Keep the Nanny you tirelessly vetted

Whether you hired your nanny or other in-home employee through Town + Country or by some other means, you’ve undoubtedly invested a good deal of time and effort to make the right hire. Now make sure you keep your valued employee.

Communication and showing appreciation are “musts” in all facets of a domestic staffed household. If you are currently a domestic employer, annual reviews, bonus structures, raises, benefits, small perks and kind words of appreciation keep your staff happy and your household running smoothly. Take it upon yourself to acknowledge that you are involved in a service industry and communicating needs can be difficult. Being respectful of your employee’s time, efforts and energy will make all the difference in their performance and longevity as a happy employee.

Here are some specific strategies to help you manage & retain your employee:

– Check in periodically. Sometimes called “stay interviews” in the corporate world, it’s wise regularly to talk to our nanny or other in-home employee to see how they are doing, how the job is going, what if anything they might suggest changing or improving, etc.

– Clearly communicate your expectations. Developing an employee to work in your home, even a nanny who has years of prior experience will take some time. Make sure you’ve communicated your expectations, but also listen to get feedback from your employee on how those expectations will be met.

– Keep compensation competitive. This doesn’t mean offering the highest hourly wage, but make sure the compensation you are paying meets your employees needs in terms of the hourly wage, vacation time, sick time, even health benefits (or a stipend). And again, communication is key. We’ve never heard of a compensation system that hasn’t continuously evolved over time.

– Don’t forget year-end rewards. In a later post, we’ll describe some of the common ways families have recognized & rewarded their employees’ year of work. The main point is that this is the perfect time to show your appreciation and foster good will and loyalty for the coming year.

Prevent yourself from entering the tiresome hiring process too soon and implement the incentives that keep your staff energetic, engaged and coming back.