How Much Does A Nanny Cost?

One important issue that the employers and their prospective nannies should settle first before the agreement starts is the nanny’s salary.

There are several factors that are being considered in setting the salary rate for nannies. The value of their service and the quality of their service determine their salary. Past experience is also counted while determining a nanny’s salary.

Nanny’s salary ranges from different reasons such as experience, age, hours, responsibilities, number of children and more. For a live-in nanny, she/he could receive a salary with a minimum amount of 300$-400$ gross per week and could go higher to 700$-900$ for a more experienced nanny.

As an employer, you should have a clear agreement with your prospective nanny regarding the salary issue. Gross wage is before tax deduction and net wage is the actual payment to give your nanny. You should clearly define if you are withholding income taxes or you are not. Don't forget that Social Security and Medicare taxes are under your own responsibility.

Aside from the expected salary there are some nannies who are asking for other payments and compensation. Some are the following:

1. Cell phones expenses if she is using one as part of her job.

2. Health insurance

3. Paid Time Off

4. Others

All of these are depending on the agreed upon salary and benefits between the employer and the nanny.

A professional nanny should also receive some special bonuses and adjustments f the employer is satisfied with his/her job. One incentive that a nanny could get is a half year of yearly bonus for a job well done. Another incentive that baby sitters could get is an increase in their salary. One can get all of these benefits in just providing nanny services to a family who badly needed one.

Take Note:

When you are planning to hire a nanny from any agency you should be aware that there are other charges are included in the bill. These additional costs include agency application and program fee, annual nanny salary as well as the education fee along with the domestic airfare and a weekly cost to top it all.

Apply For A Nanny Job Abroad!

Most people wanted to go to abroad to earn big amount of money. A good way to earn the desired income you want is to apply for a nanny job. This is a good choice for someone who loves working with children!

One main concerns if you are planning to apply as a nanny abroad is certification. With this, it would be easier for you to be in! To help you with, try working with nanny agency, this way you will have a great opportunity to reach many potential families with one application process, which will save you valuable time to plan your move abroad! How? Simply look for a nanny placement agency that place nannies in the specific region or country to which you'd like to move, for example in UK, US or any part of the world who has a high demand for nanny jobs. While you are considering where this should be, there are a few important factors to consider:

1. Language Barrier

If you are a native English speaker, think first if you want to go in a country with a non-English speaking environment. Most non-English speaking families would want someone who speaks well English to hep them teach their children. However, it would be hard to communicate with them since they don’t usually speak English.

2. Certification requirements

Each country has different requirements for their nannies. So better check it first to see if you pass their requirements.

3. Exchange Rates: Depending on what you are looking for in a nanny job overseas, you'll need to consider whether the standard wages in a foreign country will be enough to sustain your lifestyle.

After knowing all the basic information you need, consider what kind of nanny job abroad that suits you. Some f the most common job for nannies overseas is summer jobs. Usually, three-month cultural exchange placements will allow nannies to travel as well as work with a family. A Part time nanny has almost the same jobs as those full time nannies. So, decide carefully which one you would go for.

Nannies, ask your employer about nanny cam!

Using a nanny cam while the parents are out is now a big issue. Since parents want to make sure that their nannies are doing well on their job, they would put nanny cams all over their house without even telling it to their baby sitters. So if there’s a nanny cam, how would you, as a nanny, deal with it? What questions should you ask to protect yourself from unwanted surveillance?

As a professional nanny you understand very well that the parents only wants to protect their children but the big question is, how about your right to privacy?

Questions you can ask to your prospective employer:

1. As if there’s any camera in the house.

As a matter of fact, you don’t need to wait until the agency or your prospective employer tells you that the house has nanny cams. Go ask it yourself, it is not that you have something to hide, but it is a measure of protecting yourself from abusive surveillance. Be guided by the existing local laws on home surveillance. You will know your and your prospective employer's limitations on the subject of home surveillance. As in any job, it is always smart to start on the right steps.

2. Ask if the nanny cam is installed in your assigned room.

The law definitely prohibits putting hidden cameras in areas where privacy can be violated. There should also be no spy cameras in the bathroom or dressing room.

3. Ask if the nanny cam is connected to the internet.

It’s not like being too nosey. It’s just a way to make you feel confident that the parents are aware of anything you are doing whenever they are away.

There’s no harm in asking these question. Juts make sure to explain them your reason why you want to know the answers and assure them that you don’t mind having a nanny cam on their house.

Factors affecting Nannies’ Salary

Are you planning to hire a nanny for your children? I’m sure one of your concerns would be about the usual salary of a nanny.

