Reconciling nannies' needs and employers' needs

[BoffinMum]

On another thread we have been discussing how fraught the nanny/employer relationship can be. As Gizmo said:

FWIW WRT nannies and the working relationship I think it is one of the most difficult relationships one can experience, for a number of reasons:

a) it crosses the boundary between domestic and business dealings, and neither model of communication is specifically appropriate in that situation
b) nannying as a career is not built around a traditional career path so many of the conventional motivators - increases in responsibility, salary etc - are not present. I find this conflicts with my awareness that it is a hard job and that even I occasionally find my children wearing: sometimes I look at my nanny and think 'but what's in it for you?'
c) the fact that for most nannies the working relationship is not just with Mumboss but also with Dadboss, who is inevitably going to have his own agendas
d) and as everyone has said: the uniquely powerful position that childcarers hold presents many opportunities for paranoia to build extremely rapidly.

Interesting point about there being little public discussion of children as individuals and their personalities, rather than as tokens of success, or potential demand. I suspect that on one level that is inevitable - in all honesty, how much public discussion is there about any individual's personality? It seems so much easier for the media to deal in generalities.

and as MrsWobble said:

many people want proactive nannies who use their initiative - but also want the nanny to do everything the way the employer would have done it. there is an inherent tension here.

many people want a nanny who is as like them as possible - but actually a nanny like you wouldn't be a nanny but would be forging their own high power career.

many people are used to a hierarchy at work and the giving/receiving of instructions - a nanny relationship requires far more of a lateral communication channel to be successful.

many people want their child to be the nanny's focus but get upset by the emotional attachement that develops - another inherent tension.

i think the key to success (if there is one) is to keep a sense of perspective and remember that even if there is "perfection" out there it doesn't matter if you don't find it - good enough really is good enough.

Thoughts, everyone?

Just for those that said they'd never heard of a nanny on 30k.

DP is a nanny earning 38k in Central London, I'm earning 36k in Southwest London. She is British, qualified, Ofsted registered. I am a native English speaker, unqualified, not Ofsted registered.

So we do exist, on both ends of the spectrum!

Boffinmum, why the ?

Because I have had too many people on my interview sofa being dippy!

You had some very bad luck. Did you get someone in the end?

you have some awful bad luck (dont think thats proper grammer, but ykwim)

but hopefully you are sorted now x

if i work 5days a week, i earn £35k - as do other older nannies like myself

Have to say that my temp is very very good - can I begin to dream that my luck is turning???

we can ALL dream for you

For me common sense is THE most important thing. How do you check for it? Well you have to go on gut instinct don't you. And have a second and third interview, and see nanny's interaction with your child. TBH for me formal education is not my first priority, but I do pay attention to spelling/grammar in CVS. I have to admit I'm a bit of a snob with that, have discarded many CVs just because of poor spelling/gramma. Or maybe its not being a snob, I just believe that if someone can't go to the effort to prepare a good CV & give it to someone more knowledgable to check for them, then I assume they're not going to be making that much of an effort in the everyday ins & outs of the job, if you see what I mean.

I also have noticed that some nannies who I've interviewed through agencies STILL have very bad CVs!! How can this be?! Do the agencies don't want to encourage their nannies to present themselves in the best possible way?

Anyway I suppose this is off topic...

It's not really off topic. It's part of the wider debate about professionalism and how nannies present themselves. Clearly employers want nannies who present themselves well. It's what you said about making an effort, Maria. Plus a badly presented CV isn't very professional IMO.

There are interesting debates going on all over the place about how professionalism is defined and a qualification is one way. What are the other markers, though, and how can you assess them?

thats weird maria but very true

i have a great cv (im modest) and i have gone for interviews and then the family shown me the cv the agency sent and asked me about a job, and the agency had retyped my cv and tbh it was awful - mine was much better laid out

Blondes, I have seen some terrible agency CVs that made no sense at all. They also mix up voluntary unpaid work with temp part time work and full time permanent work, pretending it is all the latter kind, so it looks as though the nanny has a lot more proper experience than she does.

Markers of professionalism in the research literature:

Autonomy: Ability to set own fee and determine own working hours.

Training: Codified body of knowledge opaque to an outsider.

Values: Ideology, vocation, altruism, service to the public

Ethics: Reliability, integrity, confidentiality, trustworthiness, responsibility

Regulation: Collective self-regulation by a group of professionals who also determine membership criteria.

Etzioni described workers whose roles demonstrated some of these characteristics but not all, (for example nurses working in complex health organisations), as semi-professionals. I think some childcare falls into this category.

Interesting but then there's the other meaning of professional being the opposite of amateur, like a professional footballer meaning someone who makes a profession (as in career/life choice) out of their job.

I agree that some childcare does fall into that category and feel perhaps that more should - does that count as professionalisation?