Would this job appeal to a nanny?

[littlebearsmummy]

Hi

In a nutshell I return to work in 4 months and will need to find a nanny to look after my 2 daughters (3.5 and 9 months). The hours will be from 7.30/8am to 5pm (no late nighters as my husbands hours are very regular) and my eldest will be going to preschool 5 mornings a week in term time, for 3 hours a day. The bit I'm concerned about is we can only offer about £16k per year gross. I've picked up that when dealing with nanny's the norm is to offer a weekly net amount, and I can do this, however it will be calculated from £16k per year gross.

The only other option is to do a nanny share with a local family we know who also have 2 children of the same age (so 4 children in total, 2 of whom will be going to preschool each morning). For this I was working on a salary of around £500 gross per week. Would a nanny want to look after 4 children full time for this?

I know my questions seem really simplistic, but I'd just like to have a little confidence that what we're looking for isn't unrealistic (for both a solo and shared nanny) before I start searching. Any thoughts would be very welcome!

Thanks

Hmm what's your location?

Nannies are making the shift from net to gross pay so it's not necessarily a disadvantage to offer gross. Yearly gross might be a bit difficult to compare but it's relatively simple to work down. It is, however, virtually minimum wage for 7.30-5 so you won't get someone very experienced no matter where in the country you are.

Have you factored in employer's NI and the other incidental expenses of having a nanny? £16k to the nanny will be £17,232 to you plus the additional cost of a kitty (about £500 a year), feeding the nanny, mileage or insurance on your car and wear and tear on the house etc.

A nanny share of £500 gross sounds reasonable however it will depend where in the country you are what you get for your money and whether the other local family will need hours at the end of the day which you don't.

Thanks for replying! We factored in ERS NI, a kitty, extra food costs and small things such as more heating etc etc which is how we came to £16k per year. We could squeeze to a little more, but barely! We're based in Essex so a relatively expensive part of the world. We'd be happy to do the nanny share, but for some reason I have the impression 4 little ones would put off most nanny's..though I probably have this completely wrong! The other families hours more or less correlate to ours, so the hours would probably be 7.30 to 5.30.

I don't think it would put them off, unless they were hideously different ages, which you say they aren't.

It might make logistics like a car more difficult, the older 2 would need to be good walkers and you'd need to provide a double buggy with 2 under 1, it would be nice if the younger two were on a similar routine etc but I think you'll find nannies willing to take it on.

£500gross per week probably won't get you someone hugely experienced however it might well suit someone qualified who wants to move out of nursery work into nannying. The advantage there is that they won't be fazed by dealing with 4 children and they'll be a bit cheaper than someone who is experienced in a similar share situation. It ultimately depends what level off qualifications and/or experience you won't. Obviously the 'better' a nanny's CV the more they tend to get paid but that doesn't mean you won't find someone perfect within your budget.

Advertise and see what you come up with. If you sit down with the other family and make a list of non-negotiables and a list of things you're willing to compromise on then you can see whether it'll be feasible or not.

You can always advertise it as a single family and as a share but your share seems to be providing a pretty respectable salary hike, for which most nannies I think would gladly trade the possible additional hassle that comes from a share and from having 4 under 5.

The salary sounds too low to me.

In my area (west surrey), a nursery nurse working in a nursery could get around £15k gross for a 36 hour week. You are wanting a 45 hour (or more) week.

I don't know salary levels in Essex but I expect it may be similar, thus for the amount of hours involved it sounds low to me.

Nannyshare involving 4 children could work though does present logistical issues, such as transporting them in a car - especially if all children are in the bulky Group1+ car seats.

7.30-5.30 x 5 days = 50 hours a week, so £500 gross = £10 gross per hour. Sounds ok, though may not appeal to the more experienced nannies who may well want more considering it's a share. Could well be enough to pull someone out of Nursery work though, as annual salary of £26k or so is more than the nursery would pay (even compared with say a 36 hour working week, the job would pay more per hour than nursery I would have thought).

gross wage wouldnt put me off at all (I insist on it too)

But £16k for 5 days a weeek is very low wages for a nanny.

I wouldnt even work a 4 day week for that!

You might find it suits an inexperianced nanny (if you are happy with that? remember we all start somewhere) or a nanny who brings their own baby along too.

Thanks for your comments, all really helpful. Having an inexperienced nanny or nanny with their own child wouldn't worry me at all, so definitely something to think about. Thanks again!

I think it's abit low to me too. As a nanny I wouldnt look after 4 kids for that amount. Sorry. But it might be good for an inexperienced nanny who wants to gain some experience?