Anonymous wrote:My first thought was that a Russian speaking nanny would be more expensive than an English speaking one

if she was bilingual then yes.

My first thought was that a Russian speaking nanny would be more expensive than an English speaking one

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can't reduce her wages, unfortunately.

Many people would say you're overpaying, but not all would agree. She could probably get hired for what you're paying (or more) by another Russian family, or she could get hired for far, far less by a non-Russian family.

It sounds like the bigger issue is the driving, which we can't really help with. Good luck, OP.

How many Russian families are out there looking for nannies in a English speaking country? The small amount that do would most likely pick the legal employee who can speak both Russian and English so OP's nanny is definitely getting overpaid and will have much trouble finding A similiar job for similiar pay.

I can't answer that related to DC, as I'm on the West Coast, but in my area there is a HUGE Polish community, and nannies from Poland - whether they speak English or not - get paid as well as I do here (and I'm paid quite highly). In certain communities, a native of your home country is much-desired in a nanny. Who knows, you could be right about in that area, but it is inaccurate to say families from Europe/Asia/South America don't have a preference for (and are therefore willing to pay a premium for) nannies from their home country - particularly if they're difficult to find.