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[quote=Anonymous]Very few nannies in the DC area make $18 for one infant.  $15 per hour is a pretty typical starting rate for one child. That will get you a mix of candidates, including students, former au pairs with 2-4 years experience, nannies who lack a college degree but have several years experience, and twenty-something college grads with little or no full-time nanny experience but lots of babysitting, summer camp and other childcare experience.  You can also get experienced career nannies with a college degree and many years of experience at that rate if you are offering enough hours to bring the weekly total up.  However, this is the group that can typically command a starting rate in excess of $15 per hour.

At $18 per hour, you should have a lot of stellar options.  However, there isn't always a correlation between requested rates and nanny quality, so be sure you're getting an above-average nanny for that above-average wage.  Years of experience doesn't always make for the best nanny.  Some of the most experienced nannies are average at best and tired of/sour on the work, and it shows in their general demeanor, proclivity for tv and cell phones, etc.  Some youngish nannies love what they do and have better childcare skills than their experience would suggest.

Also, most people around here negotiate in terms of guaranteed weekly pay.  That means you pay the same weekly amount--including overtime--whether you use all those hours or not.  This is more affordable than it sounds because it tends to drop the hourly rate.  So, instead of paying a base rate of $15 per hour with time and a half at $22.50 after 40 hours, you would pay $15 per hour average rate, which means the base rate is $13-something and the  overtime rate is $20-something.  Just be sure you spell it all out in your work agreement.

Finally, re guaranteed hours, be aware that this can lead to a situation where the nanny gets a lot more paid time off than you might be comfortable with (6-10 federal holidays, 3-5 days sick leave, two weeks paid vacation, plus another 3 or 4 weeks paid time off due to guaranteed hours and your travel with the kids).  Contrary to what you will hear from nannies on this board, you can work out alternative duties or other compromises (banking of hours to be made up later) if you regularly take a lot of vacation with the kids and don't plan to bring the nanny with you.  Or you can pay for all that time off but offer a lower hourly rate to offset the perk.[/quote]

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