs and preferences your family has. Nanny agencies can also provide you sample contracts and documents to educate you on labor laws in your state.
How Can a Live-Out Nanny Support Your Family?
Typically, a live-out nanny provides childcare and works a preset, normal weekly schedule. You can count on her or him to feed, bathe, play with, and provide enrichment for your children. Your live-out nanny can take the children on approved outings, to school, and extracurriculars in either your vehicle or theirs.
If using their car, you need to pay IRS mileage reimbursement.
Additional Nanny Tasks
It’s also appropriate to ask your nanny to help with other light cleaning & secondary household tasks within reason, if their schedule allows. Additional duties may include: loading & unloading the dishwasher, children’s laundry, cooking for children, organizing play areas or bedrooms, and running errands for the family such as shopping and dropping off dry cleaning. Tasks beyond these can certainly be negotiated, but if so, you should expect to increase your nanny’s hourly rate.
Schedule & Benefits
Live-out nannies work a set weekly schedule and are paid hourly. They receive paid time off for vacation, holidays, sick days & inclement weather days. If they work more than 40 hours per week or are required to work a holiday, they must be paid the overtime rate of 1.5X their usual rate.
How Can a Live-In Nanny Support Your Family?
If you decide to hire a live-in nanny, the responsibilities and pay rate should be the same. She should still have predictable, agreed upon hours and PTO. She is not “on call” unless you are paying for her time. Living in can be a job perk for her, and an added convenience for you. According to most states’ labor laws, you cannot deduct rent or living expenses from her pay.
Living Space & House Rules
A live-in nanny should be expected to clean up after herself when she uses any communal areas and follow any pre-agreed house rules. However, she should not be expected to maintain the house otherwise. A live-in nanny should have a furnished bedroom to herself. When off-duty, she should be allowed space without the expectation to be available to the children because she is home. A private bathroom is common to provide a live-in nanny, but not required as some share one with the children.
Working Nights
If you work overnights or need your live-in nanny to be home overnight, in case you need to leave, you may not be required to pay her. As long as she is able to sleep overnight in her own room, uninterrupted, you do not need to pay her an overnight fee. However, if she is caring for a newborn through the night or an awake child, she should be paid hourly.
Providing Meals and Car Usage
You should expect to provide meals & snacks for her when she’s working, and when she’s not, as well as paying for her meals when eating out with the family. She should expect to pay for her own meals and entertainment when going out on her personal time. If she uses your car to drive with your children, you should specify if and when she can use the car when she is off-duty.
What is an Au Pair?
It’s easy to confuse a professional, live-in nanny with an Au Pair. Au Pairs are students from another country, who are learning English and enrolled in college classes. They are placed to live with a family for one to two years, and help with childcare. An Au Pair program is an educational program with specific policies and guidelines in place. Au Pairs are students, not professional caregivers. Therefore they are not paid a hourly, but instead provided room and board and given a stipend for spending. There are a few additional costs that families pay to the Au Pair agency to cover the cost of flights, a visa, and more.
There you have it, a break down of different in-home childcare options. Decide what works best for your family. When you are ready to proceed with your nanny search, Boston Baby Nurse & Nanny is here to support you! We have a large pool of professionally, qualified nanny candidates waiting to meet you. Our nanny placement team will hear your family’s specific needs and begin a thorough search to find you the perfect match. Reach out today at 781-444-4063 or fill out our family application today! About The Author
Claire Sherba is a nanny recruitment specialist. She finds and interviews highly qualified nanny candidates for Boston Baby Nurse & Nanny. Claire has worked with young children and their families for nearly two decades, both as a private nanny and as a classroom teacher. She studied early childhood education at City College of San Francisco, and holds an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling with her family, reading, cooking & photography.
