Here's the difference between the surveillance in an office and in a nanny setting:

1) In an office, your supervisor is not the person examining that footage. In many cases, no one examines it at all unles there is an issue, but when someone does it is security and they are looking to identify a specific issue. That is very different from parents (with whom nanny is teying to build a rapport), checking in regularly to see how nanny's behavior makes them feel.

2) Parents watch this footage far more frequently and bring it up far more frequently than would be the case in an office setting. Yes, even though they are at work. If you have the streaming service it is easy to keep it open in a background window and check in every time you think of your kid. That is incredibly tempting to new parents who want to feel connected to their baby. The result is often micromanaging. "I noticed baby went down for nap at 11:45 instead of 11:30. We really need to keep her on schedule." This undermines both the parents' trust in nanny as they begin to feel that she needs constant supervision and instruction and it undermines the nanny's trust in the parents to treat her as a professional and a member of the parenting team rather than a mindless drone.

3) An office is filled with people who choose to work in an office. A nanny has chosen a career where she doesn't have any adult interaction all day. It takes a certain personality type to thrive in that environment and yes, many nannies are shy. So telling them that the parents won't mind seeing them be silly is not the point. The nanny minds. If she was comfortable with constant supervision, she would be with a WAH parent.

4) Constant supervision is always a low-level stress for some people, but that matters more in a nanny setting because nannying is emotional labor. In an office, you don't have to be constantly patient and upbeat and positive. You can sit around with a grouchy look on your face while you handle many things like emails, research, etc. Sure there will be meetings and phone calls and conferences where your social skills come into play, but even then your clients aren't sobbing incoherantly or throwing food or barfing on you, and the level of social skills required is "polite and deferential" not "loving you like your mother would were she here." It is a huge difference.

That said, as a nanny, I am fine with cameras provided parents are up front. But, as is so often the case, comparing what I do to what office workers do is apples and oranges.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not ok with cameras.

Would you want a camera on you all day while you were at work, not knowing when the boss is going to be looking at it? Feeling like you cant sit down because you will be seen as lazy...No Thank you.

Just an FYI - most offices are now open concept. Cubicles have low or no walls. Offices have glass walls and doors. This cuts down significantly on both electricity costs, heating costs and inefficient workers because everyone can see everyone. So yeah, my boss and my direct reports can watch what I do all day long. Including monitoring all my browser history, calls text and data usage. That's what employers do.

Now let's see you get spied on (by God knows who), as you strive to build a trusting, often intimate (of sorts!) relationship with another human being. It's actually sometimes similar to a mother child relationship. Some people might like that sort of reality tv experience, others not so much. A snapshot is one thing, but 50+ hours a week, quite another.

FYI, I work 60 hours a week with an infant, so yes, I need to walk in the shoes of the parents.

No parent has time to watch 40+ hours of footage... they have a nanny because they have a full-time job. Parents just want to be able to check in on their little one periodically, especially at the beginning. Typically parents like to get silly and roll around with their kids/dance etc. too... seeing you do this would be reassuring. Not anything to be embarrassed about.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not ok with cameras.

Would you want a camera on you all day while you were at work, not knowing when the boss is going to be looking at it? Feeling like you cant sit down because you will be seen as lazy...No Thank you.

Just an FYI - most offices are now open concept. Cubicles have low or no walls. Offices have glass walls and doors. This cuts down significantly on both electricity costs, heating costs and inefficient workers because everyone can see everyone. So yeah, my boss and my direct reports can watch what I do all day long. Including monitoring all my browser history, calls text and data usage. That's what employers do.

Now let's see you get spied on (by God knows who), as you strive to build a trusting, often intimate (of sorts!) relationship with another human being. It's actually sometimes similar to a mother child relationship. Some people might like that sort of reality tv experience, others not so much. A snapshot is one thing, but 50+ hours a week, quite another.

FYI, I work 60 hours a week with an infant, so yes, I need to walk in the shoes of the parents.

Anonymous wrote:I am not ok with cameras.

