Guy Maddalone - How to Hire a Nanny: Your Complete Guide to Finding, Hiring, and Retaining Household Help

Copyright 2012 by Guy Maddalone

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Maddalone, Guy.

How to hire a nanny: your complete guide to finding, hiring, and retaining a nanny and other household help / Guy Maddalone.2nd ed.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. NanniesSelection and appointment. 2. Household employeesSelection and appointment. I. Title.

HQ778.63.M33 2012

640.46dc23

2012006772

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

VP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

To my wife, Diane, who keeps it all together as we strive to achieve an effective work-life balance, and to household employers, who seek the same by hiring and retaining the best help possible.

my children, Michael, Elise, and Jeffrey have helped me understand a unique aspect of household employment with Nanny Ester, Missy, Venus, Erin, and now Sosan.

my mother, Joyce, for our first entrepreneurial experience in home care, and to Henry, my father, who taught me commitment, responsibility, and determination.

my management team and all the experts at GTM who give it their all in order to make a difference in our clients lives.

my good friends for all the years of support and encouragement.

Bob Mark and no-nonsense seminars that inspired GTMs educational arm.

the Growth Guy, Verne Harnish, and my MIT Birthing of Giants classmates, who challenged me to write this book.

all referral partners who have sent their clients to GTM over the years.

Colleen, Rob, Shelley, Loni, and Gloria at GE for your belief in GTMs work-family benefit program.

my brothers, Todd and Michael, who strive to make GTM into a company we are all proud to share with others.

household employers Maria Ascenzo, Jim Chaney, Kelley DAmato, Rex Haberman, Dawn Miller, April Musson, Stephanie Oana, Zuzka Polishook, Denise Shade, and Gretchen Weisman, who shared their stories.

household employment agency owners and managers Leann Brambach, Pat Cascio, Kim Cino, Denise Collins, Janet Cook, Sylvia Greenbaum, Hilary Lockhart, Judi Merlin, Ilo Milton, Arline Rubel, Mary Starkey, Lin Taylor-Pleiman, Susan Tokayer, and Candi Wingate, who shared advice and experience.

household employees John Robertson and Bruce Reynolds, both of the International Butlers Guild, as well as Stephanie Doyle, Crystal Hinman, JoAnn Rogahn, Liz, Trish Stevens, and other household professionals who shared advice and experience.

the GTM and A New England Nanny marketing teams, especially Gemma Lavender, who worked diligently to keep this project on track and researched the latest information for this edition, as well as Debbie Sgroi, who worked tirelessly interviewing and researching details for this book.

employment attorneys Heather Diddell, Esq.; Ellen Bach, Esq.; and Leslie Theile, Esq., of Whiteman, Osterman & Hannah, who contributed to the federal, immigration, and New York legal aspects detailed within this book.

the International Nanny Association (INA), for allowing us permission to reprint INA survey statistics.

the Alliance for Premier Nanny Agencies (APNA) for giving their support.

the thousands of household employers who allow GTM to serve their needs daily.

anyone I may have unintentionally omitted.

M illions of American households strive to find that intricate work-life balance by employing household workers, including nannies, senior caregivers, housekeepers, gardeners, chauffeurs, personal assistants, and so on. (See Chapter 1, page 5, to read about the diverse types of household help.) Today, household employers include not only the wealthy but also established, dual-income households in which both parents cultivate their professions; young, dual-income families in which both parents must work to maintain the household; single-parent households dependent on one income; overburdened, sandwich-generation families tasked with simultaneously caring for both young children and ailing elderly; and mature households that must hire a variety of senior care for one or more family members (most times an elderly spouse or parent).

To achieve an effective and practical balance between your work and your lifemaking your private and professional lives enjoyable, fulfilling, and manageableand to smoothly operate your home, tend to your children, and/or care for your parents, you decided to become a household employer. From the start, the new household employer must see household employment as a legitimate profession. Nannies and household employees have long been held in high regard as genuine professionals outside the United States. In the past, Americans often stumbled by not considering nannies or other household employees as authentic professionals. You must define household employment as a profession. Your nanny is entering your home and the private life within to tend to your childrens needs. It is his or her career that just happens to be based in your home and just happens to involve your family. (Note: although this handbook discusses topics in terms of nannies, the content and most of the laws and legal mandates discussed herein cover all types of household employees.) In particular, it is your nannys career, and as his or her employer it is your businessone recognized by the federal, state, and local governmentso you must treat your household employment as the real profession it is.

Offered throughout this handbook is information to help you professionally manage your household employeewhether he or she is your nanny, your parents senior caregiver, your housekeeper, your gardener, etc.just as you would professionally manage and treat employees at your place of business. As you read through this handbook, you will realize that effective household management relies on clear and open communication and on treating your household employees as professionals.

In the seven years since the first edition of this book went to print, the household employment industry has progressed in establishing a more professional structure around a very informal and often customized situation. However, the American attitude toward household employment has remained the same, and many families still see the employment of help within the home as an informal relationship.