Each month we highlight one of our agency partners, and get to know a little more about them and their insights into the household employment industry. This month we spoke with Claudia Kahn, founder and owner of The Help Company.
Agency Vitals
- Founded in 1983
- Serves the Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City metro areas
- Specializes in all household staffing services plus corporate assistants.
How did your agency get started?
The agency started in Los Angeles in 1983 as Baby Buddies. It was only child care at first, and due to the lack of professional nannies in the U.S. at the time, I placed advertisements in London, England and got resumes from Norland Nannies, a college that offers degrees in Early Learning & Development. I brought nannies over here and started the business. My L.A. clients began asking about using nanny services when they were in other big cities like Chicago and New York, so in 1997 I opened an office in New York City. With the strong growth of the tech industry, it made sense to open another office in San Francisco in 2010. After getting my business degree from UCLA, I realized I should change the agency’s name to reflect my clients’ demands for other services such as Estate Managers, Butlers, Chefs, Caregivers, Assistants and so forth, and so we became the Help Company.
What do you look for to make successful placements?
The key is finding quality candidates. Our goal is to send no more than two or three applicants to a family, so nobody’s time is wasted. We spend a lot of time getting to know our families and candidates – we get a “wish list” from each of them about what they are looking for, and then we make the best matches we can. We have a very high success rate, and most of our families come back to us for another placement when needed.
How do you advertise/market your agency? / How do you find new families?
Our families come to us almost entirely by word of mouth and referrals from other families. We do very little advertising, and luckily we don’t need to due to the large number of referrals we get.
How do you distinguish yourself from online agencies and show your value?
The number one way we differentiate ourselves is by answering our phones. It sounds minor but speaking to a real person has value. We develop relationships with our families and getting to know them and our caregivers makes all the difference. Online sites may be more affordable but there’s so much work that a family needs to do on their own. Agencies provide ongoing support and backup care, which online sites don’t. Having a local presence makes things much easier when someone is hiring an employee for their home.
How do you help your families understand the benefits of paying legally?
When we have phone calls with our families, we bring up the subject of legal pay and give them an overview of what’s required. We explain the importance of things like workers’ comp – in fact, we recently had a nanny get injured on the job and we use that as an example of why it’s important to pay on the books. We show them the GTM website and go over gross vs. net pay and help them understand the difference.
What changes have you seen over the years in the household employment industry?
One of the biggest changes has been the sheer number of agencies that now exist, whether traditional brick-and-mortar offices or online. I think that is due to a change in perspective that’s taken place over the past 20 years or so. When I started in the 80’s, all the nannies were from other countries – Americans didn’t see nannying as a profession. But now being a nanny is seen more and more as a true career instead of just a side job people sometimes do. Nannies and senior care workers now go to school for this career and are therefore getting paid properly.
How has GTM helped your agency and your families?
GTM is the expert when it comes to payroll and taxes, so we are glad to have had a partner for so many years to assist our families with the complicated process of paying their employee legally, and to help keep us up to date on laws and regulations that affect our clients or our nannies.
What are some fun facts about you or your agency?
We are proud to partner with two non-profit organizations, giving 20% of our gross revenue to them. One is the Kounkuey Design Initiative, which was actually co-founded by one of our former nannies – they build public spaces like vegetable gardens and recreation areas in underdeveloped communities. The other is Partners for Pediatric Progress which seeks to improve the health and care of children in resource-poor regions. It gratifying to be able to share our success with these groups who are trying to do a lot of good in the world.
Get your free: