Tips for hiring and retaining great domestic help

 

Be very clear about which days and hours you will be needing your employee during the screening process and interview.  Be sure to indicate  the type of arrangement you are offering in writing and details of the job description by way of our "work agreement". Verbal contracts and open ended schedules leave too much room for interpretation from either party. "Get it in writing".

Be realistic about your expectations with regard to duties, hours, and days you are requesting from your employee.   Keep in mind that you are hiring a human being with strengths and limitations such as your own.  If you find it impossible to clean, cook, look after multiple children or an infant all at once, so will your employee.  Prioritize obligations in writing and have your employee stick to them.  For South Florida Nannies and the families it represents, children are our first priority and everything else comes in a far second.  Do not sacrifice the quality of the care your children will receive in order for your home to be immaculate. 

Make sure you compensate your employee for extra hours of work.  This is by far the number one reason a domestic employee will lose interest in a job.  All people work for a living, no matter what type of field they work in.  All people expect to receive compensation according to the hours they work.  Our office receives numerous calls daily from domestic staff who love their jobs, but are being made to work over the agreed upon time and hours without proper compensation.

Communicate.  Praise a job well done and discuss areas of weakness.  The relationship between your nanny and your family is very unique and unlike any other.  It is intimate.  You are trusting someone with your most precious possessions, ( your children ) and your home.  If a good foundation of mutual respect is not built upon at the very beginning, it will subsequently lay the groundwork for discord and tension.   It is extremely important for the well being of the relationship between your employee and your family that you regularly discuss progress on the job or the lack there of.  Bring up issues of concern right away.  Periodically go over your work agreement to keep everyone on the same page with regard to expectations of both parties.  This is also the perfect time to outline positive feedback as well.

Expect to pay your employee even when your family is away for vacation.  It is unfair to leave on vacation, even for a few days, and leave your employee jobless and without a paycheck.  Your employee is counting on her steady income to meet their own financial obligations.  Any interruption of their income causes obvious distress.  Families must speak about this eventuality during the interview process and how it will be handled.  It is important that both parties agree ahead of time to which ever arrangement is made, or you may risk coming back from vacation to realize that your employee has found another job.  Our advice is to either coordinate your family vacation with your employee's time off if that is possible, or to leave a list of things she can accomplish, taking advantage that the house is less busy.  For example, organizing of closets, drawers, deeper cleaning, house or pet sitting mail or newspaper pickup.