The first step is to educate yourself in how to be a household employer. Take a look at IRS Publication No. 926 (Tax guide for HH employers), and then go through the steps of setting up a federal employer ID, registering with your jurisdiction's unemployment comp agency and taxing agency, and obtaining a workers' comp policy. You can outsource these responsibilities, but it is worth trying to understand the basics regardless. GL.

OP here. Thank you all very much!

Anonymous wrote:You can read all you want but the best research is interviewing people. Ask what they got in previous jobs. Ask if they had a contract. Ask what they got paid, and benefits.

Beware of advice you get here. There are way too many nannies who put down wishful thinking as fact.

And talk to your friends, co-workers and neighbors who have/had nannies what they pay and benefits, hours etc. That should be a good reference point when you start interviewing nannies.

Anonymous wrote:You can read all you want but the best research is interviewing people. Ask what they got in previous jobs. Ask if they had a contract. Ask what they got paid, and benefits.

Beware of advice you get here. There are way too many nannies who put down wishful thinking as fact.

And MBs who lie and tell you they have a wonderful, legal nanny for $12 an hour.

You can read all you want but the best research is interviewing people. Ask what they got in previous jobs. Ask if they had a contract. Ask what they got paid, and benefits.

Beware of advice you get here. There are way too many nannies who put down wishful thinking as fact.

there are lots of websites out there that go over a lot of that information. care.com, sittercity.com, 4nannytaxes, many agency websites etc all have good starting info.

First, decide what you want in a nanny... Do you want her to have a college degree in ECD? Just a college degree? How many years experience? Nanny and/or preschool teaching experience? What other training or skills (sign language, French)? What hours are you guaranteeing and will overtime be needed?

Our baby will be 3 months when I go back to work. How does one start the process? How do you know the going rates? How do we know what other requirements there are? Do we need to offer any benefits? How do we navigate taxes?
I'd appreciate if someone could point me in the right direction.

Thank you!