asking nanny to do non-baby-related housework

[Anonymous]

I am about to start interviewing nannies for a 4 month old and would like input as to my plan.

I have a very inconsistent work schedule, and work from home (office in the basement, separate from the rest of the house, yes I understand some nannies dont like this and yes I understand that I need to stay in my office and not meddle in the nanny doing her job). I plan to hire a nanny 35 hours/week. There are weeks that my workload is very light, and in those weeks I will be able to take a few hours off on random mornings/afternoons to spend time with the baby. During this time, I don't want to just tell the nanny to take the afternoon off but still pay her because, well, that is not good money management on my part. However I don't want to give her unpaid time off because that isn't fair to her budgeting based on a 35 hour/week paycheck. And I don't want to pay her to just sit at my house if the kiddo isn't even there. So instead I would ask her to take that time and help with stuff like family laundry, dishes, picking up drycleaning and running other errands, etc. Is this something that nannies mind? Or will I end up with my nanny bitching on DCUM about my asking her to do this? Clearly I would outline my situation in advance so that a nanny who wasn't interested in helping out around the house when the baby and I are out at a mommy and me group, etc. will know ahead of time.

[Anonymous]

Nanny/housekeeper combination positions are really common. You'll find plenty of good applicants. You will also get slammed on here, so be prepared!

[Anonymous]

Advertise honestly (you need a PT nanny/PT household manager), be upfront in the interview, and it will be fine. I do many of those things for the families I work for because we discussed it beforehand and agreed to certain parameters, including a slightly higher per hour rate ($1/hr more).

[Anonymous]

You'll be so much more successful of you hire a housekeeper who wants some babysitting.

[Anonymous]

Call it a nanny/house manager job and be clear in the interview process what your needs will be. I had a GREAT position like this for a family with older children. I would arrive at work at 12:00pm and do grocery shopping, errands, laundry, etc and then pick up the kids from school and do activities with them. I would also do a lot of meal planning g and preparing of meals for the entire family. Worked for them for 2.5 years and loved my job. Good luck finding a great nanny for your family.

[Anonymous]

I agree that nanny housekeeping jobs are very common. Some of the nannies on this board just want you to believe this isn't the case. I don't know anyone with a nanny who is child care tasks only.

I do one or two people who fired childcare task only type nannies. Its smart to hire your nanny with an understanding that as schedules change, tasks will change too. Light housekeeping can include laundry (all), grocery shopping, meal prep, dusting, vacuuming, sweeping, wiping down counters etc. The more time consuming tasks that don't require huge effort like laundry is the biggest time saver to have a nanny take care of during the week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You'll be so much more successful of you hire a housekeeper who wants some babysitting.

Hi, OP here. Perhaps I wasn't clear in my original message. This position will be mostly caring for my child, not mostly cleaning my house. The most I would envision the nanny EVER doing work other than caring for my child would be 10 hours/week, and that wouldn't be every week. That would be rare. That is not what I consider a housekeeper who does some babysitting.

[Anonymous]

We all recognize that nanny housekeeper jobs are common. The outrage you find with many nannies on this board is when a position that was, when hired, a nannying job, but because the employer can't stomache that nanny may not be occupied every second of every day and tries to add duties not formerly agreed upon or properly compensated for. If you are honest in your ads and interviews OP this should not be a problem. Nanny/housekeeper jobs command a higher hourly rate so a nanny who charges $15/hour for nanny duties may charge $16-$17/hour for nanny/housekeeper duties. If you want to stick with $15/hour you will find yourself interviewing the previously $10-$12/hour nannies and that may be fine with you.

[Anonymous]

Just a thought, you may find you have a hard time finding someone willing to take what is so close but not quite a FT job at 35 hours a week. You might consider going up to 40 hours and regularly including things like meal prep and grocery shopping (in addition to the other things you mentioned). That way the nanny regularly has the expectation of doing housework, rather than it occasionally being thrown at her. It probably wouldn't even be that much more expensive for you, as PT employees generally want a slightly higher hourly rate. You could do $18/hr for 35 hrs for 630/wk, or $16/hr for 40 hrs for 640/wk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just a thought, you may find you have a hard time finding someone willing to take what is so close but not quite a FT job at 35 hours a week. You might consider going up to 40 hours and regularly including things like meal prep and grocery shopping (in addition to the other things you mentioned). That way the nanny regularly has the expectation of doing housework, rather than it occasionally being thrown at her. It probably wouldn't even be that much more expensive for you, as PT employees generally want a slightly higher hourly rate. You could do $18/hr for 35 hrs for 630/wk, or $16/hr for 40 hrs for 640/wk.

Good suggestion, thank you.

