Top 10 Questions Answered About Working With A Nanny: Part 2 of 2 🤨 - YouTube

Hey everyone, Laura from  Nanny Parent Connection here.

Today I'm going to talk about the  top 10 questions I get from parents  

who are curious about working with a nanny.

Question number 6 in my top 10  questions about working with a nanny  

is, how do I pay my nanny, do I pay my  nanny over the table, or under the table?

The right answer there is, you probably  want to pay your nanny over the table.

Because that is the legal way to do it.

Many many people do pay their nannies under  the table, but that's not without its risks.

We actually did a nice video blog about this a  few weeks ago, check that out in the description  

below there's a link for that, and you can  learn more about what some of those risks are. 

It's worth mentioning that there is a lot  that goes into paying your nanny illegally.

If you're good with numbers, I particularly  am not, they are just not my thing! 

we do have some talented parents out there who  are number whizzes, maybe some accountants,  

awesome set it up, do it, knock it out.

If you have some time every couple of weeks to  dedicate to payroll once you get things set up,  

go for it. There are lots of tools  out there to help make that easier,  

I think QuickBooks is one,  lots of payroll software! 

But if it's not your thing, if you have a new  baby in the house, maybe you're sleep deprived,  

or you're going back to work and trying to figure  out different schedules, you just don't have time!

I definitely recommend handing  it off to a payroll company.  

Nanny Parent Connection has partnered  with a fantastic payroll company,  

you can find that link for more  information in the description below. 

You just fill out a form and it submits some  information to them, they reach out and they  

can help you get all set up. It's really quick  and easy, it saves the headaches of "Are my taxes  

being done correctly.?, and it ensures everybody's  getting paid correctly and getting paid on time.

So, check that out and my recommendation is to  pay your nanny the right way. Pay them legally  

and maybe consider using a payroll company.

Question number 7 in my top 10 questions for  working with a nanny is, what are nanny taxes?

Your nanny taxes are social security and medicare,  together those are called the FICA taxes. 

They can make up about 10% of your nanny's  gross pay that's definitely a chunk of change,  

and there are some ways that  you can offset that cost.

There's the child and dependent care tax  credit that you can write off at the end of  

the year when doing your taxes. If you have  a dependent care account through your own  

employer definitely take advantage of that.  That will be a nice way to set aside some funds  

pre-tax in order to utilize those for child care. So, check out some of those options, just keep in  

mind when you're budgeting that the nanny taxes  they do makeup about 10% of the nanny's gross pay.

Question number 8 in my top 10 questions  about working with a nanny are,  

what are the most common job  responsibilities for a nanny?

so, nannies by definition are in charge of  everything surrounding the care and safety of  

the children. That can include help with babies  laundry, or the kid's laundry, which can also  

include help with washing bottles. But that does  not include things like the family laundry, or  

weekly vacuuming, or I use the example  of walking the dog or grocery shopping.

Those things fall outside of the job  description for typical nanny duties. So,  

if you're adding in those things, and by  the way, if you're getting care in your  

home make it what you want. Just make  sure you're compensating appropriately.

Make sure that any of those types of job duties  are listed in the contract they're agreed upon,  

and you're compensating appropriately. So, that's  going to mean if you have things that are outside  

of just care of the children that you're  probably going to pay 2 to 3 dollars per hour  

or more depending on the exact duties  and the experience of your care provider. 

Who doesn't want meal prep done right, Sign me up,  just make sure you're compensating appropriately.

Question number 9 in my top 10  questions about working with a nanny is,  

can I ask my nanny to do household  chores while the kids are sleeping?

Yes absolutely, but it's really really important  to recognize that nannying is a very unique job.  

Nannies are always on the go, there's always  something to be done. They're not truly getting a  

lunch break when the kids are eating lunch right!  Because, they might need to be feeding the baby,  

or the toddler always is gonna want  something right! They might spill something,  

they're just things right! Kids always need  things to be done, and so the nanny really  

really doesn't get a chance to truly have a  moment to unwind, until the kids are napping.

So .just be cognizant of that right make sure you  tell your nanny "Hey, I recognize that this is a  

full-on go-go-go type of job and we  appreciate that you give it your all,  

and we really really want you to make  sure that you're taking some time for you  

every day when there's nap time."  but just make sure that your nanny  

is aware that you're thinking about her. You want  her to feel well cared for and well recharged  

throughout her day. Not only is she going to  appreciate that about you as an employer and  

appreciate that about her job, but it's also  going to make her day a little bit better.

