Thaty is a member of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, an organization for the respect and dignity of domestic workers. Want to know learn more about NDWA? Click here.
I’m a career nanny.
I started nannying as an au pair back in 2003 for a family in Cambridge, MA. I’m from Brazil, and I stayed with this family for two years and fell in love — with the work, with their kids, with holding such an important role in a family. My work was important and I was valued, and I made a real, visible impact on their lives, every day. I loved it.
When my two years as an au pair was up I returned to Brazil. But a year later, I was able to come back and continue working with the family I au paired for – this time as a nanny – while I studied Early Childhood Education. I loved kids — and still do! — but I loved learning about how kids learn, and how we can help them learn. To me, what is more important than shaping a child’s mind and experience of the world? After I graduated I tried teaching, but always ended up returning to nannying. I was happier nannying. I just loved the work, and let’s be honest — finding work that you love, your calling, is a rare and wonderful thing.
And that’s when I decided to be a career nanny.
Unfortunately, when you decide to be a career nanny there’s no form to fill, no box to check, no HR manager to inform that you’ve made this big decision in your career. You just keep going to work, keep doing your job, keep on playing the key role in others’ lives that you’ve been playing.
The difference, however, is how you think about your job.
I wish I could say that this was when I decided to start taking steps to ensure I had everything in place to protect my rights and my work, but it wasn’t. I had to learn the hard way.
The first lesson was the hardest. I was working without a contract for a family I really enjoyed, and when Thanksgiving came along I was told I wouldn’t get paid. My employer worked part-time — 3 days a week — and as she wasn’t going to get paid for the holiday she told me, “We’re not getting paid, so you’re not getting paid.”
Somehow, my work agreement with my employer became the work agreement of my employer with her employer. So, I decided I needed to create a contract for myself.
Contracts feel like a burden. They are designed to be legal documents, so they feel onerous. They are supposed to be comprehensive, so they feel overwhelming. And let’s be honest, it can feel like it’s inviting conflict.
But I learned that contracts are actually so much more than that for nannies.
Contracts are, for us, the best way to educate our employers on their responsibilities.
And, many nannies aren’t aware of their rights as nannies. Did you know that in Massachusetts, where I live, nannies — and all domestic workers — have the right to minimum wage, overtime, and time off from work? That’s right: Overtime!
So, I created a contract that stated the holidays I would be paid for, vacation allowance, benefits I needed to have provided for me, and… overtime!
I’ve never had an employer refuse something in my contract. Ever. I include references to point out when something is required by law, so that employers can become aware of their legal responsibilities to me. But I also include other things that aren’t legally required, but are really important to me.
Today, I am working part-time for a wonderful family, two days a week. But “just because” I’m working part-time, doesn’t mean that I value my time any less. So, I kept the overtime clause, and I still get overtime when I work more than 16 hours each week.
The result? My employers are never late! And, when they need me more than 16 hours a week, it’s really worth it to me. And, I get benefits!
I haven’t always been a full-time nanny, but I’ve always been a career nanny. “Just because” you’re a nanny while you’re going to school, “just because” you’re a nanny for some extra money, you’re still a professional. You’re still playing a critical role in a family which, let’s be honest, needs you in order to function the way they need to.
Whether nannying is your career — full-time or part-time — or whether it’s something you’re doing “just because,” we all deserve to be treated professionally. We have rights and protections, and sometimes a contract’s greatest value is informing the employer of their responsibilities to us.
- Require overtime. Your employer will respect your time, and your time will be greater valued.
- Define the paid holidays you want. If you just assume you’ll get the holidays you wanted, you might be disappointed.
- Discuss working when the children are sick. If you agree to work when children are sick and you work for multiple families, you might pass the illness along. It’s not just an issue of whether or not you are willing to work, it’s whether or not it’s safe for everyone you come into contact with.
- Decide on how many weeks notice you need if they no longer need you. I was very close with a family I was working for and I let them know that I would return to teaching at the end of the year. To my shock, they let me go months earlier than I was expecting to leave, so they could avoid paying me for upcoming holidays. This is an intimate profession, but it’s still a profession, so make sure you are protected by stating what you need.
- Ask for a professional development incentive. As an effort to stress out how this is important work and you take pride in being a professional, show them how an investment in developing your childcare skills further is really an investment in their own children. Some ideas are a paid day while attending a conference, or conference registration fee, or even using their frequent flier miles to buy a plane ticket to attend a conference. This is one area you can be creative with, and work with the employer so that it can be something that doesn’t feel like a burden but creates the opportunity for them to be an “awesome” employer.
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