Actually, the salary of a nanny depends on many factors. These factors involve the setting, qualifications and experiences of the applicants. Cost-of-living expenses such as food, utility, health and car insurance and paid vacations should also be put in consideration when calculating the pay for live-in nannies. For a beginner live-in nanny, she can be paid a salary range of $250 to $400 per week while a trained live-in nanny can get from $350 to $10000 per week.

Setting or Location

In major metro areas, the cost of living is quite high therefore; nannies are also expecting a salary that can accommodate all their expenses. Usually, it their salary ranges from $18-$20 per hour. On the other hand, rural areas tend to have a reasonably lower wage for these reasons: cost of living is cheaper and competition is not as steep. Thus a rate of $9 to $12 per hour would work.

Educational Background

Educational background is another factor being considered. A four-year college degree may mean an increase of 20 percent from the base pay while a Master's Degree could mean a forty percent increase. For a high school graduate, you can give her a minimum of $400 gross per week.

Experience

This is a big factor in determining how much your nanny should get. An experience of less than three years of incessant referred employment is considered a beginner. The typical weekly pay for this is typically more than $200 for live-in. An experience of 200 hours of documented infant care plus CPR training will cost you a maximum of $1000 per week.

Since you are expecting your nanny to do her job well, determining the appropriate salary for her is important. Remember, if you think that your nanny deserve a high-grade salary, give it to them. After all, the motivation you create by offering them a decent amount of money, may equal quality standard of care for your child.

Looking for a professional nanny? There are lots of online nanny services where you can find and select from hundreds of highly qualified nanny applicants.

Pros and Cons of Nanny Cams

For working parents, it’s quite hard to know what our child’s nanny do whenever we are away. Monitoring them through a nanny cam isn’t just about knowing what’s happening inside our home, but it is also to evaluate if the nanny exceeds your expectations or not.

Nanny camera is an advanced technology that lets you observe and monitor what’s going on inside your home. Using these cameras, you can keep an eye on situations that will require your immediate attention. It will let you be able you to keep watch over nannies ‘behaviour and standard of care.

Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of using a nanny camera.

Advantages of Nanny Cameras

Like what I just said, the most important benefit of using this kind of surveillance camera is that you will witness the real scene in your home when you’re away. If you wish to become familiar with each and every second in your child's day, this will help you achieve this goal.

Not only professional nannies are being monitored, but even your house keepers as well. This could protect you from frauds and thieves as well.

Disadvantages of Nanny Cameras

Did you know that there are also some disadvantages of using nanny cams? One of them is because they’re quite expensive. Also, any person who has a slight technological skill can hack into your live feeds and see everything in your home.

Given all these information, it’s all up to you if you will decide to use nanny cam for your baby sitters.

Beware of frauds and scams!

Considering a high demand for professional nannies these days, one should be aware of frauds and some websites fooling people to send them money.

Parents are having a hard time balancing their time between family and jobs. Because of this, they hire nannies to take care of their children. The problem now is looking for nannies that are trustworthy and well-experienced. No mother in her right mind is going to leave her child in the hands of a total stranger unless they can provide excellent references. To help parents find a qualified nanny for their kids, several websites have been created for them to easily find a nanny service they are looking for.

These sites will ask you to register. Once you did, you can then search through their database for nannies that fit in your qualifications. This is actually a great way for both nannies and families to convene, communicate, and develop a relationship that may or may not result in a job offer. However, this process involves also risks because of the possibility of fraud.

How baby sitters get tricked?

These scam artists are registering in a particular nanny finder site and pretending that they are parents in search of a nanny. To close the deal and get the prospective nanny's attention, they advance a generous amount of money in the form of money order or check. Right away, the scammer pretending to be a family will say that they sent too much money by mistake and request that a part of the advance be returned by Western Union, PayPal, or other electronic means. The idea here is that the original money order or check has not cleared the bank yet. If the nanny sends some of the money back, he or she has just been tricked by a classical money order scam.

How parents get fooled?

These scam artists made up methods to rip off families that are looking for a nanny too. In this case, they will register in a nanny finder site and pretend to be a professional nanny. Once a family contact them, and they already developed good relationship perhaps through email, they will then assure you that they have all the required paper works including VISA.

As soon as you hired these scammers, you will get a last minute request for funds to cover some unforeseen situation. It could be anything from travel tickets to a loved one sick in the hospital. You may feel you have talked with them for very long that you know them well enough to trust them. Never send any money to a stranger.

Are “Nanny needed” jobs right for you?

Are you looking for a high paying employment opportunity? Why not consider a baby sitting job? There are many various kinds of nanny jobs that you can choose from. But you need to take into consideration your skills, weaknesses, habits, and long-term goals. Learning to sell your best assets is vital if you are looking for a rewarding, comfortable, long-term career.

Nanny jobs are not for everyone, so investigating in some introspection will be the first step to finding a job opening that’s right for you. But before deciding to get into this, here are some questions you should ask yourself before starting your hunt for a child care employment.

