First time employer

[AniaB]

Hi there, We are looking at employing a Nanny/Housekeeper for the first time and are slightly daunted by the prospect of employing someone full time. I am pregnant and the reason we need a nanny is because I have bad sciatica and need help looking after our two kids. I have two questions;

1. Has anybody had any dealings with the agency 'Town & Country Nannies' based in Chelmsford? The proprietor seems very nice but the Company is new.

2. What measures can we take to protect ourselves against employing someone who could then let us down by being sick etc?

Any feedback gratefully received!!!

how to protect yourself against employing someone who could let you down by being sick? and you have bad sciatica?

employees are people, they will get sick, maybe pregnant, have hangovers, might break things. If you want absolute cover, use a nursery and an agency for cleaning services.

Having had over 20 years of aupairs/nannies, it depends totally on YOUR flexibility and tolerance, so to err on the cautious side I would agree with BobbiFleckman. You can get a very mixed-bag of challenges/problems and 'surprises' over the years! To the extent where YOU end up looking after these young people more than you expected- regardless of age/qualifications. They WILL possibly get sick/have boy or girlfriend 'trauma'/have no common sense ( despite being qualified) / become lazy and disinterested/ not get along with you or your children/run up huge phone bills etc etc so its a risk for BOTH parties. And whatever you're prepared to pay salarywise, the 'real' cost is usually at least double because of their food/needs/ Regarding the agency, they're only as good as the candidate in question and you need to be BRUTALLY honest about hours and duties or it WILL go wrong! No point in saying there is only 'a little bit of ironing' when there are in fact several hours...ditto cleaning/tidying/ changing beds etc... And you can only assess an agency when you hit a problem

Thanks singaporefling. That's really good feedback and gives me plenty to consider!