| Perfect Match Nannies, Inc. P.O. Box 1407 Janesville, WI 53547 office: (608) 728-3660 fax: (608) 883-2660 info@perfectmatchnannies.com |
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Family FAQs
Why hire an in-home childcare professional? We currently have our children enrolled in daycare...The state of Wisconsin allows a ratio of 4 infants to one caregiver, 8 two year olds to one caregiver and 13 four year olds to one caregiver in a daycare setting. When you hire individual care for your family and home, you've just hired the most important person in your professional and personal life. Your child gets focused education, outings, and a tailored schedule geared specifically to their needs, which can be as flexible as it needs to be on any given day. Your child will get sick less (and you have childcare when your child IS sick). You also have a child expert in your home who will love to talk about your child as much as you do and who knows many tips & tricks as well as great resources of the profession to pass on to you to help you in the great journey through childhood. Your provider is a person that can easily stay with your family for many years being a solid individual in your child's life. When you hire an in-home childcare provider through Perfect Match Nannies, you can rest assured that you've hired the extra set of hands that will become a true partner in your parenting efforts, not to mention, will be a great asset to keeping your home running smoothly during his/her shift. This person can even live in your home with your family if you wish them to for extra convenience. [top] What are the fees associated with using Perfect Match Nannies?Please visit our Fees page to learn more about this. [top] How much can I expect to pay my household employee?Please visit our Career Descriptions page for Wisconsin wage suggestions. If you reside outside of Wisconsin, Perfect Match Nannies will suggest typical rates for your specific area, as some metropolitan areas differ greatly from a state or regional average. For a general overview of state-by-state household employment wage we suggest the following two resources:
Why use Perfect Match Nannies?» Please see our testimonials for great reasons to choose Perfect Match Nannies! Ms. Weber, the founder of Perfect Match Nannies, has built the company based on each and every live and learn she has experienced throughout her many years in the nanny/home manager industry working for a wide spectrum of family types, as well as her additional years in the overall childcare industry. She has researched and networked extensively with many of the pillars of the household employment business as well as with countless families and other in-home childcare professionals located both near and far. She has worked tirelessly to bring both candidates and families the absolute best information, resources, the extensive benefits of working with Perfect Match Nannies, legal references for home employees, educational materials, professional industry items, and training offerings to make the placement process, as well as the working experience, as easy as it possibly can be for all parties involved. We pride ourselves in being able to answer or find the answer to all of your household employment needs. [top] Isn't it easy enough to just hire an in-home care provider on my own?Any parent that has ever attempted to hire that 'partner in parenting' on their own, can attest that the hiring process becomes a very frustrating part-time, if not a full-time job for themselves, and sometimes even for their family, for weeks and sometimes even months. They spend hours and days away from their family placing ads, searching the internet, talking to people who might know resources, trying to figure out what they want and who they want in a candidate, receiving hundreds of emails and phone calls from people who don't even seem to match what they are looking for... some not even a little bit. When they do find some choices that seem to fit their needs, they need to figure out how to interview the people, what to do after the interview with the information they are given, what salary and benefits to offer the people, what details need to be taken care of, how to pay the candidate, what references to check, what kinds of backgrounds need to be checked and how to go about doing that, what paperwork needs to be completed, what legal issues there may be, and all the while wondering how sure they are if this person will fit with their family... and THEN after all of this, there is still the chance that person may have taken another job while the parent was figuring out all of the details. Then what? Back to square one the parent goes. More frustration. More time away from their family. Perfect Match Nannies does 100% of the leg work for you, taking care of every detail and offering you the silver platter of resources, information, benefits of working with us, and only the most perfectly matched candidates we can find for your family to choose from. You are left to choose from the top candidates who would be good employees, have the experience and education you are seeking, and who match who your family really is and what you believe in. We will even help you with the final steps. The process couldn't be made easier for you and your family. Perfect Match Nannies just doesn't leave you at that point, either. We have important dates in the relationship of your family and employee that we will be in contact to touch base and see if you need anything from us. Once you sign on with us, you have us for the duration of your placement's employment. You are always able to call us with questions, concerns or issues. [top] What geographic location does Perfect Match Nannies cater to?We provide our full placement services to 26 states in the USA: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin. One of the many features of our agency that sets us apart from the rest is a requirement that we meet in-person with each and every family that we work with. We feel that meeting the family is an absolute must to get to know them, talk over their questions, and learn a bit about the surroundings that our placement will be in. We want to personally know what the working conditions and environment will be like for our placements. Travel expenses incurred by our agency are negotiated and pre-agreed