Do you dream of finding a nanny who will stay with your family for years to come, helping to raise all of your children?
We’ve put together our top tips to help you encourage your nanny to stay with your family long-term.
- Respect Your Nanny’s Free Time – It’s important to respect your nanny’s free time. Since most live-in nannies work longer hours than the average work week, when it is time for your nanny to take a break or to take her day off, it’s important that you allow her the time she needs to rest and relax.
- Appreciate What Your Nanny Does – Everyone loves to feel appreciated, and your nanny is no different. Tell her how thankful you are for the fantastic care she gives to your children. Including your nanny in things like Christmas and remembering her birthday will also go a long way to making her feel like a part of the family.
- Stick to Your Original Agreement/Communicate Clearly – To prevent your nanny feeling overworked, we’d recommend that you try your best to stick to the original job description and agreement. We understand that circumstances change, but it’s still important to communicate your changing needs with your nanny and to add any agreed changes to the nanny contract.
- Don’t Undermine Your Nanny’s Decisions – Just as you do whilst caring for your children, your nanny will need to make decisions that concern your children’s behaviour every day. If you show your nanny that you support her decisions and trust her judgement, it’ll help her feel more confident in her job.
- Be Understanding and Flexible – Work together on issues and be flexible towards each other’s needs; the key to a happy working relationship with your nanny is compromise.
- Pay a Competitive Wage with Good Benefits – Most nannies won’t see their rate of pay as the number one priority. However, it’s still important to offer a competitive rate that will allow your nanny to afford her lifestyle. Regular, well-deserved, pay raises can also go a long way to making your nanny feel appreciated.
- Make Your Nanny Feel Welcome and Comfortable in Your Home – If you and everyone in your household get along well with your nanny and you include your live-in nanny in things like family mealtimes etc, you’ll find that your nanny is much more comfortable in your home. This will foster a deeper connection between your family and your nanny that will make for a happy, long-term working relationship.
Whilst doing all of the above will go a long way to encouraging your nanny to stay with your family long-term, the two most important things for any nanny are that she loves her job and the children in her care. If your nanny thoroughly enjoys what she does, it’ll help get her through any tough days and forge a bond with your family that will last for many years to come.