Top Seven Issues Nannies Care About Most – Episode #4: Clear Communication

I’m back with the next episode in our “Top Seven Issues Nannies Care About Most” series.

Today, let’s talk about clear communication. Something that is CRITICAL to a healthy relationship between a nanny and their nanny family.

In Episode #1, we discussed fair pay. Watch that by clicking here.

In Episode #2, the topic was job security. Find that by clicking here.

In Episode #3, I went over respect and recognition. Click here to watch.

As we all know, communication is a two-way street. In this episode, I am going to discuss communication tips that nannies should consider as well as some specific ideas that parents can use to ensure they are clearly communicating with their nanny (or sitter).

Thanks for watching and check back next week for Episode #5!

Want to learn more about the nanny binder? Check out this video by clicking here.

Click Here To Watch!

A transcript of the video can be found below: 

Hi everyone, Laura from Nanny Parent Connection here.

Welcome back to my video series “The Top Seven Issues Nannies Care About Most”.

So far in this series, we’ve covered fair pay, job security, and respect and recognition.

In today’s episode, we will discuss clear communication.

First, I’ll cover some ideas that nannies can use to contribute to clear communication happening, and then I will cover several of the things that families can do to ensure that clear communication is happening as well.

Nannies, you can help to facilitate clear communication with your families by doing the following:

Communicate clearly any expectations you have about the position. If you have any questions about the position such as the exact schedule, compensation, or job duties, make sure to clarify those things with the prospective family. All of these details should be figured out before accepting a job offer or certainly, before signing a contract. If you do receive a job offer and you receive a contract that you’re not 100% sure about, make sure you go back to your family with any requested negotiations or changes that you would like to see before signing.

Always have a contract. A contract serves as a working agreement between the nanny and the family. The contract should lay out clearly all the expectations surrounding the schedule, the start date, pay, how and when pay works, additional compensation package items, etc. If there is ever any question about job duty creep, or pay, or expectation changes, the contract is a fantastic document to go back and reference.

Keep lines of communication open. Mutual feedback is very important if you have things you would like to bring to your nanny family to discuss. Be proactive by asking if you can have time to sit down and discuss how things are going. Make sure that you’re open to getting feedback from your employer as well. Remember, you’re part of a team with your employer. It’s important to work together if any issues arise, so that everyone can figure out a plan to help resolve those issues. When you’re newer in the role it’s important to have more frequent check-ins, as time goes on in the position plan for monthly, quarterly, and or annual reviews where you can sit down and check in with your nanny family.

Remember, if something small starts to happen or be a concern, it’s important to bring that up right away, so that a small concern does not turn into something bigger.

Alright, now families you can help to facilitate clear communication with your nanny by doing the following:

Be upfront about any job expectations right from the job description stage. Make sure you take time to thoughtfully create the job description and to think about what duties you need help with from your nanny. Your job description should include all of the important elements such as location, ideal start date, compensation package information, it should also include the commitment length you’re looking for. As I mentioned before make sure to list out all of the job duties that are expectations for the role, as well as any requirements you have for your nanny such as number of years experience, any skill sets, licensures and vaccination status, etc.

Families, you should also know what job duties are standard job duties for our nanny, and what job duties should be compensated at a higher level. For example, typical job duties for a nanny includes anything surrounding the direct care of the child. That can include things like daily tidying, emptying a diaper pail, cleaning dishes used throughout the day, child laundry, that sort of thing. If you need any help that crosses over into more of a family assisting role, this would be activities like family meal prep, family dishes, family laundry, maybe dog walking, that would need to be compensated at a higher level.

Those are non-standard nanny duties, those are more family assisting duties.

And remember, if the job duties do need to evolve over time, make sure you sit down with your nanny ask if they are open to the changes, and ask them what additional compensation they would require to be responsible for those additional job duties.

Families – I also recommend having a nanny binder. The nanny binder is one place where all crucial information about the role with your family is kept – sort of an operations manual for your nanny. A nanny binder is a great reference for your nanny in case of emergency, they know right where to go to look up information they can quickly grab it if they need to dash out the door, or if they have a digital copy they can save that and access that from anywhere right from their phone. If you would like some guidance on how to put together your nanny binder and what to include, make sure you check out this video here.

Families it’s also important to have regular check-ins with your nanny. Invite honest feedback from your nanny about what’s working, what might not be working, or what couldn’t be improved upon. Be prepared with information you might want to share with your nanny about the role and how you feel they’re doing. Make sure to ask your nanny if they need any additional support, in order to be successful in the role. This is also a great time to discuss any goals you have for your children or your family, and how the nanny might be able to support your family in reaching those goals.

As you can see, both families and nannies play very important roles to ensure that clear communication is happening within the nanny-family relationship.

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Several of the topics I covered in this video have been covered in videos published on our Nanny Parent Connection YouTube Channel so make sure you head over our way and check out all those fantastic video topics. Click here to visit.

Please join me next week as we continue our conversation about the top seven issues nannies care about most.

Thanks everyone, bye!