upon in writing by all parties involved. We also meet in-person with candidates who are located within a two-hour commute of Janesville, Wisconsin. If the candidate resides outside of this area, we secure all information through detailed and in-depth paper trails, reference/background screening, and phone interviewing. We generally seek out candidates local to the area that the position is in, unless otherwise requested by the family. [top] We have a friend who also has children. Could we combine and employ one person for both families?This is what is called a nanny share. We reserve these types of positions for candidates that are incredibly experienced in the field, and require the families involved to compensate the candidate with the highest level of pay and benefits package. Why? This candidate is required to work with two sets of employers, two sets of family dynamics, two sets of family value systems, two sets of children that may or may not get along well, two sets of family child-rearing philosophies, and two sets of family activities. In addition PTO (paid time off), pay method, sick days, schedules, and transportation may become tricky situations. Some nanny share situations just do not work in the grand scheme, and that is something that the families need to accept if they choose to try this type of situation. [top] How long will it take Perfect Match Nannies to find me a qualified professional care provider?This questions comes with many variables. Factors like pay/benefit range, experience required, education required, hours required, overall position responsibility, family characteristics and values, traits desired in a candidate, and the list goes on... There are hundreds of factors that go into finding the correct person for your family, and this is what makes a big impact in the time frame that it will take us to find a suitable candidate that matches your family. We suggest you allow anywhere from 3-8 weeks for us to find suitable matches for your family. If you allow yourself plenty of time for us to work for you, you won't feel forced into choosing a candidate you're not 100% sold on. When you find a candidate that you feel is a keeper, it's very important to make a good, prompt job offer. Candidates are usually booked with interviews from all sorts of sources, and if you are not fast enough, your candidate may be hired-by someone else. Please keep in mind though, that most candidates, if they are currently employed elsewhere, need to give at least a 2 week notice at their current position before they could begin at your position. You may want to figure this into the time frame of when you wish to begin your search. We do not work exclusively with nannies or families. We wish everyone the best of luck in finding a terrific match, in whatever way is successful for them. If it happens to be through Perfect Match Nannies, we're even happier! [top] What will make our position more desirable to possibly expedite the hiring process or draw more elite candidates to us?A placements salary/benefit level is based on the overall job responsibility level, their nanny/home manager/governess etc. career experience, educational experience, other childcare experience, reference quality and portfolio quality. Perfect Match Nannies suggests that when deciding what level of pay to compensate your candidate with, to take into consideration that the best candidates with the most experience, education and best portfolio, will gravitate to the positions with the higher levels of pay and best benefits. While keeping this in mind, remember to leave enough of a wage ceiling that you are able to give the earned merit or bonus raise during the candidate's employment with your family. You are dealing with a profession, that in most cases, you get what you pay for. The less you are paying, the less of a candidate you will receive, and the more time it will take you to find a great candidate. This person is the individual that becomes privy to your family's personal information, has access to your entire property, and may have access to very valuable assets. Most importantly, this is the person who has complete supervision of your child-the most cherished part of your life-when you cannot be with them. You do NOT want to save a few bucks at the end of the year on this valuable person to your family! Also, you don't want to be kicking yourself six months down the road when your placement left to find greener employment because she talked to Mary, a home manager three blocks over, and found that Mary, with the same qualifications and job responsibility level, was earning almost twice as much as your home manager was and received good benefits and perks included with that other position. You want YOUR placement to be the one with the greener grass. The average time a candidate stays with a family they are well compensated with and who they truly match with is anywhere from 2.5 on up to 10+ years! Typical benefits and perks that can sweeten your position, and in most cases are non-taxable are:
What do you require of your candidates who register with Perfect Match Nannies?Our candidates come to us from all walks of life, all geographical locations and possess vastly different experience and educational levels. What they all must have in common is the following:
[top] Since you are so diligent about checking the candidates, do you also check the families?YES! We DO check families. We have the best interest of the family AND the candidate in mind when talking with these references. Perfect Match Nannies requires at least two verifiable previous caregiver references that have worked in-home with the family, either as sitters or professional employees. If the family is a brand new family with it's first baby, we require at least two verifiable non-relative references. We talk to family references to obtain a birds-eye view of the family and we always learn things that we add to our detailed job descriptions to help the family obtain better candidates suited to their individual needs. We admittedly have had families who we cannot, in good conscience, place after talking to these references. It is a major part of our placement process. [top] We've wondered about hiring someone who would live with our family. How does this work?You can have a built-in house sitter if you are traveling, you can leave