HELP!! How much should I pay?!?!

[bonitagbchica]

Right! I'm interviewing four ladies today and two tomorrow - for a part-time WEEKDAY only aupair position four our two kids. Duties will include taking care of children (sole charge) should I be called out to a client in labour in the middle of the night. The kids go to preschool three days per week, so really she'd just need to get up with them, give them breakfast, dress them, clean teeth and walk them in to preschool. But how much should I pay them?

Requirements of the post include buggering off on the weekends, so all of the ladies interviewing all live with boyfriends / family. Also, if a client goes into labour and I'm no longer on-call, they don't have to stay overnight, but four hours of babysitting is required per week so I can go to yoga and step classes in the evenings once children have already gone to bed.

Any ideas / comments / suggestions please?

Cheers in advance!

Antonia
--x

I wouldnt work for you! You seem that you have a bad mouth!

How many hours a week, and is she "on-call" during pre-school hours? Is she required to live with you Monday-Friday? And where abouts in the country are you?

Blimey.

Are you for real.
You dont want much then..

Very rude!
"Buggering off" - Id hate to be your client!

Wow! Maybe I should have explained things better...

My husband works away during the week, sometimes London, sometimes Bristol, sometimes Las Vegas. My job isn't very accommodating for having a husband that isn't home to be with children if I'm called out. We've had an "on-call" nanny since October 2003 who also worked at the children's preschool and would just take them into work with her if I wasn't home... it was a great setup. But then she changed jobs (fair enough) and now works shifts of 13 hours per day, three on, two off. So she's still available, but not all the time.

So basically, I was looking for someone to be here when my husband can't. There aren't any real duties aside from nursery run after getting kids ready for the day.

We decided to do it for weekdays only because our spare room also serves as my husband's office on the weekend, and because he owns the company, it's his responsibility to make sure the work gets done, and often he's up until 2/3am just making sure it does every weekend.

The spare room is nice with a lush double bed. Downstairs, we have a large drop down screen with surround sound to watch films, etc, wireless interest, etc.

I don't mind you saying I'm unreasonable, but can you also make any recommendations on how I can renumerate appropriately please?

Antonia
--x

I know what you mean by 'buggering off at the weekends' - you just phrased it badly. I think a lot of families (I know, not all) that employ live-in nannies would love it if nanny went home/to boyfriends every weekend so that they could relax more.

But obviously you don't need a nanny as the hours may be few and far between. Not sure what to suggest really re wages? What would be the maximum hours per week that you would need worked? Would that include being available to pick up an ill child from pre-school? What about school holidays?

Maybe you should try to work out an average an offer a weekly wage that you would pay whether hours were needed or not and also say that at the end of each month you would tot up hours worked and if they exceeded a certain amount you would top up the wages. Not sure what rate you should offer per hour - that depends on the candidates age and experience.

I don't think you can really offer part time accommodation. I mean techinically you could, but who would want it. I don't know, I just think it's rude to tell someone they have to vacate their room on the weekends -- it's not really theirs then is it?

I think you need a part time live-out nanny would would be prepared to do overnights with a reasonable amount of notice. But, if she has to be available on short notice every single night, then you might have to consider paying something for this availability.

If you want a live-in nanny/au pair, then I think you should consider squeezing DH office into another room -- perhaps your bedroom?