Nanny sharing

March 10, 2008 11:47 AM

I am going back to work and need child care in Nov. The baby will be a year and I am thinking of nanny sharing.

I was planning to pay a little more than who ever (havent found that person yet!) I share with to have it in my home since Dad works at home and my mom is avail for portions of the day to help too.
I was looking around but can't find if in Massachusetts it wou ld be considered a "day care" and I would need licensing.
I assume we would have to pay medicare and SS as an employer as well.
Insurance??
Any advise on nanny sharing/day care welcome!

posted by beccaj to Work & Money (6 answers total)

Best answer: It depends on how many kids you'd have in your home. This mass.gov page provides information on child care regulations in MA. My understanding (as another MA resident who considered this arrangement at one point), is that there is no licensing required if your child is in your own home and the number of other children doesn't exceed the state limits per number of caregivers (the ratio depends on the age of the children involved--for infants it's 3:1 and for toddlers it's 4:1. I'm not sure what a 1yo is considered). If you exceed that ratio, then I think both the caregiver and the location would have to be licensed. This site is not hosted by the state, but gives some more state-based information and resources at the bottom.

I didn't get into benefits administration, but here's what I remember (do double check this): For medicare and SS, it depends on the number of hours per year you anticipate paying the nanny. This could be either eased by sharing the hours (none of you use more than X hrs/year and therefore don't need to get into the paperwork and the nanny is fine with this) or exacerbated by it (if the nanny wants over-the-table benefits for her total hours regardless of how many hours you use for your child or if more than one family exceeds the hours/year and you then have to split the tab for benefits).

I have used sittercity.com for finding babysitters and learning about the ins and outs of child care. It's a $25 joining fee but it was well worth it in my book.
posted by cocoagirl at 12:29 PM on March 10, 2008

Best answer: I have been a nanny for 10+ years.
Some things to think about:

*how many hours per week will you need a nanny?

If the answer is less than full time, you should have a set schedule. That your husband will be taking over child care on certain days/hours, and your mother the same.

You should be paying your nanny for a set number of hours per week, whether you require their services that many hours or not (guaranteed hours). If only part-time is needed, anywhere from 25-35 hours per week paid time should be sufficient (keep in mind that if they exceed that many hours, you would, of course, pay an additional hourly rate) This includes your family going on vacation. The reason is that they are keeping themselves available to work for you, and would be working if you didn't decide that you "didn't need them" a certain day and cut hours. Nannies have to live too.

A less expensive option is daycare, which can be good for an older child (2 years or older) but keep in mind, the ratios of children to teachers are sometimes large and your child definitely would not be getting as much one-on-one as with a nanny (which is not a bad thing for older toddlers who need social interaction with peers, and can get one-on-one with parents)

*health care:

most families offer to pay $75-$100/month toward health care costs

*taxes/ssi

It is fairly easy for a family to deduct this from the paycheck. You contact IRS, they give you an employer number, then each pay period, there is a set amount which comes out of paycheck depending on gross amount of pay. This, you send to IRS or SSI.

*Other things to know:

Gas stipend:
If your nanny is expected to have her own vehicle, (which she should have insurance on, BTW) you should offer a gas stipend of $25 or more dollars per month.

Sick days/vacation time:
for a part-time nanny (less than 35 hours per week), three to five sick/personal days/year is good
If your family goes on vacation, she should be guaranteed pay for that time. Nannies are usually given a couple paid vacation days per year in addition. (again, 3-5 is good)

Be clear on duties you expect from the nanny:
any additional housework, child's laundry, errands, should be clearly stated in the contract, agreed upon by the nanny, and taken into consideration when deciding salary. Also keep in mind that the more you expect from a nanny in terms of experience, duties, education, languages, etc., the more you should expect to pay. Someone with 2 or 3 years of experience with children that may have a bachelor's degree, is still not going to make as much as someone with 10 or more years experience without one.

I have found that in a nanny share, finding the perfect family can come through such avenues as craigslist.org, with you and your family meeting the other family first, then the nanny, or through friends, or neighborhood/community groups. There should always be a written contract, laying out the expectations from all parties. Nanny shares can be wonderful, since you can have a wonderful, experienced nanny that you normally wouldn't be able to afford on your own, for a fraction of the cost, while the nanny usually makes more than she would with a single family.

Above all, your nanny should be someone you trust, feel comfortable with, who fits in well with your family, as should the other family.

Always do a criminal background check, see the nanny's driving record, car insurance, SSI card, and id.

This is probably far more info than you wanted, but I like to help. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!
Good Luck!
posted by nikksioux at 1:03 PM on March 10, 2008 [4 favorites]

We're sharing a nanny right now with two other families. Our kid has insurance (she's covered under my employer), but that's it. The nanny doesn't carry anything else. It's a fairly loose arrangement, no contracts or anything like that. We count up the hours at the end of the week and cut her a check.

We found her on craigslist. We didn't do a background check, but we were the third family coming in, and the other families had been using her for a few months and had nothing but good things to say. If I found out that she was hiding a felony conviction, I can't think that it would change anything at this point; she's just too awesome.

We lucked out and won the nanny lottery. YMMV, but this is definitely the way to go for us.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 1:22 PM on March 10, 2008

I would generally defer to nikkisioux's experience, but I think that if you are nanny-sharing, day care is not necessarily a less expensive option. An in-home family day care might be less expensive, but a more institutional setting will be pricier.

I have heard good things about sittercity.com, so I'll second that. I'm just too cheap to use it myself.
posted by Sprout the Vulgarian at 4:54 PM on March 10, 2008

If the arrangement works for you, having an au pair can be a wonderful solution, and in some circumstances can be much cheaper than daycare or a nanny. Sharing an au pair is not possible, though. I'm happy to communicate with you about our experience with au pairs privately, but won't bother to post here since you didn't ask about it.
posted by Capri at 8:10 PM on March 10, 2008

I have a friend with twins who nanny shared for five years (with another family w/twins). She had nothing but good things to say. She found her nanny on a Twins Parent Club BBS.
posted by hapax_legomenon at 11:27 PM on March 10, 2008 [1 favorite]