Posts Tagged ‘nanny split shifts’

Why Nanny Managers

Monday, September 10th, 2007
Here’s the dilemma: Now that the kids are back to school, you find you really need to hire a nanny to work just the hours when the children need attention — in the mornings and the afternoons. You wonder if you could just hire one nanny to work split shifts during those hours, since it’s obviously a waste of money to pay for childcare when the kids are in school.This is the issue I address in the Ask the Expert column in our upcoming company newsletter. My response is that, unfortunately, we only assign caregivers for a minimum of four consecutive hours per shift, and we adhere to this policy because to do otherwise would put undue strain on our nannies, forcing them to look for extra work for those middle hours and pay extra money from their incomes for transportation between job sites. I do offer a solution to this dilemma, though — the full-time nanny manager. Let’s discuss her role a little further.

A nanny manager is useful to a family in so many ways, and the school year only makes her usefulness more evident. She handles not only childcare duties but necessary household functions as well. These can include basic errands like picking up the dry cleaning, going grocery shopping, and making trips to the post office; household chores like washing laundry and planning basic meals; and extra duties involving the children such as organizing after-school activities and providing supervision and extra security if your family decides to travel during a school holiday. In short, she has a great deal of work to occupy her time while the kids are at school, thereby justifying her full-time status. A nanny manager provides added value by helping to eliminate distractions that would usually reduce the amount of time you spend with the most important people in your life, as well as the amount of precious time you have to let yourself recharge.

A full-time nanny manager may not be in everyone’s budget, but a cost-effective option is to share her services with another family, thereby cutting the cost of a nanny manager in half. This is an especially appealing option for neighboring families whose children attend the same school and have, more or less, the same schedule. You can capitalize on those parallel schedules and let one nanny manager take all the kids to school and pick them up together. Of course, this also might mean a little extra effort on your part in coordinating your nanny manager’s schedule with another family. You will have to negotiate how she allocates her time while the children are in school and afterschool childcare arrangements. However, you will find the benefits of hiring a nanny manager still far outweigh any potential challenges entailed in sharing her services.

In closing, I just want to add that we always appreciate your feedback and love to hear your comments and questions about our services. We will always do our best to give you the best possible options we can, whatever your needs may be.

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