Live-in help is no doubt great people who assist in making our lives easier. They are important for getting our household tasks done when we are required to go out for jobs that demand a lot of hours. Moreover, skilful live-in help can improve our quality of life. Who doesn’t want to return to a well-managed home with no worries? However, you must be clear about what you want at the beginning of the hiring process.
Before you hire a live-in help, you need to determine and prioritise one or two skills or characteristics that are most important to you and your family. It’s unlikely that any live-in help will be an expert at everything!
Ask yourself:
It’s also important to know and understand your management style. Every live-in help is different, just like every family is. Everyone has different expectations for their relationship with live-in help.
Some will want a purely professional relationship, others will prefer a live-in help who may even become a friend and trusted member of the family. This really depends on your preference. Just make sure you communicate what you want for them.
Remember, even if you do want a live-in help who will become ‘part of the family’ above all they must instil in their mind that they will be your employee, and you as their employer.
When looking for live-in help you must determine what qualities a live-in help possess, you can ask yourself:
But always remember, Attitude is the most important thing to look for when hiring. You should look for adaptability, willingness to learn and how the live-in help will fit into your home.
Before anything else, if you plan to hire a live-in help it’s essential to plan ahead and be ready enough for other scenarios that will come in the near future. What if both your family and your live-in help may run into problems throughout your time together.
For instance, if the children are disrespectful, or if your live-in help is unable to manage all the household chores you should establish open communication between you as the employer and your live-in help. You must work together as one to find a solution. Because when everyone, including the live-in help, has teamwork, you’ll have a peaceful home.
Employing live-in help is a decision needed to be made by the family. To help you make the best choice, we at Little Ones collected the important information you need to know before acquiring live-in help, from how to prepare your household to where to outsource one.
If that happens, you\’ve just hired a new live-in help. Now it is time to prepare your family and your house so that you can welcome your live-in help in the best conditions. Here's the list of the things you need to do.
Having a new person in the house will definitely have a big change in your home. That is why having your family sit down and talk about the what's and why's of having a live-in help is important, especially for the young ones. It is important to teach the children to give respect to their live-in nanny. After all, the live-in nanny will be taking care of them and ensuring that they are well and safe. Telling them that they shouldn’t go into the nanny’s room unless they have permission is essential as it is their private space
Whether live-in help is employed under a full-time or temporary service, they require to have a separate room to settle in. They are your employees and they should feel at home and valued if you want the relationship to start successfully. Speaking of housework, it would be better if they have their own organising equipment such as an alarm clock and calendar so they could manage their work accordingly.
Give your live-in help to have their own set of keys to your place and explain your rules and the things they need to do such as operating coffee machines, doing laundry, locking doors and windows. Also, discuss how live-in help can contact you when you are not at home.
To assist your live-in help to familiarize all the necessary things to do. Prepare a handy sheet with all relevant information. Include your important contact numbers such as your family doctor and dentist. If anyone in your family needs medication such as having allergies, relieving fever, asthma etc, write down the number of pills and time they should be taken. Include any other pieces of information that is necessary for your situation like an address in the local language for the cab driver or the emergency number for pet services.
Make a list of house rules for your live-in help, even a work schedule, and discuss these with them. Tell your live-in help exactly what you like them to do and not do. Give your new live-in help a notebook to keep track of her daily tasks and time. This way you both keep track of everything she does.
Live-in help can be tasked to drive your children around places. So it is best to prepare your vehicle and other formalities such as your car insurance and add them to your policy. You can drive them around first so they would know how to adapt to your car. These will provide some peace of mind for both you and your live-in help.
In London, a live-in help with more than three years of professional experience earns between £300 and £450 net per week. However, this is dependent on family requirements and the nanny’s experience. 24-hour live-in help usually receives salaries of over £500 net per week. Live-in help working abroad command higher salaries of £550 to £950 net per week - again, this depends on the requirements of the family.
Finding the perfect live-in help has never been easy. While directly recruiting candidates gives you flexibility and control, it can be a daunting task as sifting through the candidate applications will take too much of your time. What’s even more stressful is that most of these applicants do not have the necessary qualifications that you are looking for. This is why most families decide to use a premium and experienced agency to do this for them.
Doing so could reassure you that the candidates that will be presented to you have undergone a strict and very thorough screening and vetting process, something that an online job site will not be able to offer you. After getting all the requirements you want in a live-in help, instead of putting forth a single candidate, a placement agency will instead provide you with a list of candidates that are suitable to your needs and preferred schedule as well. This way you can explore all your options to find the best childcare solution for your family.
With 15 years of experience, Little Ones is among the United Kingdom's esteemed private household agencies specializing in giving families and clients top-notch services they deserve. Equipped with the proper expertise in outsourcing domestic staff, we can ensure to provide the most suitable candidates for your specific needs. Our top-of-the-line services offer a one-to-one basis with the clients and candidates, which enables us to find the precise live-in help that will match your requirements, needs, and values.
The live-in help provided by Little Ones private staffing agency are of the highest standard and this is what makes Little Ones the most sought-after agency in Europe. We take pride in our ability to find candidates who complement the families' needs as well as match their values, traditions and personalities which are key points to a successful private staff placement.
For a no-obligation consultation regarding your live-in help options, or to view a comprehensive list of staff we have, please contact Little Ones Nanny Agency on 0207 183 0309 or email us at enquiries@littleoneslondon.co.uk.
