If you are considering hiring an estate or household manager, you may have some questions. Among those questions could be: How much do I pay my household manager? What duties do they normally perform? How many hours a week will they work? How does my job description and compensation compare to other positions? A survey recently conducted by ‘The Caretaker Gazette’ can help provide illumination to some of these questions.
‘The Caretaker Gazette’ surveyed 151 individuals that consisted of “property caretakers, major domos, estate managers, household managers, personal assistants, and butlers.” and asked “salary, benefits, responsibilities, and regional data correlation.” Below are the answers to these questions.
The employees’ salaries ranged from under $20,000, which is listed at 1% of those surveyed, to over $100,000, which is listed at 3% of those surveyed. The salary range claimed by the most employees is $61,000-$70,000, which is 24% of those surveyed.
In terms of scheduling, employees were asked how many hours a week they work. The lowest amount listed was less than 40 hours per week, which is listed at 4% of those surveyed. The highest is over 100 hours a week, which was listed at 1%. The amount of hours claimed by the most employees is 51-60 hours, claimed by 33% of employees.
Another area covered by the survey is responsibilities. More than 90% of employees listed in-house system management, security, contractor and concierge-guest care as duties they perform. More than half listed butler duties, vendor and contract management, accounting, event planning, travel arrangements, entertaining, and grocery shopping as responsibilities. Some other less-mentioned duties include antique care, horse care, indoor plant care, gardens, and automobile care, to name a few.
Lastly, another interesting group of questions presented to employees revolved around benefits. More than 90% of employees receive a housing allowance, overtime, a medical plan, retirement plan, either an automobile or automobile reimbursement, vacation (1-4 weeks annually), sick pay, annual bonus, and internet access.
To view this survey and for more specifics on all of these topics, please visit: http://caretakergazette.blogspot.com/2009/11/caretaker-gazette-estate-and-household.html.
Mom’s Best Friend has many wonderful household managers and other estate staff available for immediate placement. Contact an MBF placement counselor if you are interested in meeting any of these wonderful candidates.