Nanny salaries

[doingthelambethwalk]

Why are nannies better paid than nursery nurses?

Do people never poach daycare nursery nurses to be nannies and pay a bit more than nursery nurse wage but a bit less than standard nanny wage?

Or am I a scrooge to even wonder about this?

Yes, they do. Most nursery contracts have a clause about not poaching their staff though.

Nursery nurse wages are so low because nurseries have small profit margins. Nannying is also a more demanding job - no manager to tell you what to do or colleagues to take the strain. A nanny is solely responsible for dealing with medical emergencies for example. Nannying requires greater levels of self-motivation, initiative and responsibility, and I think you need the right temperament for lone working. Nursery nurses deserve to be paid a hell of a lot better though!

Nannies may work longer hours, don't get rest periods usually, work alone so don't have support of others. Those could be some of the reasons.

I expect some people do poach daycare staff to be nannies - but it can get tricky as the nurseries are aware it happens so puts conditions in the contract of service users (parents) and/or in the employees contract.

Wondering why you are thinking about this... the role of a nursery nurse in a day nursery is different from a nanny... some nursery workers may not cope that well once on their own without backup from others around them. However some may thrive, thus why some nursery staff are poached, while others are not.

Agree with others that it is different and probably tougher job. Having said that, the move from nursery nurse to nanny is an extremely common way for nannies to start their career. I interviewed several when I hired my first nanny, and you would expect to pay at the lower end of nanny salary range, which round where I live is probably about 20% more than nursery workers will make.

You have to use your common sense and probe quite extensively about temperament and motivation for making the switch when interviewing, but for someone who's done several years in nursery work, appreciates what the differences in role will mean, and has a bit of gumption, it's a perfectly sensible option.

Our first nanny was a former nursery nurse. She found the transition quite hard mainly no longer having other people to cover if she fancied leaving early to do some shopping and she had quite a few sick days for spurious reasons as she was not thinking about how much it affected us ( ie she had 2 separate days off for 'tiredness'). That was 4 years ago and she's still a nanny so I hope she got more used to it :-) oh and we paid her the rate we would offer to any nanny so not hat cheap either.

Just wondering due to other thread about cleaner vs nursery nurse and because DS' nursery has just put up their fees and because I was browsing jobs on a nanny website whilst pondering a babysitter and was surprised that nanny salary = c. £30k+ but nursery nurse salary = £14k+.

At DS' nursery ratio is 1 NN: 3 under 3s and fees are £1025 pm for an under 1 so the nursery is earning far in excess of a nanny salary for 3 kids in the baby room, so even taking into account rent etc. I think the nursery must be doing pretty good business.

NNs are seriously underpaid, aren't they!

Looking at Nursery Jobs on GreatCare I'd say a nursery nurse is paid £13-£18k depending on location and how senior they are... a room leader gets paid at a higher rate.

Nurseries have lots of costs which as a parent you may not be fully aware... recruitment of staff for example can be quite costly, staff turnover in some nurseries can be quite high, the nursery is probably charged business rates, has business refuge collection, insurance premiums and regulatory registration fess... and many more. A nursery may also not be at full occupancy all year round but may still need to pay the staff regardless.
So it would not surprise me if nurseries are not making that much money... some will be making quite a bit but others won't, especially those offering a higher ratio of adult:child than the minimum standards.

Thanks you have softened the blow of the rise in nursery fees!!

When people compare salaries between a nursery nurse and a nanny, they often forget that a nn will get 14k a year for a 40 hour week (I agree, too low) but nannies earing 30k per year tend to be working a 60 hour week for that sort of money.

Another v good point