OP, what you may want to look for is a "Nanny Manager" who can provide both care for your children when needed and who can capably offer household management services (laundry, errands, grocery shopping, being around for repairmen, whatever else you, as a single parent need a "spouse" to manage) while the kids are in school.

If you have the space to house a nanny manager, make the position live in, and give her her "on call" schedule as far in advance as possible. Yes, you will need to pay her to be available during those hours, but if you are already paying a reasonable hourly rate and have chosen to guarantee her 30 - 40 hours a week (Paid even when not needed), she isn't likely to demand OT or even straight time for the on-call work. She might be willing to take half-time pay to just be available.

It's not impossible, it can be done, you just need to find the right person to do the jobs you need done. And it doesn't have to cost you six figures, either!

OP I suggest that you talk with other MDs rather than the nannies here. They will have a much more realistic advice on where and how to search for a nanny to meet an MD's schedule needs.

Anonymous wrote:I'd do it. Although I have an 8yo who would, for this type of job, have to come with me. The craziness of it doesn't phase me at all
-career nanny, educated with a decade plus experience

And what about your own son's schooling/schedule/routine? That would be very unfair to him

We have several MDs in our neighborhood who have nannies. No one is paying 100K or even half that amount. They aren't paying for on call hours. They have live in nannies who also do housework. They set the schedule with their nanny when their schedule comes out. The nanny was hired with the upfront agreement that she needs to be available for on call hours. The flip side to this is that the nanny gets more extra paid time off when the MD parents are off after their shifts.

You essentially want a second parent. Who is going to take over if you have an "emergency" and the nanny isn't available? For constant availability, you will have to pay a lot of money.

I'm an MD who works shifts, and we had a nanny with an unusual schedule. Although, I didn't have the overnight issue.

The keys to finding people, we found, were several.

We definitely guaranteed enough hours to provide an above average, full time salary. That way, our nanny wouldn't be pressured to find additional work. In our case, our nanny did some housekeeping/household management as well, as she was always paid for 40 hours, but normally ended up working about 30.

Second, although our schedule could vary, we kept our hours within certain time frames. So, we would only schedule her between 8am and 6pm on Monday through Friday, and one weekend per month. We also gave her her schedule 6 weeks in advance, as soon as I got my schedule. And, we told her to please give me any requests for days off, and I would submit them as my own.

We also, with her knowledge, scheduled the time so I could make it home on time about 90% of the time. That meant that most of the time, I got home early and she left early. Often an hour or two early. Once or twice a month, however, I would be unavoidably late. I was never more than an hour late, and we paid her an hour's worth of overtime.

For the right nanny, this was actually an attractive offer. A good salary, lots of weekday time off, and a fair amount of flexibility.

Personally, I love my schedule, and I could never imagine going back to a 9-5, 5 day a week job. You just have to find a nanny that feels the same way!

The nighttime coverage definitely adds another layer of complexity, but I wanted to tell you what worked for us.

I had a friend years ago who worked for 2 doctors who had on call hours.

If they were on call and there was a chance they would need her they paid her half her normal hourly rate to be available ( in house or less than 15 mins away) but she didnt actually have to do any work during those hours. if they got called in and she went on the clock they paid her her normal rate.
She was a live in.

I think you should advertise it OP, You could pay a reg hourly rate for the working hours and then pay half that for them to be "on call" They could maybe babysit for a sahm if they wanted extra money with the understanding that your kids come first.

There is no reason you couldn't find an equally capable au pair if you look hard enough/interview ell enough. In my experience the college educated/college bound au pairs I've hired have generally been far more professional than the "career nannies" I've interviewed.

If you don't pay someone for on call hours don't expect them to be fully available for those hours (if something should come up)

You may need a few sitters and a nice list of back up sitters.

Agree with care and sittercity sites. Right now there are tons of these types of ads on there.

Op post on care.com, sittercity etc. There will be candidates looking for something like this...might be someone out of a job and needs income, someone who has a child they need to bring, or someone in school during the day etc. But don't hesitate to post. You will likely get adequate interest if your pay, benefits and flexibility are there. Be prepared for someone who has a child they need to bring or is young or older.