A common question parents ask us is: “Can I ask my nanny to help with the dishes?”. While it’s not a simple “yes” or “no” question, there are some job duties that are considered standard for a nanny position.
But there are other duties that can move the role more towards a family assistant position. When this happens, the nanny/family assistant will typically ask for a higher hourly rate to account for the additional job duties.
Let’s discuss standard nanny job duties and how to handle dishwashing duties!
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A common question parents ask us is, “Can I ask my nanny to help with the dishes?”
Well, it’s not a simple yes or no question.
While anything is possible, there are some job duties that are considered standard for a nanny position, and many others that move the role into more of a family assistant position.
When this happens, the nanny assistant will typically ask a higher hourly rate to account for the additional job duty requirements.
Here are the standard job duties for a nanny:
General care, feeding, and ensuring the safety of the child.
Age-appropriate developmental activities and play, both indoors and outdoors.
Facilitating nap time, potty help, and ensuring the emotional well-being of the child.
Daily tidying of spaces used during the day, child-related household chores such as changing children’s bed linens, child-related laundry, emptying diaper pails when needed, and child or nanny-related dishes.
In general, a nanny is responsible for anything child-related during the day and is also expected, at a minimum, to return the home to the condition it was found in at the beginning of the shift.
This means that they would clean or load into the dishwasher any dishes used during the day, but they would not be responsible for the sink full of dishes present at the beginning of the shift.
The nanny might also occasionally need to unload the dishwasher in order to make space for the dishes used during the day.
A key takeaway here is that it’s important to outline expectations surrounding exact job duties, including dishes, in the onboarding process.
The reason for this is that the nanny might take the dishes left in the sink as a signal that those dishes have been left for the nanny to handle.
It’s possible that the nanny might not feel comfortable clarifying with the family what the dishes in the sink mean, and they might feel as though they are expected to do the dishes and are being taken advantage of.
This is a frequent source of frustration, and the topic of dishes comes up time and again in the nanny forums.
However, what if the family would like the nanny to handle the sink full of dishes present each morning and unload or load the dishwasher every day?
Plenty of families would love this type of help from their nanny.
This is totally fine to ask of your nanny so long as this is discussed and agreed upon and is compensated appropriately.
The key thing that is going to make a difference between a nanny-only versus a family assistant role is going to be child-only versus family dishes.
Make sure to update the contract with any changes to pay rate and job duties if any changes are made.
Ideally, the conversation about exact job duties will happen at the job description or contract negotiation phase.
However, sometimes the job duties will need to shift slightly after the contract has been signed.
If this is the case, sit down with your nanny to discuss your updated needs and ask if they are open to additional job responsibilities, as well as what their increased hourly rate might be for those additional duties.