Would you want a camera on you all day while you were at work, not knowing when the boss is going to be looking at it? Feeling like you cant sit down because you will be seen as lazy...No Thank you.

Just an FYI - most offices are now open concept. Cubicles have low or no walls. Offices have glass walls and doors. This cuts down significantly on both electricity costs, heating costs and inefficient workers because everyone can see everyone. So yeah, my boss and my direct reports can watch what I do all day long. Including monitoring all my browser history, calls text and data usage. That's what employers do.

Considering how common it has become for hackers to hack into cameras, baby monitors, etc. I wouldn't put my Nanny in such a vulnerable position.

Plus my Nanny would probably feel like she was on show the whole workday and would feel as though she were on display the entire day.

Many parents view the footage with other people.
They may ask for a second opinion on something or just want to show off what a great Nanny they have.

Too much liability involved.

Just my $0.02.

Cameras are the future. Nannies need to accept it. Any parent with the means will want to see their child during the day.

I don't have a problem with cameras. I am a good nanny and I love my charges. I am glad their parents can see my dedication. I love getting compliments on how I did something or how well I handled something that happened in the house with just me and the kids. Pretty much everywhere you go has cameras including a lot of workplaces.

People in all professions all over the world have different thresholds for the privacy they believe is reasonable at work. I wouldn't fault a nanny for not wanting one or parents for insisting on one.

When *I* worked as a nanny, I didn't really want cameras 99% of the time when I was rolling around on the floor with the kids or having a dance party, but every time someone got hurt (or a nap went so long that I intervened lest they not be breathing), I wished there had been one to show what had happened. I never declined to work for a family over cameras, I just asked that they disclose them and ensure the bathroom wasn't videoed.

Some people just do not like being watched all day by their work bosses.
Nothing is wrong with that.

It doesn't equate = that they are doing something wrong on the job.

Imagine if you were being watched by your boss the entire time you were working.
Sooner or later it would start getting on your nerves and affect your productivity on the job.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not ok with cameras.

Would you want a camera on you all day while you were at work, not knowing when the boss is going to be looking at it? Feeling like you cant sit down because you will be seen as lazy...No Thank you.

You're not working at a deli counter as a teenager here, where "if there's time to lean, there's time to clean" applies. A good boss has cameras and assumes if you're flopped on the couch eating a sandwich watching tv that the kids are napping and you're catching a quick break.

Exactly. You're taking care of someone's child. This is not a typical job. Sure it would be more comfortable with no cameras, but if it were my kid I would for sure want them there.

I am a nanny and I want cameras in the house so my employers can see how hard I work and how happy and engaged their child is. Makes it much easier to ask for a raise or explain why I cannot do certain favors for them (like iron the baby's dress).

Anonymous wrote:I am not ok with cameras.

Would you want a camera on you all day while you were at work, not knowing when the boss is going to be looking at it? Feeling like you cant sit down because you will be seen as lazy...No Thank you.

You're not working at a deli counter as a teenager here, where "if there's time to lean, there's time to clean" applies. A good boss has cameras and assumes if you're flopped on the couch eating a sandwich watching tv that the kids are napping and you're catching a quick break.

I am not ok with cameras.

Would you want a camera on you all day while you were at work, not knowing when the boss is going to be looking at it? Feeling like you cant sit down because you will be seen as lazy...No Thank you.

I don't think nannies are against cameras.

Most of them (if not all) don't mind, as long as parents are upfront about having them.

I'm confused. I did a search on these boards and people seem to be against parents using cameras to keep an eye on the kids while they're away. Everyone I know who has a nanny has at least one camera (usually several around the house). They are cheap these days and easy to install and manage. This is 2016. The majority of daycare centers have cameras too. If the cameras are not hidden and your nanny agrees to it, what's the issue? I hired you based on your interview and recommendations, but trust is earned, not given. I won't be watching the cameras every minute, but you better believe I will be checking in periodically. If a nanny I hired was not okay with cameras I wouldn't want her to watch my children anyway. What exactly are you hiding?