Novice - help needed on hiring a nanny

[Yin25]

helloo! I am returning to work shortly but until I begin have no idea how much I will be working! I had hoped to start after school drop offs and finish in time to pick up my eldest but will for the first month at least probably need to commit to full time hours! So, I don't want to put my 10mth old in nursery full time, just to drop his hours later and am thinking (well hoping) a nanny may be the way to go!! Any help, tips advice on having a live out nanny would be really appreciated as I dontknow where to begin...all a new experience for me..thank you in anticipation E x

I don't think a nanny will be so keen for you to drop the hours later either. You will be the nanny's employer and therefore probably have more and not less commitment. Is this okay? If not, I think nanny is perhaps not the right solution.

I agree with Strix, most nannies wouldn't be keen to have their hours reduced. How about a temp nanny? Or a childminder, but making it clear about the reduced hours.

If you are using an agency to help you find someone, don't rely on them to completely even if there are extensive written references. Always ring the previous employers because there may be things that don't want to write down. From my own experience for example "x is in no rush to go home' may mean 'x' has to be crow-barred out the house at the end of the day because she has no other life apart from work. (Sad but very wearing!) ... Think about what is really important to you in your questions. For example, what they would do if they thought your child was unwell, attitude to discipline, snacks, safety ...

Think we need more information.

How many children do you have?

What would you predict are you likely working days and hours? Also what time would you typically leave home and arrive back?

Do you have a partner or anyone else who is around to help care for the children for free... so for example, if say you had to leave home at 7am, could a nanny start at say 8am just before your partner leaves home to go to work themselves?

Are you needing childcare all year round? You mention nursery but also mention school... school isn't open all year round, yet you might work all year round.

Agree with others that based on the information provided so far, a nanny won't want to start a job on x hours to then find it becomes 1/2x later on. I also doubt a childminder or nursery would want that either.

Nannies interested in this kind of work tend to have their own child, baby or toddler.
I used to run my own agency and in my experience there are usually plenty of nannies with their own child who are happy to work those hours.
Just be very honest with the nanny and I always found they were very flexible.
Try www.anauk.org foe a members list of agencies.