Nuts and Bolts for Newbie Nanny Bosses
Maybe you’re expecting your first child, or maybe you’ve just had your third child – either way, you are ready to hire your FIRST nanny! We are here to walk you through what that will look like for your family.
How does Mom’s Best Friend source nannies?
Two-thirds of our placed nannies are either nannies returning to us after a previous placement, or those who have heard of us through word of mouth. We are also constantly recruiting caregivers through a number of avenues, but we screen out 90% of the candidates with an interview, reference checks, background checks, and more! Here is a great video to further explain the recruiting and screening breakdown: How We Screen Candidates
What can a nanny do for my family?
Job duties are customized for every position, and we’d be happy to go over your particular needs and create a job description that accurately reflects your household. This video will give you an idea of the standard nanny tasks you could ask for assistance with: What Can A Nanny Do for You?
What about payroll taxes (they sound hard and a bit scary, right?):
Payroll taxes can be scary and hard, but they don’t have to be! Our partners at GTM Payroll & HR make this piece a breeze as they specialize in household employer/employee taxes, and can also let you know about applicable tax credits as well. A few key points to keep in mind are that when you hire a nanny, you will take on the role as a “household employer” and as such, you will need to be withholding taxes from your nanny’s paycheck as well as contributing to the employer portion of payroll taxes (6.2% for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare). As a client family of Mom’s Best Friend, you will receive a complimentary consultation with GTM and we encourage you to take advantage of their knowledge.
What benefits do we have to provide our nanny?
The typical benefits for a full-time nanny are guaranteed hours, 2 weeks of paid vacation, 3-5 days of paid sick time, and 8 paid holidays (we will provide those when we create your job description). Of course, this outlined PTO offering can vary slightly if your position is more part-time.
What happens when I start a search?
We create a job description for you (based on your profile and a phone consultation), and include a parent hiring handbook including interview questions. We reach out to our screened nannies and select the top 2-3 nannies for your consideration. If we need to reach out further and recruit specifically for your position, we have an even wider net of past and prospective nannies.
How does the interview process work?
We will introduce you to wonderful Nanny candidates via an online profile, which includes a photo, an introduction from them, a summary from us, their work history, any education, as well as links to references, so you can see what past employers have said about them. You can start with a phone interview, a video interview, or go straight to an in-person interview, but we always have you do a week trial with the nanny you think you want to hire to make sure it is a good fit.
How do I make an offer?
When you are ready to make an offer, Mom’s Best Friend will be available to help relay the initial offer and negotiate details between you and Nanny. We will also draft an employment agreement for you based on the offer details, your unique family information, and industry standards to ensure that everyone is on the same page.
What happens after I hire my nanny?
We will send you final details, including the nanny’s background check, and we will run a new one to ensure that we have the most up-to-date information. We will also provide an evaluation form for reviews, as well as a placement success handbook, and will be following up with you to make sure that everything is going well.
What happens if I hire the wrong nanny?
First, this is a very rare situation. Because of all that goes into the screening and hiring process, including the week of trial, our success rate is high. For the rare occasion that things are not going as smoothly as we had hoped, we offer a 4-month free replacement time frame on all long-term placements. If within the first 4 months, you decide that the nanny is not quite the right fit for your family, then we would be happy to reactivate your search and find a replacement at no additional cost.
We hope that we were able to answer some of your basic questions, but we have a team excited to connect with you directly and learn more about your nanny needs and discuss how we can best support your household.