How to be a good employer to your nanny

The right candidate is hard to find. Once you have found the right fit for your family you need to work on building a mutually respectful and lasting relationship. Here is everything you need to know about keeping a household employee happy.

Get the basics right

The most important function in your role as employer is to pay your nanny the right amount, promptly and to handle all their paperwork properly. Just because they are working in your home doesn’t mean you are not obliged to treat them as you would any other employee – including maintaining and storing their payroll information securely. You might not have time for this on top of running a household, which is where Nanny Payroll comes in. We can deal with all your payroll administration – including providing payslips and dealing with Revenue – on your behalf.

Be clear about your expectations

Set out precisely what their role entails – are they expected to do housework, for example? Agree how you will manage arrangements for holidays – do you choose when they will take leave, or do they? We can provide a tailored employment contract which details these important factors, along with other legal requirements. (It is your legal obligation to provide your nanny with key terms of their employment in writing within 5 days of them commencing employment and to provide them with a suitable contract of employment within the first 60 days of them commencing employment with you). For help with an employment contract template, contact Nanny Payroll.

Be an approachable boss

Make it clear that your nanny can approach you if they are unclear about something – don’t expect them to second guess your demands. If you don’t want your child to have screen time close to bedtime, for example, let them know. Communicate with them what you expect of them in order to do their job well. By outsourcing the paperwork and admin associated with hiring a nanny to our team at Nanny Payroll, you can free up space for more meaningful dialogue around the care of your children (and not be side tracked by requests for holiday leave and payslips).

Schedule daily updates

Time is precious, but by carving out a short ten-minute window in your day to check in with your nanny about their daily agenda, how the kids are feeling – including any challenges or big wins – you will save yourself a lot of heartache and prevent small issues getting worse. This time should not be dominated by administrative issues – issuing payslips, booking in leave or querying tax deductions. Let us take care of that for you to keep your relationship with your nanny cleanly about the best interests of the kids.

Give them feedback

This should be done in a formal way at a pre-agreed interval i.e. three months and one year. Bring notes to the meeting and feedback on key areas for discussion, for example, discipline, how they interact with your children, the appropriateness of planned activities etc. You might also want to talk about their behaviour as an employee i.e. reliability, punctuality etc. This area of the conversation will flow a lot better if you have held up your side of the relationship as an employer. In other words, you have paid them the correct amount, on time and in a Revenue compliant way. This is where our team at Nanny Payroll have your back. We can look after all your payslips and the admin associated with hiring a nanny.

Have a united front

Your nanny needs to feel like your kids see them as a respected figure of authority in the household, so don’t give them feedback in front of the children. Resolve issues behind closed doors and let your kids see you, your spouse and your nanny working as a team.

Nanny Payroll offers a complete payroll service for families who employ nannies, saving your precious time for a small annual fee of €275. Buy now.