As more companies require employees to return to offices this year, nannies and caregivers are in high demand. When you need this kind of help – someone you trust will put your children’s needs above all else and who will basically become part of your family for the duration of their employment – hiring feels like high stakes.
This may come as a surprise, but many of the best practices used in the world of business – such as properly vetting applicants and creating an employment contract – can give you an edge when it comes to hiring a nanny. Both in business and when it comes to hiring a person looking after your children, it’s important to leave as little to chance as possible.
Here are 4 tips for both hiring the perfect caregiver and keeping your family safe.
1. Create Clear Expectations
Whether you’re relying on word of mouth, posting online or using a placement service, it’s important to create a well-defined job description that will serve as a guideline in finding, interviewing and ultimately making the tough hiring decisions.
Will your children’s nanny be expected to do dishes and laundry? Walking the dog, making lunches? Do they need a car to take the kids to doctor appointments, soccer practice? Will they be expected to work when the baby is spewing-out-vomit sick? What about when you have to stay late on the job?
Along with job expectations, your nanny job description should spell out the experience, background and skills you’re looking for. It should include a salary range and any benefits you will be providing, such as vacation and sick days.
2. Conduct Employee Background Checks
It may be tempting to skip formal screening processes, especially if the most impressive candidate came from a tip from a friend. That would be a mistake.
A background check provides the proof that your candidate is as good as they seem and will reveal any discrepancies below the surface. In order to complete a background check, you’ll need their consent. If a nanny hedges— or flat out refuses— consider it a red flag.
Here’s what a background check can provide:
- Confirm their identity: Obtaining their full name, social security number, and driver’s license info completes the first important check: confirming their identity. If your nanny is not a US citizen, ask for their passport number and work permit. After filling out an IRS I-9 form, you can use the US Citizenship and Immigration Services E-Verify service to confirm your candidate is eligible to legally work in the US.
- Criminal History: A thorough background check will tell you whether your candidate has been convicted of crimes that would make them unsuitable as a childcare provider. It should include searching county, state, federal district records, and national crime databases. Most Wanted and sex offender lists, and more. Keep in mind, if your nanny is from outside the United States, the screening should include international criminal records research as well.
- Driving Records: A thorough Motor Vehicle Records check is necessary if your nanny will be expected to drive your children anywhere. MVR reports determine whether their license is valid, suspended or revoked. It will also reveal any driving while intoxicated violations and car accidents.
- Credit Check: A credit check through a Fair Credit Reporting Act-compliant screening service is important if you will be entrusting your nanny with a credit card to use on the job.
- Ability to Work with Children: Although verifying your candidate’s education and work experiences may not directly relate to how a nanny will interact with your children, both are important. They provide proof your candidates are truthful about their past.
- Reference Checks: Unlike hiring for other types of jobs where references are legally restrained to say too much, nanny references are often speaking to you parent to parent. They can be more forthcoming with information, both the good and bad. Feel free to ask about the nanny’s demeanor and credentials, as well as about the nanny’s dynamic with their family.
3. Trust Your Gut
A nanny can be perfectly qualified, have no criminal record, but may not be a good fit for your family for various reasons. Trusting your gut matters just as much as due diligence. Importantly, as a parent hiring someone to take care of your children, not all the compliance rules governing businesses apply. For example, while EEOC guidance says that employers cannot outright reject a candidate based on certain criminal convictions, that’s not a hard and fast rule here. If anything about a person makes you uncomfortable entrusting them with your kids, including any aspects of their criminal history, you are within your rights to pass on them.
That said, after all the reference checks, screenings and formal interviews are completed, have your nanny candidate meet with the rest of your family for a paid trial run. Tune in to how they interact with your children, and if your kids are old enough, ask about their impressions.
4. Make the nanny an employee
While many families pay their nanny in cash, there’s a lot that can go wrong. Foremost, it is illegal. If you pay a domestic employee more than $2600 a year, per IRS rules, you have to treat them like an employee and not a contractor.
In the past, public people running for elected office have had to withdraw from consideration or faced unwelcome media attention (and also had to pay back taxes, fees and penalties) for informal pay arrangements.
Doing this by the book is not that complicated as tax-compliant payroll companies offer services tailored to nanny and caregiver situations. Such online services can help you calculate employer taxes, unemployment insurance and fill out appropriate government forms.
Your state laws may add complications. So make sure you understand what state unemployment tax you may owe, whether you’re required to offer workers’ compensation insurance and any other tax and labor laws specific to your state or city.
5. Other Screening Considerations
If you are planning to use a nanny agency, the agency likely has already conducted their own version of background checks. You can and should ask any agencies that you consider working with to provide details about their employee vetting policies.
Reviewing this information and asking for pertinent details about the person you’re considering is your right, and will help you gain a better understanding if their vetting process is up to your standards.
Conclusion:
The stakes for hiring a nanny are too high to be left to chance. First Contact HR can offer more guidance about conducting legal background searches that will provide the peace of mind you need.