Pros and Cons of A Live In Nanny | Analysis

Hi everyone! Laura back with my next video.

Considering hiring a live in nanny? Or perhaps you are a nanny who is thinking of offering live in childcare?

The most common question I receive from parents about live in nanny care is:

“If I have a live in nanny, that means I can pay them a lower hourly rate, right?”

What do you think? Is this true or false?

Check out my latest video where I breakdown the pros and cons of live in nanny care – from both the parents and nanny’s perspective.

Is a live in position right for you? Are you considering a live in nanny to care for your children? Make sure to watch this video BEFORE making your decision.

In this video, I’m going to discuss the pros and cons from both the family and nanny’s perspective.

Pro Tip: In my opinion, the most important issue to keep in mind when considering live in nanny care is everyone’s privacy.

Click the button below to watch the video and I hope I covered something new for you!

Click Here To Watch!

A transcript of the video can be found below: 

Hi everybody! Laura from Nanny Parent Connection here.

One of the most common questions I get about live in nanny care is from parents wondering if live in nanny care means that they can pay their nanny a lower hourly rate.

The short answer is no!

Why you might ask?

Well, the answer is simple, having a live in nanny is more of a convenience and benefit for a family than it is to the nanny.

Let’s break this down. First I’ll cover the pros of a live in nanny for the family:

Convenience

Having a live in nanny ensures that your nanny is on site on time when the workday begins.

The nanny is probably not going to arrive to your home stressed out because of a tough commute or inclement weather.

Different laws apply to overtime pay meaning you will pay less to your nanny for overtime hours worked.

The nanny typically becomes an extended member of the family.

Now here are some of the cons of having a live in nanny if you’re the family.

Privacy

Think about shared spaces, private conversations, that sort of thing.

It’s possible that your nanny might overhear things that are private and personal to your family, and you will be sharing spaces that traditionally you’re not used to sharing.

If your nanny dines with your family, that means dinner time is no longer family time.

Security with Visitors

Your nanny may have visitors over to your home who you don’t know anything about.

Now I’m sure the nanny has good judgment, but still think about people coming to and from your home and what that could look like.

And with food arrangements or cooking, there are going to be some extra logistics about who eats what snacks and what snacks or meals are off limits. And also, does your nanny know how to cook?

Now here are some pros and cons of working as a live-in nanny:

Pros

You have no commute to and from work other than a simple walk up the stairs or to the next room, and you have no inclement weather, no snowy, or icy roads, no heavy rainstorms, that sort of thing to deal with.

You also don’t have to pay for rent, similarly, you don’t have to pay for utilities either.

Another benefit is that food expenses are covered and one thing to think about too is that the nanny family typically absorbs any cost of inflation, which we all know really went up this year. Such as increased costs for food, rent, utilities, etc.

Here are some of the cons of being a live-in nanny:

Your housing security is tied to your job, so when your job ends you need to look for new housing.

Privacy! You share a home with your boss, they are probably going to know who is coming and going from your home, when those people are coming and going, they may overhear personal conversations, that sort of thing.

Shared Spaces

You’ll likely be sharing dining facilities, a refrigerator, laundry facilities, maybe even a bathroom.

It can be difficult to have guests over easily, especially depending on what the family is or is not comfortable with.

And if you have a separate entrance or a shared entrance to your living quarters, it can be difficult to set up boundaries for time off, and you are actually always at work even though you are not always on the clock.

Overtime pay laws are different when you’re a live-in nanny, which means you might not be making as much working overtime hours as you would be if you were a live out nanny.

And finally, some families will try to negotiate a lower wage for the nanny as a trade-off for them covering housing and utilities due to a lack of understanding about nanny industry standards.

Now I’m sure my list of pros and cons of having and being a live-in nanny is not exhaustive.

If you do a quick tally you’ll see the pros and cons for families is fairly balanced, while the pros and cons for nannies is not. There are more cons than there are pros to working as a live-in nanny.

For so many people though it can be a fantastic arrangement, so long as there is good communication, great planning, and even more good communication.

If you feel there’s something I’ve left off my list, I would love to hear about it, please drop your ideas in the comments below.

Thank you so much for joining me on this video, I hope this information was helpful.

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And families, don’t miss out on these videos on how to be the best nanny employer, and how to keep your nanny.

Thank you everyone, bye!