for work a bit earlier in the morning or come home a bit later at night. Having a live-in employee allows for a bit more flexibility as long as you realize that the employee *still* needs their space, their very own private quarters or guest house to live in that is NOT used by any of the family members and a fair set of regular hours as well as a detailed nanny/family agreement to rely on. A live-in placement brings MANY benefits to your family and should be compensated accordingly. We suggest room and board being thought of as an untaxed benefit that you are offering to your candidate. If a live-in option is something you are thinking about, we can discuss further details with you and go into depth with any questions you may have about this type of situation. [top] Nanny Taxes? My brother-in-law doesn't pay taxes for their nanny!?Nannies, parent helpers, home managers, birth doulas, postpartum doulas, and governesses are all considered household employees by the IRS. If an employee earns over $1600 (2008 wage test) from your family in a one-year time period, you need to report wages to the IRS. He/she is NOT an independent contractor. It is ILLEGAL for you and your employee to not pay household employment taxes. The employer can generally expect to pay taxes that amount to 9-11% of their employee's gross pay, and the employee can usually expect to pay in 15-20% of their gross wages. Most employers 'get caught' when sooner or later their employee will need to supplement between jobs at some point, and will file the paperwork for unemployment benefits and write the employer's name that did NOT pay in the taxes. If an employer is “caught,” the employer is responsible for BOTH their portion of back taxes AND the employee’s portion, plus IRS penalties. Recent cases in 2007 have employers owing over $50,000 in back taxes to their employee’s who blew the whistle in wage and labor disputes. Household employees who do not report have no verification of employment for house, car or even cell phone purchases, input nothing into their Social Security, and are affected concerning unemployment benefits. Also… Let’s say your employee is injured during working hours and requires an ER visit or hospitalization- if you are not reporting taxes, workers’ compensation will not cover this and then you really DO have a mess with liability and a potential lawsuit (this, as well, has occurred in 2007 with household employers). Independent Contractor (as defined by the IRS): The general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if (the person for whom the services are performed) has the right to control or direct only the result of the work, and not what will be done and how it will be done or method of accomplishing the result. The best information on this topic, as well as three different tax calculators, can be found at: www.4nannytaxes.com/faq/index.cfm There are major payroll companies that handle these tax issues that are fantastic to work with. They make the process as simple as possible for both families as well as employees. Also, please be aware that families who pay their employees “under the table” are not entitled to tax breaks/childcare credits at the end of the year on tax returns. [top] If I own my own business, can my household employee become a part of my business payroll?No, this is illegal. Here’s a simple explanation: All businesses are allowed to take tax deductions on employee payroll. The logic is that employees are direct contributors to the success of the business, and therefore the owner is allowed a tax break on payroll to offset some of this business expense. The IRS has ruled that a nanny does not directly contribute to a business; therefore, it is illegal for a business to receive any kind of “tax break” on her payroll. Instead, your nanny is considered a contributing member of your household, so you are entitled to take a personal tax break on her payroll as a childcare expense. Courtesy Breedlove & Associates [top] Why do nannies quit? We cannot seem to keep a nanny more than six months before they leave for another job. What can we do to get more stability?Why do some families seem to have one nanny after another and another family might have the same nanny for five or more years? Is it poor screening, poor supervision and communication, horrible kids, or some combination of these factors? Click here to read the top ten reasons nannies quit, courtesy of HomeWork Solutions. [top] What if we get a 'lemon' placement, even after all of the screening? Will you fix the situation for us?We do have a placement guarantee. Please see our fees page for more details. We make every attempt possible to keep this from happening, but as much as we try to be-we are not fortune tellers and can't anticipate what may happen at any point in an employer/employee relationship. From experience, we can tell you that most troublesome situations can be solved by open communication between the employer and employee. If you are experiencing a situation that feels less than desirable, we urge you to talk to your employee about what is happening. Change or compromise can usually be made to continue a good relationship. If you don't feel comfortable talking to your employee about what is happening, we urge you to contact us immediately and we will discuss with you any options that we see that may correct your issues. [top] Is household cleaning part of a placement's job description?In most cases, no. Daily cleaning tasks that a childcare provider may be responsible for are generally child-related only, such as closet organization, child laundry/clothing care, toy cleaning/maintenance, kitchen tidying, child-related messes, child room tidying, etc. Cleaning parent bedrooms, doing parent laundry, cleaning bathrooms, dusting, vacuuming, mopping, washing windows, etc., on a regular basis are NOT duties that are generally done by an in-home childcare employee, as these activities take away time that the employee spends with the children or planning for child-related activities. Many families ask why these tasks cannot easily be completed during the child’s nap/quiet time. Most nannies/household employees work for 9-11 hours each day without any other adult interaction/very little down time, with a majority of employees working hours that are not compatible to conducting business outside of these