Know What You Offer
By Lora Brawley, http://www.allaboutnannycare.com/
Yesterday we discussed that it is important to know what you want when negotiating. It’s equally important to know what you are offering before you enter into a negotiation. This is often a very difficult task for nannies.
Even when a nanny knows she’s a great caregiver and invaluable to the family she works for, it’s hard for her to articulate that in a way that doesn’t make her feel conceited.
However, in every profession employees are expected to evaluate their own performance and make a case for a promotion or raise. The nanny profession is no exception.
Ask yourself, "What do I provide my employers?" Obviously, the most valuable service is quality childcare. But a great nanny’s value extends far beyond childcare. Depending upon the job description, a nanny may also act as a household manager, personal assistant, tutor, and personal chef or nutritionist.
Don’t forget to include the intangible benefits you provide such as continuity of care, in-house expertise on a multitude of child-related issues, convenience, and flexibility. Although these intangible skills are not outlined in a work agreement, your employers should value and pay for these benefits.
If the negotiation is centered on staying or leaving your job, it’s important to not only highlight what you provide to your employers but also what you can save them -- the time, energy, and money it would cost to replace you.
Having a hard time coming up with what you bring to the table? Ask your friends. They know the ins and outs of your job and can quickly provide you with a list of things you do for your family.
Lora Brawley, http://www.allaboutnannycare.com/ Email: Lora@allaboutnannycare.com Office: 253-517-8025 Toll Free:866-Nanny Jobs
What do you offer to the job other nannies do not?
6 comments:
After graduating from college I worked in offices before becoming a nanny. In offices you are often expected to come early and leave late with no overtime pay. So, I always aim to get to work a little early and not worry much if the parents I work for get home late. They pay me overtime when they get home late anyway. I saw on my charges, report cards that they were tardy last year (before I started the job) over 60 times last year. When I saw that the children explained to me that the former nanny was always late.
How I market myself and how I stand out from other nannies:
1. college degree
2. arrive a few minutes early
3. not worry or fret too much if parents are late since they pay me time and a half overtime
Suzanne Donovqn, Nanny of two, Nyack NY
Being fluent in a foreign language is often a benefit for me. I speak english well enough to communicate with the children and parents so my being fluent in spanish is good for me to teach kids spanish.
Sandra
I like the attitudes of the first two comments and I think that the great attitude is everything. I am a parent that once worked as a nanny so I see the job from both perspectives. As a parent I want to make my nanny happy if she has a good attitude. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses and I cannot expect a nanny to be perfect or to hire someone exactly like me. But I have hired a nanny with a bad attitude and one with a great attitude and it is so much easier going to work and leaving my children under the care of someone who enjoys her job. That being said I heard a mouthful of complaints from nannies the two years working as a live-in nanny before I was married. I would hate anyone saying such things about my family.
As a parent and employer I am very happy to negotiate to make the nanny happy. But I do like the idea of giving raises for good performance (90% good attitude) every six months or annually. But not all parents can afford the salary the best nannies want.
When negotiating attitude is everything!!!
It really is hard to tell parents "this is why I am a good employee." You can't really say, "Who else would clean Sammy's closet as well as me?" So it has to be unspoken but be on time, don't make excuses, be a little flexible once in a while, perform random acts of kindness and then you have some negotiating power.
Becky in San Francisco
That is great that some nannies can work late but some of us can't. Some of us have kids and our own family life so the parents coming home late is a problem for me. But that doesn't mean I have a bad attitude either. I am flexible in other ways and do a superb job and love my job. So I offer a lot to a family where the parents do not come home late from work.
Colleen, Richmond Virginia
A reason I have a problem with the parents being late is that I don't make six figures like the parents and it's a long day already.
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