questions about Au Pair duties - stay or go...???

[gillo98]

hi, ive just recently got an au pair and skyped and emailed her what was expected of her before she accepted the position. we are in ireland by the way and she is australian. Myself and my other half both work full time and have a 7mth old son. Again, she was aware of all this beforehand.

I start work at 6am, and my other half at 7am, i expect her to get up with the baby as im gone by 5.30 and himself by 6.20am and the baby usually wakes about 6.30ish. im home by 2.30pm and the rest of the day is then hers. i also have a 2pm-10pm shift (other half is 3-11) and again i expect the au pair to get the baby up but i get up bout 8.30am and take over until i leave for work at 1.30pm. As im working until 10pm, this is counted as her babysitting night (ive 2 of these shifts one week and one another week and three in another week) AS she is expected to be avl to do babysitting twice a week, i pay her extra for the week when i have 3 x 2-10 shifts. And then i have a week of nights (10pm-6am) and i would be outa bed by 1pm and again she can have the day to herself until i leave for work at 9.30pm...baby is in bed by 6.30pm every night. She has not done ANY housework, sorry, im mistaken...she has done hoovering ONCE (she's here a month) and the odd time she will unload the dishwasher and has made dinner 6 times...
We pay her ?100 a week and she has full access to a car and her own tv and internet too. I have to tell her to take the baby monitor into her room. Oh also when we are off work she is off too, we get three days off one week (fri, sat, sun) the next week is three days too (sun, mon, tues) the following week is two days (wed, thurs) and then we are back to the fri, sat and sun off....
Am i asking too much? Any advice would be appreciated on this.....
thanks

imo of employing au pairs you are asking too much of her. Mind you you are also paying above the odds for an au pair. Language isn't a barrier in this case or I would say she may not have time in that schedule to go to classes- something to bear in mind should you ever employ a non-English speaker. I find the best thing with au pairs is to make it abundantly clear exactly what you expect of them before they come. l think that she needs a very strict schedule with a small expectation of flexibility from her. I wouldn't frankly expect her to any more housework than any other member of the household- she is meant to be a full member of your household, not a house elf.

Contrary to what a lot of people will come on and say here, most au pairs are not exploited financially, when you add up what it would cost them to live independently they probably have more spending power than their employers as they have to pay for nothing but what they fancy- no bills, no food and other freebies are often thrown in. 100 euros a week is a very decent stipend for an au pair.

I was an aupair many years ago, and I wouldn't have last 5 minutes in your household. It sounds like you've got a pretty good deal with this girl and I wouldn't be surprised if she leaves you as soon as she finds an easier family. You need a nanny.