During the summer, our childcare needs tend to change and our usual routine needs an upgrade. With children around the home more, we need to think about keeping them entertained, ensuring they have a fun summer break without the running of your home being negatively affected. In the summer this could mean that additional personnel in the form of a driver, chef, housekeeper and/or nanny is essential to your plans. Planning your needs in advance will mean that you are able to relax, be stress free and enjoy your summer too.
One important thing to consider is to hire staff who are specifically seeking a summer only or temporary position. Those who are actually job hunting for a longer-term role might not turn out to be as loyal to your family as you hope and should a permanent role materialise, you could find yourself one pair of hands down during their tenure with you. Always sign a contract with your nanny, this protects you both and defines the terms of your agreement.
Clarifying specifics in line with your family’s summer plans is essential. Do you intend to travel? Will your member of staff be joining you? If not, are they still expecting to be compensated whilst you are gone? Do they expect to take a holiday themselves? Are their salary expectations in line with your budget and are they happy to carry out the duties and the hours that you require them to do? These questions and others are essential but sometimes prove to be a difficult conversation to have. Without a clear checklist of items to discuss, things can often be missed. Platinum Nanny takes a full brief from the client before our experienced consultants conduct extensive interviews with candidates. We cover all client expectations and specific requests in detail, having those difficult conversations for you. Only if they pass this scrutiny will they ever be submitted to a client. This helps to ensure that both the nanny’s and client’s expectations, wants and needs are a perfect match; that the nanny knows exactly what will be expected of them. This significantly reduces the chances of a mis-hire.
Another highly recommended consideration is organising a trial day even for a temporary role. It is so important to ensure that the person you are hiring to work in your home and with your precious children is the right one. Avoid the mistake of thinking that, being only a summer position, this is unnecessary because getting it wrong can cause significant disruption to your family’s summer plans. Trial days are an opportunity for your children to see if they click with the nanny and for you to see if that individual can seamlessly and discretely blend into your home. One simple way to achieve this is to offer them the opportunity to babysit for an evening or two. Ask your children, if they are older, for feedback and trust your intuition.
Platinum nanny is an international bespoke search consultancy in the placement of childcare, household & estate staff in Monaco · London · Dubai · Moscow · Switzerland.
𝐸𝓃𝑔𝓁𝒾𝓈𝒽, 𝐹𝓇𝑒𝓃𝒸𝒽, 𝑅𝓊𝓈𝓈𝒾𝒶𝓃 speaking consultants.
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