You might have a temporary nanny to cover a gap in childcare, to fill in for your usual nanny, or over a period like the school summer holidays. Whatever the reason you’re likely to be able to spend less time showing her the ropes and letting her bed in, and you need to be quicker to correct anything that looks like it’s going downhill.
Most temporary nannies are very flexible and adaptable people. Nannies who temp long term often choose to do so because they enjoy the variety temping brings and are happy to do things your way. They are experienced enough to get on with the job and quickly develop a good relationship with their new charges. They are also a dab hand at asking the right questions to get the information they need from you, which means you don’t have to tell them absolutely everything about your life in case it’s relevant.
Finding a temporary nanny
If time is short you may need to consider a two pronged approach using a nanny agency and contacting jobseekers directly. A nanny agency will filter candidates out for you but there’s always a delay in communication as everything goes through the agent initially, and it can be pricy. Contacting jobseekers directly allows you to spread your net a bit wider, and available nannies are likely to respond very rapidly which is ideal when you’re tight for time.
Getting ahead of the game
Your temporary nanny is going to need some basic information about your children, their routine, their likes and dislikes and their health. Write down a rough outline of the day with key information e.g. naptime rituals, permitted screen time, snack foods and any absolute no-nos. Children can try to exploit any uncertainty and although a good nanny will know to double check rather than accept ‘Mummy always lets me’ it’s much better to pr-empt any issues. Leave the house as ordered as possible, with essentials in plain sight. There’s nothing worse than having to rifle through drawers and cupboards because you’ve used the last wipes in the packet and you don’t know where the new packs are stored.
Not going to plan?
Your reaction to this will probably depend on the length of the job. Your children probably won’t come to any lasting harm from having their routine disrupted for the day or pasta two days in a row because your temporary nanny didn’t know what they had for tea last night but if she’s coming back tomorrow you might want to address any niggles at the end of the day. If it’s grating after a week and there’s only another week to go then consider carefully what you say. If you’re too demanding she may decide the extra week isn’t worth the trouble and end the contract early. A longer term temporary placement, say six weeks or more, probably benefits from exactly the same approach you would take if a permanent nanny wasn’t working out.
Employed vs self-employed
Nannies who take a lot of temporary and ad hoc work are likely to have registered as self-employed to run their own childcare business. This means you don’t need to register them with a payroll company and set yourself up as an employer but they are likely to seem more expensive as their rate is ‘all in’ to cover tax, national insurance, business expenses and a cushion fund for sick pay and holidays. The downside of this arrangement for you is that they set the terms.
Longer term temp jobs are likely to be viewed as employment. If you already employ a nanny then it should be simple to add another employee onto your payroll. If you don’t you might like to click on the tag ’employing a nanny’ to find other relevant posts.