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Can anyone give us an advice on using au pair
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searcher30
Posts: 356 Forumite
Can anyone give us an advice on using au pair. I have read that this is about £45 per week and if in france limited to about 30 hours per week. I have said to her that I could offer maybe more if she wanted to do other bits. She does not seem very motivated, doesn;t know any cooking, doesnt like goign to pick any of the fresh veggies from the garden. alternatively when the child is at creche i have said she could help me plan meals or do some filing but she does not seem at all motivated. what am i doing wrong or is she in the wrong job. thanks for any tips!
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Comments
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I don't mean to sound rude but would you work yourself too much for £45 per week, I'm assuming that is live in. If she is looking after your child in a friendly safe manner I would say don't push her as she could easily find another job.
When I was in my late teens I had a couple of nannying jobs, I just took on 2 temporary jobs to see if I would like it, my first job was looking after 2 little girls 3 and 5 although the child care was limited to an hour a day the rest of the time I was made to clean, this women had some kind of phobia we are talking skirting boards cleaned every day!!! I was too young and shy to complain but it was only 3 weeks. The next job was fine, the mother was on complete bed rest for the last few months of her pregnacy and I cared for her little boy and did a fair amount of housework but only amounting to an hour a day ,but to be honest I was fresh from home and didn't really know how to run a household, I did go back at a later date to work for this family again but realised nannying was not for me...funny I now have 6 kids myself.
A word of warning, I got these jobs through a nannying agency in london and because I was in the North and couldn't afford the train fare to go to an interview, they basically interviewd me over the phone and didn't receive any references from me and they offered me a job the next day...I could have been anyone...
At the end of the day this is just a job to her and if you are happy with the childcare then so be it, although I would give her a few household chores if that was what was indicated in the interview but maybe you will need to write a rota as she may just be lacking in confidence/motivation. Good luck!0 -
Hello,
I used to have au pairs, went trough about 8 off them on a time period of 3 years. we use to pay them between £75 - £100 a week, this would include housework, we also made sure that we had regular talks with her on how she was feeling and think she was doing. If the work was to much or if she would be able to accept extra tasks... I found that most Polish girls didn't mind as much as for example German ones.... I guess it all depends on luck... so good luck0 -
found the website I found my au pairs on, also gives good advise on rates and things like that, but I found that you can easily talk with the girls and tell them what you need and expect, make sure you do this before they come...
https://www.greataupair.com0 -
An au pair!!? Where do you get them from?
Some people may know I have a heart condition, and was rushed to hospital Friday having blackouts. I get DLA for this, but things are getting increasingly difficult (I'm a single parent, doing full time BA Hons degree, working 16 hours a week and renovating a derelict house whilst living in it) My health is deteriorating, and I've just felt a glimmer of hope in reading this thread! I'm paying £120 a week nursery fee's, would an au pair do some of this so I could reduce his hours?!?! What does an au pair do, are they good? where do I find one? How much does it cost???
Thanks!0 -
A family at sons school uses one. She is meant to work 25 hours a week for £75. Her complaints usually come from being asked to work over and above this time without pay.
missk-ensington. you will be getting tax credit help for your nursery fees since you work 16 hours a week. AFAIK you won't get help via tax credits for an au-pair.0 -
Dont get tax credit help, I get a uni grant but, without going into masses of detail, it was used on the deposit for the house and partner was meant to pay the weekly fee's. So, used childcare money and he left me.
Either way I still have to contribute £30 a week, and I am employing someone to do my ironing and supervise me at bathtime at a cost of £26 a week - Thus I'm paying £56 a week, yet you say some au pairs work for £45 a week? I'd be happy to pay up to £60-70 a week for someone to be there to help me (As I've mentioned befoer I have no friends or family within a 70 mile radius and it's becoming increasingly dangerous being alone with my son - if I collapse no one will know!)
Are these au pairs on the site listed here vetted and checked?
Can anyone who has an au pair give me their view?
Thanks!0 -
Thanks everyone for your input.
after looking at the website it looks like for an a very very junior (which
is what we have!!!!) does not know how to cook, etc. this seems to be the
rate:
Au Pair in Europe
a.. Works 5 hours per day, 5 days per week
b.. Baby sits 2-3 evenings per week
c.. Receives 2 free days and evenings off
d.. Weekly salary ranges from 52 - 65 €
also we pay for all outings . invite her everywhere. say if she wants to do
any courses we would pay but no motivation there. so far we have not had any
babysitting evening as we have been in.
also as i work from home our daughter seems to want to do everything with me
rather than do things with the au pair so i htink this is quite hard for her
and for me. any tips appreciated.
she paid her flight from the czech republic about £300 without discussing it
with me. do people usually pay for the flight. it is just i have a friend
who could have got a flight with good airlines cheaper than that. the whole
thing was done in such a rush so i was not able to talk to her before she
arrived!!0 -
I'm sorry if this sounds rude (and is not necessarily directed at people on here) but I get the impression that some people regard Au Pairs as purely a means of cheap labour when in fact you will likely be taking in a young girl who speaks very little english and has never left home before.
An au-pair is a unmarried young person, who comes to a foreign country to improve his/her language skills and to get know a different culture. An au-pair usually lives with a host family. Her/his main duty is taking care of children (eg. Taking them to shool, cooking simple meals for them, playing with them etc.). They can also do a little bit of light housework such as dusting, hoovering (vacuuming), ironing and washing.
An au-pair is a guest of the family, so he/she is not taken in as an emloyee. The family should accept an au-pair as a part of their family. An au-pair should have his/her own room and the family has to provide her/him with food and pocket money. The minimum of the pocket money is determined by the law of the individual country. Families can not expect fluency of the native language of the country. The working hours depends on the agreement of both sides, however the standard is 25-30 hours per 5-6 days a week plus 2 babysittings. The family should give an au-pair time to attend language classes.0 -
It could be just that she is lonely and sad at the moment, is there a local nanny circle nearby where you could encourage her to go to, if she is happier she will work better. Or she may just be lazy in which case you need to look for a replacement and get your friend to get her a ticket home but give a while to settle in. It is not possible to know if you are suited and a lot of families will do a months trial first.
As you work from home and you don't go out many evenings could you not just hire a cleaner and send your child part time to a creche or childminder or hire a local mothers help ?0 -
Gingin - I don't mean to be rude either, but lets look at this pragmatically, if au pairs WEREN'T cheap labour, why would anyone want one? This is the whole attraction of having an au pair - flexible hours and a cheap rate. Someone who doesn;t just look after your child (ren) but cooks and helps out.
I'm looking for an au pair, and yes I do want one because I need extra help and can't possibly afford an English nanny. However, she will have her own room, nicely decorated, all emals/utilities included and around £50 a week pocket money. She will have 2 full days off and probably most evening anyway (except the occassional night I may wish to pop across to the pub quiz for a couple of hours).
I think its a fair deal, especially when these girls have come from very poor countries and have enough 'pocket money' to send a little back. Just by sending back £5 a week to their families, is like someone sending us £150 a week.
Think the employer is supposed to pay the air fare. Do you have to pay a 'finder fee' to the website when you've found someone or is it just the 30 day membership?
Anyone know any other sites? I would love someone to help take the strain off me a little!0
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