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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

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Original poster

Advice needed! How much should I charge as an au pair?

15 replies

littlemissbroody26 · 12/04/2011 22:27

Hi,

I am popping over here from the TTC section, I am looking for work in the summer holidays in Sweden, I live in Sweden and work as an english teacher, the only problem is that we are paid by the class and there are no classes in the summer holidays.

I have applied for a job as an au pair for a family in the summer holidays, I saw the job advertised on an ex-pats website so it is not involving an agency.

I dont know alot about the job, I have a meeting with the family this weekend to find out more and so they can get to know me. I'm not sure if it is "live in" or "live out" ideally for me it would be live out as I live with my boyfriend. They have 3 children, I am not sure of the ages.

Can anyone recomend what I should suggest as a price? I am 26 and have lots of experience working with children.

Any advice would be great! Thanks in advance Amy :)

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KatyMac · 12/04/2011 22:30

So English family in Sweden?

Goodness knows (I can email my brother in Stockholm & ask if you don't get any joy here; but tbh I'm not sure he would know)

Original poster

littlemissbroody26 · 13/04/2011 06:16

I assume they are English... if not English then American or Australian... alltho alot of Swedish families look for English speaking child care so that their children learn English at an early age. I do speak some Swedish, enough to talk to a child.

I think that au pairs are often much younger than me and use the experience to learn about a different culture and language, I'm not sure if the pay will be enough to make it worth my time to do... we will see!

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chitchatingagain · 13/04/2011 12:37

As a standard au pairs are live in, and in the UK earn about £60-£70 a week. Part of the reason for the low wage is that board and food are included.

You don't want that, you just want a summer nannying job, really. I don't think you will have much luck in finding an au pair position that pays what you want.

But there may be families that are looking for a nanny, and are willing to pay nanny wages for summer care for their children. No idea how to find that in Sweden!!!!

What about some private English tutoring over the summer holidays?

Original poster

littlemissbroody26 · 13/04/2011 17:22

thanks for the advice chitchatingagain!

The problem with tutoring over the holidays is that most swedish families have a "summer" home and a "city" home. The summer homes are spread all over Sweden so there isnt many families in the city in the summer. It is just really hard to get any job in Sweden, the sweeds all speak amazing english so english speakers are not that needed.

I love looking after kids, so I dont mind being paid badly, I just want to be paid fairly really. Thank you for the advice on wages, I will quote around that mark when I visit them!

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Treeesa · 13/04/2011 18:17

@ littlemissbroody26
The weekly pocket money (for the UK) that chitchatingagain quoted is generally for 25 hours per week i.e. 5 hours a day x 5, and £60 is definitely on the low side in the UK nowadays.

In the school summer holidays remember many families will probably be needing additional hours because the children will be around all day. So it is quite possible you could be asked to on duty for a lot more than just 5 hours a day (depending on the parents work hours). So you should see how many hours are called for and ask for a comparably higher amount.

ChocolateCoveredChitChat · 13/04/2011 22:56

Treeesa is right, it is for only 25 hours work, and shouldn't really include sole care of under 3s. I pay my au pair £80 a week for 25 hours spread over 3 days while I am around.

If found my au pair through au pair world. Try looking on there to see if any families in Sweden have placed ads. You dont' have to pay to register to look, and most families will have paid so you can contact them.

Original poster

littlemissbroody26 · 14/04/2011 06:26

great advice! Thank you! chocolate covered chit chat, when your au pair is not working is she pretty much free to do what she wants? if it is the same situation that you have 25 hours over 3 days it will be perfect for me! I hope it is the same set up!

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frakyouveryverymuch · 14/04/2011 07:00

If it's live out check the minimum wage legislation as it will apply to you. Before you can talk wages you really need to know what the job involves - have they given you any more info?

ChocolateCoveredChitChat · 14/04/2011 08:16

Yes, completely free to do as she wants. The only rules really is that as she is living in she needs to let us know if she will be around or not for meals, and that she needs to tidy up after herself. In fact I've been encouraging her to go out and explore!!!!

Original poster

littlemissbroody26 · 14/04/2011 08:16

I dont have any more info.. I suppose they will tell me when I meet them. I think Sweden does not have a minimum wage, I will check to make sure tho. The sweeds put a lot of value on childcare, a mother gets around 500-600 pounds a month to stay at home with her baby for 18 months even if she had no job before the baby was born, I hope this high regard for childcare translates to when you are paying someone else to care for your children!

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Original poster

littlemissbroody26 · 14/04/2011 08:17

chocolatecoveredchitchat you sound like a lovely host family for your au pair, I bet she is very happy!

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ChocolateCoveredChitChat · 14/04/2011 08:24

Sadly, I don't think she is. It's given her too much freedom, and I don't think she knows what to do with herself and with her time. I've had to have quite a serious talk with her as over the last month her mood has spiraled down and it's affected her work quite badly, and has stopped her 'participating' in normal family things. She's off home for a week to have a recharge and to think things through.

That's the problem with au pairs - some want more freedom because they have a more mature outlook - others want far more structure because they are emotionally young. Both those things are hard to establish when the au pair is in another country.

At least you will be in the country where you wish to work and can meet the potential families.

frakyouveryverymuch · 14/04/2011 08:25

Personally I would try to get more information before you meet them. If you find out that they want you to work 5 days a week, 12 hours a day and pay you 500kr a week then it's not really worth going for the interview. It's worth a phone conversation at least as it prevents you from wasting their and your time if you know you wouldn't take the job under the conditions offered.

A quick google informs me that there is indeed no minimum wage in Sweden, which suprises me as I thought that in general wages there were quite high but that may be proportional to a high cost of living I suppose...

Original poster

littlemissbroody26 · 14/04/2011 10:33

Im sorry to here that your au pair is not awfully happy chocolatecoveredchitchat, I can understand that it must be scary for a young girl to move to a country that she is not familia with, also as you say free time can be great but also some people feel they need someone to tell them what to do. My OH is swedish so I have a home and friends here allready, so I am sure I could fill my spare time up! If you had the option of having a "live out" au pair rather than a "live in" would you?

Frankyouverymuch you are right I think I will send them a mail asking for an outline of what they expect from me. They live in the "chealsea" of Stockholm so I am sure that money is not that much of an issue for them, so if they like me enough maybe they would pay what I would need (which would be around 500 pounds a month) really they are getting a native (british-they all want their kids to have english accents not american) english speaking teacher for not very much money.... oh well we will see what they say!

It is odd that Sweden dont have a minimum wage! Wages are very high here, there dont seem to be poor people! I think that companies probably just pay well because it is "the done thing" in Sweden. You dont really see sports cars or stupidly big houses here, people tend to live modest but very nice lifestyles.

The other thing that I am a little concerned about is if I do become pregnent before the summer (we have been trying 7 months with no luck yet so it seems unlikely!) that the family may well not be pleased. But I am trying to not put my life on hold "incase" I get pregnant because it makes the waiting to get pregnant so much harder!

Thanks again for all your help/advice! A little bit of me thinks maybe I should just go home to England and work for the summer!

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frakyouveryverymuch · 14/04/2011 10:45

Well even if you're pregnant now you'll be 5 months max over the summer so not to bad and hopefully you'll have the tricky first trimester out the way.

In the UK live out au pairs are quite an expensive option, as in many other countries in fact, because the room and board counts towards the wage. Plus you don't get a lot of flexibility on babysitting, it's difficult to find someone to do before and after school care and it's just generally easier to have someone live in. Also legally speaking a live out au pair is a nanny...

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