Logistics of Hiring a Nanny
Parent Q&A
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Logistics of hiring a nanny
–Feb 10, 2024I feel completely confused about nannies and how people go about finding them. What is the best way to find a nanny? What kind of questions do you ask to vet a nanny? How does payment work - if they work more than 20 hours for you, are you responsible for providing healthcare? How do families draft a contracts with nannies?
Feb 10, 2024What's the best service for running a background check on potential nanny candidate? I see mixed reviews about the ones offered by commercial nanny search services like Care.com not being thorough or worth the cost.
I'm also wondering who is expected to pay for background checks? On commercial sites, it appears the employer pays for a background check, but with Trustline it appears the nanny/employee has to pay a registration fee?
Dec 10, 2023We’re interested in moving from SF to the East Bay in the next few months and have been considering moving to Montclair. However, a friend of mine with a baby in the east bay mentioned that when they were interviewing Nannie’s, most of them did not want to work in the hills. If we move to Montclair, are we going to have trouble finding a nanny?
Jun 18, 2023How does hiring a nanny work?
–Aug 13, 2022We are looking to hire a full-time nanny starting in January 2023, but we have no idea where to start! We’d love to hear from veteran parents about how you went about interviewing, negotiating with, and working with a nanny. Are there sample contracts we can review that detail how benefits/vacation/sick time work, and other things we’re probably not thinking about? Would appreciate any and all insight!
Aug 13, 2022Advice on Hiring a Nanny
–Aug 26, 2020Hello,
I am first time mom, and planning to hire a nanny come end of year when I go back to work. Looking for parents with a nanny or who had a nanny to get advice on how to best move forward. If you are willing to spread your knowledge, please let me know and we can set up some time to speak. Thanks in advance.
[Moderator Note] here is BPN's archived advice about nannies: https://www.berkeleyparentsnetwork.org/advice/nannies
Aug 26, 2020
https://www.poppinspayroll.com/ has been a great resource for me as I have navigated those questions. They have sample contracts and FAQs available to anyone, and if you choose to sign up for their services they can handle payroll, taxes, etc. As for finding a nanny, I have had fairly good luck posting an ad here or on our local facebook parents' group. I do a quick phone call with candidates who sound promising, which typically filters out a lot of applicants. That usually leaves me with 2-3 people who I want to interview in person, and then we make an offer. My interview questions came from some google searches about good questions to ask, plus some additional things that matter to me (we ask about comfort with large dogs, for example). always call references but I haven't ever gone so far as to run a background check. Best of luck finding a nanny!
I would definitely say snagging a nanny from someone whose child has aged out is the best way to go because they were with that family for a while (presumably). Looking on this board is a great place to start! And of course you’ll always want to speak with some of the other families the nanny has worked for. I only ask them “would you hire this person again?” If you’re classified as an employer in CA, there’s very little you can legally ask.
Have you ever been a hiring manager anywhere? I asked very similar questions as I do to candidates.
I always start out with “let me tell you a little about us. We’re a young family with three parents and a 6-month old, Anna. Two of us work outside the house and one works from home. Anna’s favorite things are mashed blueberries and walks to the park.”
Then I ask them to tell me a little about themselves and what they’ve been doing most recently. After that, I go into questions. About half situational, half qualifications. So something like “tell me about a time you had to resolve a conflict on the playground” or “what would you do if the baby had a 102° fever and you couldn’t reach any of us?” And qualifications might be like “Are you CPR certified for infants?”
When I’m hiring, I try to keep the interview to under 45 minutes and no more than 2-3 candidates. Everyone else you should’ve been able to weed out earlier than that. You can also have the final candidate come over for an afternoon (paid hourly) and hang out with the kiddos solo as a trial run before offering the position full time.
As far as payroll goes, I’m not sure, my accountant handled all of that. I have heard good things about Poppins payroll service though.
You will find lots of resources at https://bananasbunch.org/
Not always mentioned: if you are planning on (or currently) nursing, be sure to ask detailed questions about their attitudes, comfort level and experience with handling human milk and caring for a breast/chest-fed baby/toddler/child.
I was part of developing these resources and used them myself. Highly recommend. Good luck! https://domesticemployers.org/resources-and-faqs/#Childcare