Am I charging too high of a rate?
![[Post New]](/nanny-forum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
This argument on market rates is going nowhere because it ignores the real factors that affect those rates.
Market rates reflect supply and demand. Anyone can call themselves a nanny so the low barrier to entry means supply is high (at least in this area). Another factor to consider is that rates are deflated when people are will to pay and be paid illegally. If people insisted on paying/being paid on the books, market rates will rise. Individual MBs cannot be blamed for wanting to pay market rates. Child care is expensive and if a nanny candidate cannot fund the life they want on market rates, they should either find a new line of work, or offer something substantial that would command an above market rate (like cooking, housekeeping or something akin to nanny/house manager duties) Individual nannies cannot be blamed for wanting to make more money. Everyone wants more money and most people think of their services as being worth more than their pay. Things are also complicated when nannies perceive their NFs as having so much more money than they do and believe they should be paid more because they believe their job is the most essential thing in a NFs budget. Nannies also are somewhat disrespected as a group. People think childcare is easy, nannies have all kinds of perks (free time during naps or school, free food) and very little oversight. It doesn't matter if any of that is true, the perception is out there. |
Anonymous
I'm a nanny and all this IS true! I love my job because it's so simple and straightforward. I have a ton of downtime and I am always rested and energized which makes me great at my job. I also also never have to buy my own lunch or dinner food =) |
Anonymous
| Pursuing education means you don't have it. I don't say that to be mean, but it's just a thought. No degreee is the same either way. |
Anonymous
Um duh! Obviously one doesn't have a degree if they are currently pursuing it. You couldn't be more wrong though. Many people for one degree and then change direction. I'm OP. I have my associates in Early Childhood Development, but have decided to pursue another degree in a different, but similar field. |
Anonymous
Yes, captain obvious. And who are you actually talking to? |
Anonymous
+10000 |
Anonymous
| From what I see, nanny housekeepers earn less, not more. They're more like mother's helpers who'll do a bit of everything, whatever mom wants, but they need lots of daily direction. |
Anonymous
|
Let me tell you a little about my experience job searching last Fall:
I interviewed with a family that I liked, with one infant, who required a lot of additional chores as well during nap time. They kept talking a great deal about their previous nanny, who had worked for them for $12/hr for six months, and who was "so amazing!" but who had "suddenly left due to a medical emergency." (They were utterly convinced this was true but I'm quite sure she just found a better paying job.) The job was for 38 hours per week (no overtime). I told them that for the position I'd require $16/hr. They paused, and said they had expected they might need to pay more than $12/hr, but "needed to discuss it," and were interviewing other candidates, but would let me know. Two days later they called me to say they really wanted me to work with them, but they looked at their finances, and could only offer me $15/hr at the most to start, and practically begged me to work with them (saying that in the next six months they would reevaluate and potentially offer a raise, etc). I turned them down, as I already had multiple offers on the table from other families, all of whom were offering $15/hr for positions with no housework and slightly more hours. (Honestly I think a lot of families have some weird mental block about this exact number; they just don't want to pay more than $15/hr for some reason. I encountered that A LOT.) Well, I found out a couple months later that a friend of a friend of mine had actually interviewed with and ended up working for that family. She has less experience and qualifications than I do, but she accepted their offer of $13/hr. I was shocked she would take the job for so little, but it is an important lesson: there is ALWAYS someone willing to do the job for cheaper. It took me longer than I had hoped (8 weeks and over a dozen interviews), but I finally found a family willing to pay $16/hr. And OP, I should mention that, at least on paper, I have an edge on you: 100% American but speak near-fluent Spanish Bachelors degree in ECE (minor in Spanish) 12 years full time nanny experience Not only drive but have my own safe reliable vehicle Plus many other certifications, etc I have all those qualifications and amazing references, and it still took me 8 weeks and 12+ interviews to find a decent family willing to pay $16/hr. That's just the way it is. |
Anonymous
No, the parent offers a lot of daily direction, whether the nanny/housekeeper needs or wants it. I don't need to be shone how to clean a toilet in the children's room, yet I had an MB who felt she needed to show me twice and then watch me do it. Sorry, but her way was less sanitary, so I showed her my way, took the same amount of time, less mess and fewer germs leftover for next time. And yes, they're typically paid more, because the parents are the ones who want "to get their money's worth," rather than having someone concentrate on the kids. |
Anonymous
^^paid less to do more |
Anonymous
Exactly. They "get their monies worth" by getting more work out of the same salary, I don't know how the PP equated getting monies worth to paying them more money... must be smoking something. |
Anonymous
I corrected myself, fingers were too slow to keep up with the brain... I meant to type paid less to do more in the paragraph. |
Anonymous
Oh haha, I thought you were a different poster correcting the one above =D |
Anonymous
Nope. I've had positions that were nanny/housekeeper, just nanny, nanny/homeschool teacher, nanny/household manager and nanny/family assistant. Any of the others are better than nanny/housekeeper, because the parents have a set list of things that fall into my purview. When the job is nanny/housekeeper, everything is thrown in when the parent decides it fits. Dog is misbehaving? Nanny can fit it in during the day, it shouldn't be much different than dealing with a child. Toilet is backed up because parents let the kid put trucks down it last night? She's a housekeeper, she can fix toilets, right? Errands are too much bother for parents? Well, she's going to get groceries, she can do the 5-8 errands on the way back. Oh, the ice cream melted because we kept texting a new thing she needed to do on the way home? Well, it's her fault, she can buy the kids more out of her check. No way am I doing nanny/housekeeper again. Any of the others are available for discussion, as long as the tasks involved clearly fall into the role and I'm paid for whichever labels apply, not just one. |
Anonymous
| I don't think your rate is crazy. Maybe $15 is better if you are going to be getting 10+ hours of overtime. Are you looking in less affluent areas? |