Reply to New to hiring a nanny ... experienced parents, give me a tutorial

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[quote=Anonymous]In brief, yes, I think you can find someone to do all this. You'll just want to be sure you're clear in your description what the responsibilities are so there isn't any confusion about the balance between nannying and housekeeping.

1. What can we expect to pay an experienced nanny for 40 hours per week? In addition to base pay, what are the other usual benefits? Do we cover healthcare, and if so, how? Do we give a stipend and let her figure it out? Or is that all expected to be covered by base pay? How much vacation do you give? She'll likely get two weeks in the summer when we are on our own vacation, as well as holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas and probably a good deal of federal holidays since DH and the kids are usually home for those. In addition to that, would it be typical to give her, say 2 weeks of her own choosing? Or is 1 week sufficient since she'll have off at least a couple more weeks when we are away? We want to make a competitive offer but within the market range.

- Are you in the city or the suburbs? That'll make a difference as to the rate of pay as in the city is probably going to be at least $5/hr higher but I'm guessing with three kids who are out of the house part of the time, you're looking at a rate of around $25-$30/hr bare minimum, guaranteed 40 hours/week + overtime at time and a half as applicable, paid vacation and sick leave. It's a nice benefit to offer one week vacation of the nanny's choosing, but we didn't find it was necessary to recruitment. (That said when our nanny has asked for a specific time off we have always accommodated it.) We've had two nannies and not had to offer healthcare as the first was on her husband's plan and our current nanny is older and on Medicare. We probably would offer a flat stipend of several hundred dollars if it had been needed.

2. Is it usual to expect a nanny to housekeep while the children are at school? There will be about 2 hours and 45 minutes each day where the house will be empty. I'd like to ask her to do all the laundry and dishes, neaten up around the house, do some simple food prep so dinner is quick for DH to make (like chop veggies and fruits, marinate meat, etc.), and do 2 grocery trips per week. Is that all reasonable? In the summer, this would lighten up because all 3 kids will be home, they can help with chores, and she'll need to shuffle them to camps and stuff.

- Most nannies focus their time and abilities on childcare and early education, and while I'd say a good number of those will do light cleaning/cooking/laundry it tends to be for the child only, not for the family/entire house. So in your case maybe advertise for housekeeping/childcare rather than calling it strictly a nanny position?

3. How do taxes work? I find this confusing. What is our responsibility as the employer for taxes?

- You'll have to pay employer taxes, yes. Be sure you make clear whether the rate you say you're paying is pre- or post-tax. We advertised a rate and then took taxes out of it and it was a surprise to our nanny who had thought it would be post-tax pay; we worked it out but I felt bad about the confusion. (Apparently some nanny employers out there pay their employees' taxes for them separately on top of the advertised rate.) There are lots of payroll services that handle this explicitly for household employees that aren't expensive (NannyChex, SurePayroll, etc.) or you can look up your state regulations and do it on your own. We're in VA and do it ourselves and it's not really hard, but there are a lot of details to watch out for and you certainly don't want to miss making your payments to the state when they're due. (I'd use a service, but DH prefers to do it himself so I effectively outsource it to him in our case.)

4. How hard is it to find a great nanny? Should we expect some false starts? Just want to have reasonable expectations. The top priority is someone who adores kids and is warm and loving toward them. I've been home awhile, the kids are used to the comfort of mom all the time, and I want to leave them in loving hands. Second priority is probably someone who can really keep the house neat and running smoothly because that will really help me return to work more smoothly after a long time out. Safety obviously is very important too.

- My feeling is it's still a nanny's market right now, so yes, you probably will have to do some legwork to find the right person. I think being really clear up front about exactly what you're looking for, and not trying to be too accommodating to candidates in an interview, goes a long way. That sounds kind of terrible written out but I made the mistake in an early interview of trying to make the candidate feel comfortable and like we'd be great to work for and ended up realizing I had given her an unfair and not really accurate view of what we were really looking for. For instance: in your case if it's really important to you that your house be clean and run smoothly, I wouldn't necessarily categorize that as a 'second priority' but rather an 'equal priority.' And that's probably going to be the harder category to fill. Most nanny candidates love children and you should be able to get a sense in the interview of the chemistry between your kids and the candidate (definitely plan to have your kids with you for a portion of the interview, though ideally not all of it). You may even want to pay a candidate to work on trial for several hours or a full day as part of the interview process, to give them and your kids ample time together and see if they click.

One last thought: once you do find someone, expect that it will take several weeks for everyone to settle in. When our first nanny moved away and we had to find a new one, it took our DD a LONG time to settle in even though our new nanny really is wonderful. It's just a big change to bring someone new into your circle, so don't freak out if things don't go smoothly from the first day or week. Of course follow your gut instincts, but also be prepared to give it some time for the bumps to smooth out. It's a weirdly intimate relationship to have with someone and can take awhile for everyone to figure out the flow!

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