hours. During nap/quiet time it is suggested that a family allow the employee to make some tea for herself/eat lunch, make personal/business phone calls, use a computer to check email and to also encourage the employee to do child-related activity planning and research during this time. Also, home cleaning services in this area generally cost $20-$35/hour, and an employee will expect this type of compensation for doing these types of cleaning tasks. We find there is a direct link between an employee being allowed to have a bit of down time each day to recharge batteries and how long the employee stays happily employed with a family, and encourage our families to set realistic expectations of their employee and their time management each day. [top] How is daily transportation of the children handled when a household employee is hired?There are two options regarding transportation related to the children during employee working hours. The first: Employee drives his/her personal vehicle during working hours. If this option is chosen by the employer, the employee needs to ensure that they have the additional insurance coverage on their vehicle necessary to drive their vehicle during work hours transporting children who are not their own. Rates for this additional rider vary from insurance company to insurance company and this additional rider is something that needs to be reimbursed to the employee in a non-taxable separate check weekly or monthly. The law considers an employer to be liable for an injury caused by an employee while doing their work (vicarious liability). The family’s auto insurance does not cover this, since the nanny is not a family member and the family, in most cases, will be held liable if an accident were to occur and the nanny did not have the additional insurance added to her personal auto plan. If the employee is driving her own vehicle during working hours, the employer also needs to compensate them at the current federal amount for mileage reimbursement (non-taxable and generally changes every January 1st). The amount, as of January 1st, 2008 is $0.505/mile. This reimbursement is to be paid for all miles driven during working hours. The second option: Employer provides a "nanny vehicle," that is available for the employee to drive during all working hours. Again, insurance coverage varies from carrier to carrier. The employer needs to check with both their homeowner’s policy as well as their vehicle insurance policies to ensure that the employee/employer is fully protected under the family’s insurance coverage. [top] Does an in-home childcare employee need to be paid 52 weeks per year, even when they are not needed or the family goes on vacation? How about the time when the children are out of the home, napping, or at school?Yes, yes, and yes. We require all of the families we work with to compensate their employee at their normal agreed weekly base pay, 52 weeks per year. It is not fair that a family wishes to utilize their personal vacation time from their own places of employment (paid), but wishes for their nanny to take that time, unpaid, when they don’t require her services. Forcing the nanny to use her PTO written into the nanny/family agreement is also not acceptable. What if her PTO is gone for the year when this occurs? It is also unrealistic to require the nanny to "make-up" this time so that she can obtain lost pay for those hours. Most nannies begin to look for other employment if the above occurs. During family vacation time when nanny services are not needed, some families may require the nanny to come to the home to do pet sitting, mail pick-up, closet organization, errands, child-related room design, advance meal preparation/freezing, child-related shopping, project research, etc. Other families will set up their PTO with their employee to occur at the same time as family vacations already scheduled where the nanny is not needed. Example: Family offers 3 weeks PTO for their employee; two weeks are family’s choice, one week is the nanny’s choice. A household employee is also required, by The Fair Labor Standards Act, to be compensated for all hours worked. Hours worked include the following:
In general, hours worked includes all time that the employee is required to be at the employer's home and all time that the employee is required to be 'on call' in the course of his/her duties. [top] What is a nanny/family work agreement? Does Perfect Match Nannies provide one?A nanny/family work agreement is a comprehensive "first form of communication tool" that we require to be in our office, prior to the employee’s first day of employment. The document is negotiated and signed by both parties after a verbal job offer is made to a candidate. The work agreement solidifies placement of a candidate. The work agreement goes over all expectations of the employer and the employee and is designed to head off any confusion/issues down the road regarding the position. This tool creates the beginning to a long and healthy working relationship. Perfect Match Nannies provides an in-depth version of a nanny/family agreement as an example to you that we’ve written based on years of experience and live-and-learns working with both families and nannies. [top] Are household employees entitled to overtime pay? What if a family pays a "salary"?Domestic employees have been covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act since 1974. Employers are required to pay a domestic employee who lives out overtime for all hours over 40 in a 7 day work week. Overtime is one and one-half times the normal hourly rate. Live-in employees must be paid for every hour they work but are not automatically entitled to the overtime differential. Any family wishing to pay "salary" also needs to figure the "salary" at an hourly rate to ensure that all hours are accounted for and that OT is included for anything over 40 hours per week. Because of this issue, we strongly advise against "salaries," as it is far easier for everyone involved if the placement is paid "hourly." There have been plenty of wage and labor disputes in 2007 between employees and employers regarding this issue. Employers have practically gone bankrupt by the outcomes of these cases. [top] Sign us up! How does the placement process work?Just click here to get started. [top]
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