• Am I qualified?

You should know that most parents are looking for a nanny with significant & successful experience in childcare. In case you have worked as a nanny before, I advice you to make a list of what you like best about your previous jobs, what you learned, where you fell short, and what techniques or strategies you would change. Experience is only really valuable to your employer if you have managed to learn something from it, so take the time to review your past experiences and to figure out how you have grown from it.

• Why am I looking for a babysitting nanny job?

Of course, this job is not just for those people who have experience, there’s also a high possibility that the parents may consider to hire you if they find out that you have significant experience with child care employment, either in your own family or at a prior job where you have worked as a teacher, day care staff, or nurse. Education is also important to parents, so having a degree, especially if it is in early childhood education, one of the healthcare sciences, or child psychology, will put you ahead of other people seeking nanny jobs.

• Do I enjoy being with kids?

This is also a very important factor. In every job, you should make sure that you find joy in everything you do or else you will later on get bored and be unhappy. Parents want to find a nanny who can commune with their children and who their children would be comfortable with.

• How much time can I commit?

Many nanny jobs involve working only at certain times of the day for example every morning or afternoons only or during weekdays or weekends and you can also find various “Nanny needed” job openings for the summer or for certain holidays or vacations. While there are some families who prefer to employ someone in full time.

Are nanny cameras ideal or not?

With parents who are looking for someone to take care of their children or baby sitters, a demand to monitor your nannies' activities at home increases. At present, many manufacturers find new techniques on how parents like us can monitor our child's nanny when we're away. Along with it, a great issue to talk about is the question, Are nanny cameras ideal or not?

For many, it is. Parents validate their decision by pointing to incidents such as a November 2003 case in Long Island, N.Y., in which a couple's hidden camera revealed their long-time nanny slapping, kicking and attempting to smother their 10-month-old daughter. With that, one episode of the ABC hit Desperate Housewives showed the opposed possibility: Harried mom Lynette's hidden camera revealed a professional nanny who did her job so well and was so adored by the kids - that Lynette became insecure about her own parenting.

Among 4,000 mothers, 82 percent said they would rather not tell their nannies that they are being monitored not only because they are suspected to not give proper care and attention to the kids, but also to protect them from false accusations of abuse.

Some said they would resort to videotaping only if they suspected abuse. Because for some, it is unethical to use cameras secretly. Though 18 percent of the respondents said they objected with this idea, some admitted they had videotaped their nannies. - 2003 “Parenting” magazine and American Online Survey

Since there is a high demand of parents who uses nanny cam, experts in law ethics, privacy and electronic surveillance disagree over the appropriateness of secret cameras. Some nannies don't welcome a camera watching their every move - or, if one is, they want to be told about it.

Alec Farr, an attorney in Washington, D.C., law office of Bryan cave LLP, who specializes in aspects of privacy and technology said, “Legally, the decision is up to the parents when it comes to using such cameras. It’s your home. It’s her workplace you are providing to her. Therefore, she has no reasonable expectations of privacy in your home.”

Why Nanny jobs are In-demand abroad?

Do you know the reason why most people want to go abroad and work? Well basically, there’s a greater chance for them to find a well-compensated job that they need. One in-demand job abroad that offers lucrative remuneration for all is a “babysitting job”. You can find a lot of "Nanny Needed" or "Nanny Wanted" job openings from various websites online.



Why apply? An entry-level stay-in nanny has a minimum of $400 gross per week for a high school graduate (18-20 yrs. old) with no previous experience. Remember the minimum wage rules apply. Live-in wages can range to $1000 a week gross and sometimes higher for college graduates and the professional nannies.

Recognizing the key role geography plays in live-out wages, a nanny will command $9-$12/hr. in less costly areas, upwards to $18-20/hour in major metro markets. Hours over 40 in a week are compensated at the overtime premium for live-out nannies, calculated as 1.5 times the regular hourly rate. Experienced caregivers for infants and for more than two children generally command a premium. If you are a nanny employed on a full time basis, expect to be paid on contracted weekly salary for 52 weeks a year, even if the family does not require her to work for them during vacations, holidays and other occasions.

Common compensation packages you can receive includes:

1. Paid time off (PTO) (usually 2 - 3 weeks, some portion at family's scheduling discretion) PTO may be used for sick, personal and/or vacation days.
2. Health insurance (normally 50% paid by family for first year, often fully paid after first year)
3. Gym membership
4. Cell phones
5. Annual 'allowance' for child development courses, CPR and First Aide certifications and professional conference fees.

Nanny Jobs are not the only available on most in-demand job in abroad; others like adult caregiver and registered nurse are also in demand during these days. Perhaps this is the reason why many people find working abroad a great opportunity to easily earn money.