Is there a way to communicate with employers of nannies only?
![[Post New]](/nanny-forum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| It's obvious that a lot of nannies reply to any question about average pay even though this forum is supposed to be primary for parent-to-parent interaction. I need real, not inflated, feedback on standard pay & benefits. This forum makes it sound like you can't get a nanny for less than $15/hr but I have coworkers who found nannies they're very happy with for not much more than half that - so where can I speak to real employers? I have a lot of things to consider before deciding on an au pair or a nanny and it would be helpful to talk to real honest people about their experiences with employing a nanny. TIA! |
Anonymous
| Where do you live? I am employeer and live in Arlington. We are in the process of getting a new nanny. In the past, I have always paid $15 for one kid and $17-18 for two kids. I also here about these people that have cheaper nannies. I don't know where or how they actually found them. I have been searching for a month on care.com, sittercity, and dcurban mom. I have interviewed face to face about 13 candidates. We are expecting a second child and I am concerned about the rate for two kids. I only found one nanny that even gave a rate lower than $20 for two kids. And, she has only worked in fairfax. So, maybe that is the going rate out further. Bottom line, we did like her however we found other candidates that had more experience and seemed like a better fit. I have been really worried about the cost, however I discussed my issue with our top choice. And, she was willing to negotiate down to $18 for two. Based on my experience, it must depend on where you live and how much experience you are looking for in a nanny. We don't have the space, but au pairs are definitely cheaper. However, they are often very young as well. I personally would be nervousness leaving a newborn with an 18 year old au pair. But, that is just me. A lot of people do it and are completely fine. |
Anonymous
|
Where you live, how many kids, what responsibilities you will give to the nanny, etc. all play a big role in deciding cost.
I am a mom of four and have had 3 nannies throughout the years but have never paid under $15 for one child. The pay has varied depending on the number of kids I have the nanny caring for but that has been the lowest for a single child. The nanny has never been responsible for more than two children and I pay $20 at that point. Yes, nannies are expensive. This seems to be the norm price and though I've heard of people getting nannies under $10 I feel that either the parents are exaggerating about what they are paying or they have found very low quality nannies. While I don't need a super expensive nanny with crazy qualifications, I feel that $15 for a reliable, responsible nanny is a reasonable price. Nannies aren't a right and you pay a nanny more than other childcare because you get one on one care in your own home, which I think is irreplaceable. If you're looking for cheaper options either look for a daycare or don't have as many children |
Anonymous
|
Your post rubs me the wrong way. Hm. No, there is no way to isolate only MB and then, only true responses on an anonymous board. Stick to asking your friends. But also, write up the job you want at the price you want and post it to see what you get. I guarantee you if you post a full-time job at minimum wage, you will get responses, but you won't like them. Or if you do, they won't last more than a few months. If that's what you're going for, go for it.
Having a nanny is expensive, as it should be. You're asking someone to work full-time and are their sole source of income usually, outside of maybe babysitting. If you're paying someone $15/hour for a 4-hour a week job, that's 600 a week, or $31,200 a year. That's a very low salary to live on. Yes, tons of people do it. Most people in the US, probably. But, particularly in the DC area, that's not getting you very far. Now of course, nannying is a very low barrier to entry job - anyone can put up an ad on Sittercity and say they are a nanny. Jobs like that tend to have low salaries, so it's not unreasonable that nannying would be included. I'm not saying you need to pay $30 an hour either. That simply wouldn't make sense unless you have a very particular need or tons of kids or something like that. But I really don't think something between $15 and $20/hour, depending on geographical location, number and ages of kids, job requirements, etc., is unreasonable. That may price you out, which is fine. Honestly, most people will not be able to afford their own nanny (myself included). I simply cannot afford the nanny that I would want for the hours I need, and at a certain point, it doesn't make sense to me personally to spend that much on childcare when there are other perfectly fine, wonderful options. So we go with those other options, happily. But I would never say I wanted a nanny so much that I was willing to take someone who would work for $8/hour. That's not nannying - that's desperation. |
Anonymous
|
We're pretty far out in the burbs and most of the day, the nanny would be responsible for just one child. There would be a couple hours of watching the older sibling after school. We do have the room for an au pair or could offer a room to a live-in nanny if she wanted that, but I think most people want their own space, which is why we're thinking maybe it would make sense to just pay a local person with their own life what we would have paid to the au pair agency + the au pair.
With all the benefits & PTO we'd offer, it certainly would be a better deal than what some one without a degree can normally earn and a less stressful job. We don't need an experienced person but some one with a background that checks out and who is caring - I think that comes naturally or it doesn't. I'd also be fine with the person bringing their kid to work most days so long as we can verify that kid is vaccinated. |
Anonymous
How many of your friends' nannies have you actually met? You don't know if their on or off the books. |
Anonymous
That's a good point. I had assumed they were on the books but not every one follows the rules obviously. |
Anonymous
|
MB here. There isn't a way in this forum to ensure you're only hearing from MBs, but as you said - talking with friends, co-workers, neighbors, etc... can do that. The hourly rate issue can be more complicated (and answered differently) than one might imagine.
