Struggling to find a nanny- am I doing something wrong?

[satsumagirl]

We've been having an absolute nightmare with nannies.

Before this we had a lovely nanny for 2+ years. Our kids loved her, we got on great and she was super. Sadly she then got ill and had to leave. However she is back with us doing temp work at the moment until we find someone.

After she left we had a nanny for a few months who was absent a lot (sickness and other issues). She did not pass her probation and then left us abruptly one day. Very unprofessional (despite great references).

So we started looking again. I thought I had found someone great, local and flexible, but she has decided to stay with her current family as they have offered her more hours.

We are in the home counties (I'd rather not say where) and we are definitely paying the market rate). It is a before and after school role and 4 days a week on the holidays. I know these roles are harder to fill. I'm all over Childcare.co.uk and the local mum and nanny Facebook groups, and am registered with some agencies.

It's really getting me down. Are we doing something wrong? Why can't we find someone? After our experience with the nanny who wasn't up to scratch, and then having the nanny who accepted the job change her mind, I'm getting really worried we won't find someone. We both work long hours in senior roles and have no family nearby, hence why we need a nanny.

If anyone has any advice I'd really appreciate it. At my wits end!

It's a before and after school role... they are tricky to fill as who does such a job appeal to? As a nanny I far prefer working 10-12 hours per day and doing a few days per week.

I doubt you are doing anything wrong, I think these jobs are almost impossible to fill. I wish I knew who this sort of job did appeal to. So I am interested to see if any nannies will respond on here saying that this is the sort of job they look for and why it fits well for them.

For parents with nannies reading this, if your nanny does before and after school care... why do they do they do it? What are they doing during say 9.30am-2.30pm?

Are you proposing an annual salary which is split into 12 equal monthly payments?

What happens if a child is ill, would you expect the nanny to provide care all day at short notice?

Agreed @nannynick, they are tricky ones!

I would love to hear what people think. My guess is that this job would appeal to a nursery worker who is keen to do their first nanny job, someone semi retired or a nanny with their own child. Maybe I need to spell this out in the ad? Our previous nanny had lots of family commitments which was why working part time was ideal for her.

Before and after school is cheeky if you expect them to cover when your dcs are ill etc.

We had a nanny for our school aged kids and paid for the whole day

You could try a childminder instead.

@nannynick Yes we would pay an annual salary split out into 12 to make it more attractive. Do you think we should say that in the ad?

Re sick children we would ask the nanny if they were available and if they were we pay it at an enhanced rate.

I would look at childminders as well op.

@iggly How is it cheeky? My kids are hardly ever sick and quite often I cover. If the nanny is available, great, and we would pay them at an enhanced rate. We've discussed this arrangement at interviews and generally nannies seem to be fine with it.

A nanny whose own child/children go to the same school as your children. So have you tried asking at school? Would you be have a nanny who brought their own children with them before/after school?

@hellywelly10 good tip. Yes we will look at those too as well as more of the before and after school clubs.

@nannynick That is an excellent idea, thanks. I will ask at the school office and see if they know anyone. If they wanted to bring their own kids no probs at all with that.

It's the hours, a professional nanny will expect to work 8-10 hours per day, possibly more. You need to look for semi retired or a cleaner who maybe is looking for something slightly less backbreaking. It might be easier if you could use breakfast club before school, just afternoon would appeal more for a part time nanny

@Iggly Some nannies have said about being paid all day... it's a costly option though. Did your nanny do any household tasks during the day?

@satsumagirl Yes, the more things you can write on the profile the better. Be clear on how it would be paid. Be clear that you would cover illness but if it suited the nanny could also provide them with extra work in that situation.

Why cheeky? Because it’s assuming that they’ll be able to cover sickness without providing formal commitment. All nannies I’ve known don’t like it at all, which is fair enough.

My dcs were rarely ill but it was invaluable to have that peace of mind that if something came up, our nanny could cover. She also did things around the house as well.

@nannynick yes it was costly!

When I go back to work we won’t go back to that arrangement. Probably before school clubs and CM or after school nanny if we can find one.

A nanny has suggested you use the following phase on your advert/profile as it is something they look for:

wrap around care nanny

With regard to payment, be flexible about that as some nannies would want 12 equal monthly payments but others quite like having varying amounts. Which goes to show that no one thing fits all, the more you can adapt the job to the candidate the better.

Would the job be negotiable such that if a nanny did not want to work full days in the holidays, could that be arranged, such as by using a holiday club some of the time? The more can be flexible with the job requirements the better as it opens it to more candidates.

So perhaps putting something like "full time in school holidays (10 hours per day, 4 days per week) but could use a combination of holiday club and nanny if that suited our nanny better."

We pay the nanny from 7am -7pm and the kids are in school from 9-3pm. Nanny then does laundry , cleaning, errands. Basically she's my wife can't imagine the job would be so appealing if we weren't paying her for half the day!

Before after school is hard to fill as often it’s the money issue

A nanny not working 9-3 ish means they are losing half a days pay

Sometimes offering 2 full days so can batch cook - clean children’s rooms and do washing etc may help

Plus if the nanny did have a 10-2 job for example then come holidays they couldn’t do it

Sometimes worth advertising as a term only job and find different children for holidays

Or a nwoc often works. They can do their own thing with own child while yours are at school

I've looked in to this as an option as my youngest is at preschool, and starting school in September. I don't live somewhere were Nannies are used much. But there are some out there.
To attract a Nanny for what I currently need (7am-8.30pm minus the hours in between for school - 2 days per week) I pay for the whole day and advertised as a Nanny/housekeeper role.

Another option I am considering for the future should I need it is using breakfast club so I'd just need an afterschool Nanny (gives more options for the Nanny to do other work).

Thank you everyone. This is really helpful. @nannynick I'm going to tweak our advert!

Any other suggestions would be welcomed

People I know who do this are post grad students (mostly for older primary kids) or au pairs who want to stay longer in UK and have a friend / boyfriend to live with. Most of these friends with this type of nanny expect to and do change nannies at least once per year and don't all use for all holiday care. I also know of quite a few shares where part of the share is after school. Normally these are neighbours etc and it is a way for the nanny to make a little extra cash.

Ive been able to find afterschool and school hol nannys and we do average out the monthly wage. We never do nanny shares as we have 3 kids. It is tough though to find them and we dont get brilliant nannies. We often have to spend a long time tidying up after them

Nanny share can be a good option.

I've done several shares were one job is before/after school only and the other is all day.

I've had 4 school age children from one family and one baby from another and it worked brilliantly, so it can work even for bigger families! The key is how much input the older children need. In an ideal situation you would find someone who only wants term time (teachers!). That way it's a win win win for everyone!

Maybe look for an older Nanny.
I'm 48 and have been Nannying full time for 30 years.
In my current position I look after G12 B10.
I work 8-9am &1-6pm term time (Tue-Fri)
Then 8-6 in the school holidays.
I cover sick days and inset days.
My hours are averaged out over the year and I get paid the same amount every month.
I like having time off during the day,and I still have plenty of time to do laundry,cooking etc before the children get home.
Have worked for family for 5 years (used to be one half of a Nanny share,now I only work with one family)
Had the choice of finding another family for share or changing hours and after 6 months of new hours I'm glad I chose this option!(wages went down less than £200 per month with new hours)
First time looking after just older children,and I love it!! Prob more nanny/housekeeper role now,but suits me.(Prob helps that I only live 1 1/2 miles away).