Do you pay more than stipend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did for our last AP who was exceptional and she went above and beyond. I also gave her a $2500 bonus for her travel month.

So yes, for exceptional performance. Our current AP only gets straight stipend. I did give him an end of summer bonus, but generally speaking, he does the bssics of the job, but nothing more, so he gets the basic stipend.

Lol! Let's not kid ourselves, many of us use the AP for the flexibility and the cost. Who can afford a 2500 bonus?

Actually I HOST au pairs - I don't USE them - for the flexibility and the opportunity to have a young woman live in my home who I can trust as a family member with my children. I also give generous bonuses at the end and perks throughout the year. I do round up the stipend but that's it. This is supposed to be a cultural exchange program where we welcome this young people into our homes and our families. The reason there is a class action is because of the attitude that this is cheap labor and au pairs are LESS THAN. The word means ON PAR. Let's not forget that PLEASE!!!

Self-righteous mom hits again. Peuhleese, don't make it seem like we are abusive by not paying an outrageous bonus. Good for you for having the luxury to choose au pairs over nannies and top price in the name of cultural exchange. How's the Japanese folding going?

I dont even know what you are talking about. I'm the 2500 bonus poster. I'm not involved in the above exchange.

I actually chose an AP for the flexibility, not the cost. I have school aged kids. An AP is expensive for me. Id never have had an AP for cheap foreign infant/toddler childcare. We had a nanny for the formative years. And lots of people can afford generous bonuses. In addition, i pay their taxes and give generous Christmas and birthday bonuses for APs who go above and beyond. Cashboutnof pocket for an excellent AP, it's probably $3500 in extra cash.

[Anonymous]

We compensate our APs above stipend but we do not offer it when matching or in our documents. We only use a certain group from one country. One extended for full year and one for 6 months. We will not change our approach because the great experiences we have had with these APs for the last 5 years almost.
It is more the perks (we too have low hour requirement, convenient area, AP has own car, etc) and how we treat our AP than the stipend that we use to help get our candidates, as the group we prefer is limited and in very high demand - so our previous APs are our biggest recruiting advantage now and we hope our run continues. Our first AP from this country got us our 3rd who did 2 years with us.

With vacations and other cash out lay 6-7k more a year than basic program costs. For us the costs is the same as a nanny for our hours but we have enjoyed our APs while getting very good child care. We did not plan being a HF that had to compete for these candidates and to pay more - just evolved that way and we like we what are paying for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love our AP and the experience has been wonderful so far. It works for us right now while our kids are in school and all on different schedules and needing a chauffeur etc. Our Au pair has been a wonderful fit so far.
But my kids were in a full time naeyc daycare before this and to compare my practically teenage AP to the PROFESSIONAL childcare workers they had before is just laughable. These women have early childhood degrees/certifications, years of experience, continual training, licensing requirements, and a passion/calling to the job. They were totally my "village" and my mentors/partners in raising my kids as babies.

My Au pair, again, is great but she is not a child expert. She watches my kids in the afternoon and shuttles them around. The idea that APs should be paid the same as full time professional nannies/childcare is, frankly, laughable. If so, then they need to have the same qualifications.

We would not participate if the stipend was raised. we pay a lot in expenses and room/board/extras and if it were that much more I'd go back to hiring professionals.

Professional nannies in this area make so so much more than the stipend tho that there's plenty of middle ground.

Not really. I'm sure there are six figure nannies in this area, but it's also fairly easy to find excellent nannies with experience and great references for 15-18/hour.

Yes and the stipend is as low as sub $5/hr depending how many hours you use so what's your point????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We compensate our APs above stipend but we do not offer it when matching or in our documents. We only use a certain group from one country.

Big mystery - white South Africans. They are typically the best, but not sure I would pay 7k more a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We compensate our APs above stipend but we do not offer it when matching or in our documents. We only use a certain group from one country.

Big mystery - white South Africans. They are typically the best, but not sure I would pay 7k more a year.

Wait, what?! People seek out specifically white South Africans?! Doesn't it feel gross to y'all to be that racist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We compensate our APs above stipend but we do not offer it when matching or in our documents. We only use a certain group from one country.

Big mystery - white South Africans. They are typically the best, but not sure I would pay 7k more a year.

Wait, what?! People seek out specifically white South Africans?! Doesn't it feel gross to y'all to be that racist?

I would not consider myself or family racist as we are African American and know racism all too well. We have found that the white South African AP's work better for our family. Our APs have had advanced degrees in child education/psychology, familiar with and comfortable working with black African children, all have been a nanny for black children, and more comfortable living with a black family. We have had European and black South African's and found it more of a cultural adjustment/lifestyle that did not work well.

[Anonymous]

Ooookay well making a certain race a hiring requirement is like the definition of racism and minorities can obviously also be racist.

[Anonymous]

I am the poster who pays more than the stipend when my AP works close to the 45 hours some weeks. I am factoring in the room and board.

So I am not following some of the posters here. Does everyone agree that APs should make minimum wage, but that the rate paid should factor in the room and board paid? If that is the case, do you think $200 for 45 hours is enough even if you factor it in? I do not think it is. And you should not factor in the agency fee because that does not go to the AP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the poster who pays more than the stipend when my AP works close to the 45 hours some weeks. I am factoring in the room and board.

So I am not following some of the posters here. Does everyone agree that APs should make minimum wage, but that the rate paid should factor in the room and board paid? If that is the case, do you think $200 for 45 hours is enough even if you factor it in? I do not think it is. And you should not factor in the agency fee because that does not go to the AP.

Not quite following you here...the difference between the stipend and minimum wage is about $25 is day if you use all 45 hours. Do you not think the cost of housing, meals, has, cell phone, etc exceeds $25 a day?

[Anonymous]

The point of the lawsuit is that housing only counts if your employee is free to not use it (and if they chose not to you would have to pay min wage in cash). Since au pairs are not free to opt out, the theory goes, host families can't count it against the au pair's compensation.