Au Pair Pay During Pandemic?

[Anonymous]

Hi, we have a new au pair and told her we thought au pairs deserve more than the $200 given the strains of the job during a pandemic (need to social distance, help more with school work etc.) We also feel lucky to even have one at this point given the new visa crackdown.

What are you paying your au pair?

[Anonymous]

OP: Am I the only one planning to pay more then??

[Anonymous]

I'm considering it for our incoming extension ap. Our dud ap left yesterday, 3 months early after being pretty checked out for the past 2 months. I didn't offer it when we matched and she seems excited and eager to be here with us, so I'm probably going to wait until she's started and if she's as good as I think she is I will offer $250/week, maybe more if we go back into total lockdown again in the fall.

[Anonymous]

We are paying $250 a week, and only use about 32 hours (easier to do since we are both working from home).

[Anonymous]

we are paying an additional $50/week

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi, we have a new au pair and told her we thought au pairs deserve more than the $200 given the strains of the job during a pandemic (need to social distance, help more with school work etc.) We also feel lucky to even have one at this point given the new visa crackdown.

What are you paying your au pair?

We are paying $300 now, plus extra tuition reimbursement so that she can take remote classes year round if she chooses. There’s not going to be much to do this winter and with our outgoing au pair having something to look forward to, assignments for complete, etc, has been really helpful psychologically. Op, there have been other threads on this, and some feel relevant threads on what people have offered extension candidates, keeping in mind that this year an not going to offer the opportunities that the program is meant to offer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi, we have a new au pair and told her we thought au pairs deserve more than the $200 given the strains of the job during a pandemic (need to social distance, help more with school work etc.) We also feel lucky to even have one at this point given the new visa crackdown.

What are you paying your au pair?

We are paying $300 now, plus extra tuition reimbursement so that she can take remote classes year round if she chooses. There’s not going to be much to do this winter and with our outgoing au pair having something to look forward to, assignments for complete, etc, has been really helpful psychologically. Op, there have been other threads on this, and some feel relevant threads on what people have offered extension candidates, keeping in mind that this year an not going to offer the opportunities that the program is meant to offer

Pp here - sorry my writing is so garbled, doing too many things at once!

[Anonymous]

We are paying $500. For real. I just sort of spontaneously said it tbh - at that point we had already had her for two years. It started when school was cancelled and has continued. She has extended with us through December - we feel very lucky.

[Anonymous]

We pay the stipend but I made her job (Way) easier and reduced the work hours because she couldn’t handle everything.

[Anonymous]

We doubled to $400 a week, for weeks she’s doing full 40 hours. But the kids are going to camp a few weeks this summer so we’ll drop down to $200 stipend just those weeks b/c her hours will just be around 15-20 a week. (And the cost of camp is so much higher due to pandemic pricing.) And go back up to $400 later this summer and also even if kids are in school 1-2 days a week in fall.

[Anonymous]

300 per week, plus 2k
Bonus at the end of her second year to stay the extra 6 mos (she had been getting 250 all year 2)

[Anonymous]

Serious question- are your au pairs awesome? Because I would pay 400 per week for awesome care, but mine is a pleasant roommate and we like her, but she really isn’t amazing as a caregiver to warrant such a large raise.

[Anonymous]

Gosh. No wonder we haven't been able to compete for one of the few au pairs left lol. $400 a week on top of the program fees? $2k bonus?

I'm new to this entire world, scrambling for in-home childcare, but after reading about how some families really work their au pairs (3+ kids!), my last hope is probably to match with an au pair that just wants a break because we only have one lol *fingers crossed*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gosh. No wonder we haven't been able to compete for one of the few au pairs left lol. $400 a week on top of the program fees? $2k bonus?

I'm new to this entire world, scrambling for in-home childcare, but after reading about how some families really work their au pairs (3+ kids!), my last hope is probably to match with an au pair that just wants a break because we only have one lol *fingers crossed*

Good luck with that... a lot of smart au pairs will realize that 3 older kids are a lot less work than one who wants one-on-one interaction all the time.

[Anonymous]

I am still paying the stipend but give bonuses that will equate to $250. I plan to pay our incoming AP $250 as a starting fee. Our current one is definitely a bit of a dud and has spent many months crying about wanting to go home. I was completely understanding and spent a lot of time researching repatriation flights and speaking to the embassy. She then announced she was going to another family. Since then we are just doing our best and counting down the days.