[Anonymous]

We all recognize that nanny housekeeper jobs are common. The outrage you find with many nannies on this board is when a position that was, when hired, a nannying job, but because the employer can't stomache that nanny may not be occupied every second of every day and tries to add duties not formerly agreed upon or properly compensated for. If you are honest in your ads and interviews OP this should not be a problem. Nanny/housekeeper jobs command a higher hourly rate so a nanny who charges $15/hour for nanny duties may charge $16-$17/hour for nanny/housekeeper duties. If you want to stick with $15/hour you will find yourself interviewing the previously $10-$12/hour nannies and that may be fine with you.

Not true. We had no problem finding nannies that were willing to do light housekeeping in the normal range of $15. Its not a good idea to hire a nanny who is seeking a job with no light housekeeping and only considers it as a premium anyway. These are the nannies with low work ethic. Rates are more affected by number of hours per week and location than the tasks in a job.

[Anonymous]

I have a position like this. I'm sure you will find qualified applicants as long as you are upfront with your expectations and needs. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

We all recognize that nanny housekeeper jobs are common. The outrage you find with many nannies on this board is when a position that was, when hired, a nannying job, but because the employer can't stomache that nanny may not be occupied every second of every day and tries to add duties not formerly agreed upon or properly compensated for. If you are honest in your ads and interviews OP this should not be a problem. Nanny/housekeeper jobs command a higher hourly rate so a nanny who charges $15/hour for nanny duties may charge $16-$17/hour for nanny/housekeeper duties. If you want to stick with $15/hour you will find yourself interviewing the previously $10-$12/hour nannies and that may be fine with you.

Not true. We had no problem finding nannies that were willing to do light housekeeping in the normal range of $15. Its not a good idea to hire a nanny who is seeking a job with no light housekeeping and only considers it as a premium anyway. These are the nannies with low work ethic. Rates are more affected by number of hours per week and location than the tasks in a job.

Not true. Light housekeeping tasks SHOULD be paid at a premium, they are in addition to normal nanny duties. When most nannies quote a rate, say for one child, that rate includes caring for the child and all CHILD related tasks. Light housekeeping is outside of child related cleaning and should be compensated accordingly. If I would normally charge $15 for one child and normal duties, I'd have to be dense to charge the same thing for a job requiring that and additionally adult laundry, clean up, cooking, or errands. It has nothing to do with work ethic. I have no problem doing the work, I just desire to be paid for it. I'm sure you can understand that. That would be like someone in the corporate world being offered a "promotion" or increase in responsibility but no bump in pay. I know it happens, but not regularly as there'd be no motivation to take said promotion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We all recognize that nanny housekeeper jobs are common. The outrage you find with many nannies on this board is when a position that was, when hired, a nannying job, but because the employer can't stomache that nanny may not be occupied every second of every day and tries to add duties not formerly agreed upon or properly compensated for. If you are honest in your ads and interviews OP this should not be a problem. Nanny/housekeeper jobs command a higher hourly rate so a nanny who charges $15/hour for nanny duties may charge $16-$17/hour for nanny/housekeeper duties. If you want to stick with $15/hour you will find yourself interviewing the previously $10-$12/hour nannies and that may be fine with you.

Not true. We had no problem finding nannies that were willing to do light housekeeping in the normal range of $15. Its not a good idea to hire a nanny who is seeking a job with no light housekeeping and only considers it as a premium anyway. These are the nannies with low work ethic. Rates are more affected by number of hours per week and location than the tasks in a job.

Not true. Light housekeeping tasks SHOULD be paid at a premium, they are in addition to normal nanny duties. When most nannies quote a rate, say for one child, that rate includes caring for the child and all CHILD related tasks. Light housekeeping is outside of child related cleaning and should be compensated accordingly. If I would normally charge $15 for one child and normal duties, I'd have to be dense to charge the same thing for a job requiring that and additionally adult laundry, clean up, cooking, or errands. It has nothing to do with work ethic. I have no problem doing the work, I just desire to be paid for it. I'm sure you can understand that. That would be like someone in the corporate world being offered a "promotion" or increase in responsibility but no bump in pay. I know it happens, but not regularly as there'd be no motivation to take said promotion.

Yes, but in this job the other duties are happening during times the nanny/housekeeper has no responsibilities for the children. So she's doing two parallel jobs, not two jobs at the same time. I was in a similar situation, very irregular hours and we wanted to offer a FT position. We structured the same way. 40 guaranteed hours/week with a nannying vs housekeeping schedule clearly delineated week by week. We didn't have to pay a premium when we found the right person. I think it worked out really well as it absolutely guarenteed she'd get break time during the day, and she didn't even have to worry about child related tasks getting done while she was on child care time. (Just cleaning up after herself)

[Anonymous]

As long as you advertise it as what it is (nanny/housekeeper) and not just a nanny position, its fine. And make expectations/duties clear on a contract.