She's going to return the favor by  being the best nanny for your family. 

So, just be aware it's definitely okay  to ask the nanny to do some tidying  

during the times where the kids are  sleeping, or having their quiet time.  

Maybe she uses that time to catch up with some  dishes or tidying up the play area things like  

that. But, also just be aware that sometimes  maybe she catches up on a personal phone call,  

just takes a breather enjoys her lunch, or maybe  recharges by reading her book for a few minutes.

Question number 10 my top 10 questions  about working with a nanny is,  

what are the standard benefits to offer a nanny?

There are some industry-standard  benefits when working with nannies.

So, you're going to want to offer two  weeks of paid time off, guaranteed hours,  

and mileage reimbursement. You're also going to  want to consider offering a healthcare stipend if  

your nanny is maybe more experienced. Maybe  you're having a hard time filling the role,  

that can be a really nice thing to offer to  help attract more candidates to your position.  

Also, if you just want to make sure that you're  making your nanny feel very well cared for  

and you're financially able to do so, that  is a really really great thing to offer.

So, I'm going to walk through  each of these and just give a  

little breakdown about what standard to offer.

So, for vacation, you're going to want to offer  two weeks of paid vacation. Some families try to  

get one week of the nanny's choice, one week of  the family's choice. If that's what you must do,  

have a conversation with your nanny and find  something that works for him or her, but also  

be aware that that's just not really the standard. A good question to think about is, how would you  

feel if you at your corporate job were told  when you couldn't take your vacation time?

That wouldn't sit well with me and I'm guessing  it probably wouldn't sit well with you either! 

So, just be aware of what you're actually asking  them to take their vacation at your choosing.  

So, while that's really beneficial to you,  that might not work really well for your nanny.  

So, it is standard to offer your nanny two  weeks of paid time off of their own choosing.  

Just keep that in mind, if you have a  very experienced nanny they may even  

ask for more weeks of daytime  off and that's pretty typical.

Guaranteed hours. This is really  an important thing to offer.  

You're going to want to make sure you  guarantee hours so that your nanny  

knows that they can count on a  certain amount of income each week.

So, guaranteed hours will kick in if for example,  you take a vacation and you're gone for the week,  

and you're taking the work with you AKA the child  or children, and the nanny is available to work.  

But, because you're on vacation she cannot  work! So, that's something to think about,  

you should still be paying your nanny  and that's what we call guaranteed hours.

This is also the same model if you  had your child in preschool or daycare  

you would pay for the month's tuition, whether or  not you were going to be there the whole month,  

and that is so you reserve the  spot at the daycare for your child  

and so the spot is there when  you get back from your vacation.

So, it's a really great way to make  your nanny feel well cared for,  

it's the right thing to do as an employer, and  everyone should be offering guaranteed hours.

So for mileage reimbursement, you want to offer  your nanny the IRS standard rate which for 2021  

is 56 cents per miles driven. The irs changes  this every year, so it actually went down this  

year from last year, and this is for any miles  driven in the nanny's car while on the job.

So, this has nothing to do with the commute  to, or from this is only while on the job  

so this could be anything from driving the  children around to activities, or school  

to maybe running an errand for the family,  anything like that. Any on-the-job miles  

that your nanny is driving those should  be tracked and those should be reimbursed.

Paid holidays. It's very standard  for seven paid holidays to be offered  

I've seen as few as five, I've seen as many as  thirteen. There's a lot of flexibility here,  

but offering paid holidays is a really really  nice thing to add to the compensation package.  

It is a nanny industry standard and  it's a good employer thing to do.

For healthcare stipends,  

this isn't as standard but I do see this being  pretty standard for your more experienced nannies.

So, if you're looking to attract a more  experienced nanny to your position,  

you may want to start out by offering a health  care stipend. I've seen as little as $150 dollars  

to $350 being pretty standard. And of course,  that can go up or down from that range. Offering  

a healthcare stipend for your nanny goes a long  way to make your nanny feel well cared for.

It can attract really top-notch  applicants to your position  

and it's something to consider offering  if you're financially able to do so.

All right everyone, that's it for  today. Those are my top 10 questions I  

most frequently get asked  about working with a nanny.

I hope this information was helpful,  I hope it paints a clearer picture of  

what kind of goes into working with a nanny,  

for anybody who's considering working  with a nanny, and maybe hasn't before.

If you like this video, please click like and  subscribe to our channel so that you can get a  

heads up, when more of our videos come out! That's it for today. Bye!