Do the Parents Respect Your Privacy?

Parent/Employer Checklist

Yesterday we discussed how important it is for nannies to respect their employer's privacy. Today we list the privacy issues parents who employ nannies should consider.

1. Respect fair hiring practices and laws. Do not ask the nanny about their religion, race, sexual preference, and so on.

2. Provide private sleeping quarters for live-in caregivers.

3. Provide private bathing accommodations, phone use, and email access when possible for live-in nannies.

4. Do not gossip or share personal information about the nanny with friends such as salary, contract negotiations, or pet-peeves.

5. Do not enter the nanny bedroom or inspect nanny personal items without permission (call a police officer for assistance if theft is suspected).

6. Do not read the nanny's personal letters, emails, look in drawers, or snoop into their personal belongings.

7. Be upfront about use of nanny cams in public areas of your home.

8. Never use nanny cams in personal areas such as bedrooms or bathrooms.

9. Create a confidentiality clause for employees to sign that they won't repeat personal information to others.

10. Avoid excessive prying into employee private time or private lives.

11. Teach your kids to respect the nanny's private space when she is working and her time and space when she is not working.