I have a nanny (in lower Montgomery County Maryland) whose hourly rate can be looked at a couple of different ways. She works a 50 hr week. Her overtime rate is just over $20 and her base rate is just under $14/hr. She also gets a monthly stipend to cover health insurance costs which isn't taxable but is part of her compensation package and nets her a couple of thousand additional dollars a year. If you factor that in as part of her hourly rate then she comes in at approximately $15.75/hr average. This is a very affordable solution for us and enables us to provide generous bonuses, vacation time, PTO, etc... It also is a rate level that enables us to give her raises and hopefully plan to have her with our family for many years (as opposed to hiring someone at our maximum possible compensation raise and then not being able to offer raises or significant bonuses). We found our nanny through a neighborhood listserv. All of her positions (for the past 15 years) have been family to family referrals - she has never gone through an agency, responded to an ad, or marketed herself. I am sure this is why her prices aren't higher. I would not expect to find, or feel comfortable paying, anyone less than $13/hr to care for my children. The nanny we hired actually quoted us a rate of $11/hr and we paid her significantly more than that when she started. I know the work involved and think it would be insulting and unfair to pay the barest minimum. I want our nanny to make a living wage, to feel appropriately recognized and rewarded, and to have room to grow with us. I also don't feel we need to pay someone $20/hr though I respect employers and nannies who are in that price range - there is certainly a place for that. A great deal depends on your level of expectations, your flexibility, and your contacts. It also depends on whether the work environment is one the nanny you hire likes and wants to stay in. We are able to offer things to our nanny that she really values (non-monetary) and makes us attractive as employers. So it's a total package consideration on both sides, beyond just the money. But if your hope is to find an excellent nanny for $10 or less I really can't offer you hope or encouragement. I don't think it's particularly realistic, wise, or decent. |
Anonymous
| PP here - also, it's important to factor in whether nannies are being paid legally, whether taxes are being withheld, how many hours a week they're working, are the hours guaranteed, etc... All of those things can affect the hourly rate. |
Anonymous
I'm sorry but no one who pays their nanny "not much more than half" of $15/hr is a real employer. They might be happy but I can guarantee their nannies are not - what kind of person is okay with knowingly making another person survive on 20k a year? (And that's being generous with your "not much more than half".) You're not getting inflated prices from nannies - you're getting proper salaries from employers who understand that nannies deserve to be paid a decent wage like any other hardworking human being. Sounds like you can't afford a nanny, or are too cheap to properly employ one. |
Anonymous
| Just ignore the answers you don't like. If you think its okay to hire someone full time for not much more than half $15/hour, you won't like the answers you get from anyone here. Go hire your scrub, pay them peanuts, and get on with it. You're a sad individual, and you (or your kid) will reap what you sow. |
Anonymous
|
You can't stop the nannies from posting here and, since it is anonymous, you can't be sure that people who call themselves MBs really are. PPs who mention talking to your friends and neighbors are giving you good advice.
I would not pay under $15/hr in DC for one child. When we last interviewed, we did have candidates who wanted $12 or $13/hr, but that seemed below market rate. When we found the candidate we wanted for the job we specified, we matched in our initial rate discussion. |
Anonymous
| MB in SF, CA. We started out paying $13 an hour for a nanny with no experience. After a year we raised to $14, after two years we created a nanny share. She now gets $20 an hour for two toddlers - each family pays $10 each, and we split the cost of health insurance and monthly mass transit. |
nannydebsays
Member Offline
Member Offline
I combined your posts (and if they are not both yours OP, please say so!) to give you the most thorough answer I can. I am a nanny outside of the DC area, so you may take my comments however you like. As a disclaimer, I think some people post on here with hugely inflated rates just to chum the waters, so you might want to just ignore those posts. 
First, yes, there are people who pay their "nannies" minimum wage or less. They generally pay under the table, and they generally cycle through a nanny every 6 months or so, because once the underpaid nanny realizes she is underpaid, she will choose to leave. There are also people who have been lucky enough to find a good nanny for under $10. Those nannies move on as well, usually once they have been in a job for a year and have an additional reference to use in their next job search. From what I have seen on the AP discussion board here, an AP generally costs more than 25K plus all the expenses of an additional adult in your home. It's not all that cheap, unless you are comparing it to a nanny who genuinely earns $20/hour and $30/hour OT. Second, unless your older child is in school year round with no holidays or weeks off, you need to take into account the fact that your nanny will, realistically, be responsible for both of your children a good bit of the time. In terms of money, that might mean you pay an additional 50 cents per hour year round to compensate for the times she will have 2 kids. Or, you could add $1 - 2 only during the hours the 2nd child is in her care, but frankly, the math on that gets insane. Not knowing what benefits or PTO you'd offer, I can only say that unless you are offering fully paid health insurance, plus things like a gym membership, a cell phone, and a car to drive while on duty, as well as significantly more than 3 weeks of PTO. One thing that is not considered a "benefit" is guaranteed pay 52 weeks a year, and OT is not a benefit either. Based on the following quote, I have written an ad for you. If the type of person you imagine responding to this ad is your perfect nanny personified, feel free to use this ad in your search. Yes, I am making assumptions about the nanny's hours It certainly would be a better deal than what some one without a degree can normally earn and a less stressful job. We don't need an experienced person but some one with a background that checks out and who is caring - I think that comes naturally or it doesn't. I'd also be fine with the person bringing their kid to work most days so long as we can verify that kid is vaccinated. Nanny position available for someone looking to earn slightly more than minimum wage in a low stress environment. No degree or experience needed, just a clean background and a caring heart. You'll be looking after 1 child, age 2, except when our older child, age 6, doesn't have school. You'll work 8 am to 6 pm, M - F, and if you have a kid who you can prove has been vaccinated you might be able to bring them with you most days. |
Anonymous
|
Op just from your posts and how little you think of a nanny, what she/he does. I think you need to send your children to daycare.
You sound, and I'm sorry if this is off or wrong, but from your posts, rude snobbish and better then others. With the attitude you're writing with ("no degree" " low stress") you'll cycle thru nannies left and right. And yes anyone can post on any forum. You are not an employer of a nanny yet, yet you post here? |