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GTM conducted a research study in September 2022 of nannies to determine insights into how nannies find their jobs, what benefits they receive and what they like about their work.
Nearly 300 responses were collected from a cross section of nannies from across the country.
For nanny placement agencies, these insights should be reviewed with agency practices and communications in mind. Third party research like this can be valuable to share with families to reinforce the advice you are providing.
What Nannies Value in a Job
The factors that are most important to nannies when finding a position are:
- a trustworthy/ethical family
- guaranteed hours/weekly pay
- personality of the family.
Much less important was whether or not the parents worked from home and if travel was required, the number of children and location of job.
These findings show that nannies want to find a good fit with a family, and they want to count on a minimum income from week to week. This is aligned with what families want who also rate trustworthiness as a top factor they look for in a nanny.
Use this information to educate families of the importance of fit and the value you bring in making matches. And the information about consistent income can be conveyed to families who may have inconsistent hours and think that they can find and retain a nanny with irregular scheduling.
How Nannies Find Their Jobs
The top four sources of jobs for nannies were:
- Placement agency (42%)
- Job search sites like Care.com (21%)
- Friend/relative (17%)
- Former employer (13%).
Social media (e.g. Facebook, mom forums etc.) was only responsible for 3% of job placements.
Nannies who used an agency
For those nannies who used a nanny agency, more than half (56%) found their agency by searching online followed by 29% who were referred to the agency by someone they knew.
The remaining sources broke out as: 4.4% other, 3.5% Indeed, 3.5% Facebook, 2.6% nanny association. and 1% found their agency through nanny/mom blogs/forums.
Some of the “other” responses mentioned that the agency found them.
Two key takeaways from this question are:
- Your online presence is important for recruiting nanny candidates. Make sure your website is found when conducting local searches. Claim your google business listing if you haven’t done so.
- Referrals are also key in finding both families and nannies. Proactively ask for referrals from your current and former nanny candidates. Also, how nannies perceive you is just as important as how your clients feel about your services.
What Nannies Like About Agencies
The top three reasons nannies like using an agency are higher paying jobs with more benefits, choice of jobs and security/safety measures. These are the value points you should emphasize on your website to nannies.
Nearly 60% of nannies who found their job through an agency tried to find a job on their own first through sites like Sittercity and Care.com. The top main reasons they didn’t find a job on a website before using an agency was that the jobs on websites paid poorly (38%).
Other (18%) was the second top reason and 42% of the other responses mentioned safety and fraud issues with using websites. Vetting of families is just as important to nannies as is vetting of candidates is for families.
Nannies Who Use Job Websites
For the 21% of nannies who used a job site, Care.com is the most popular nanny job site with 74% of nannies and Sittercity is the number two nanny job site coming in at 15%. Indeed came in third with 6% of nannies.
The top reasons nannies like job websites are ease of use (48%), number of local jobs listed (18%), and choice of jobs (14%).
About half of nannies who used a site like Care.com didn’t use a nanny agency because they didn’t have a need and found it easy to get a job through website and 20% said they didn’t know of any agencies.
Close to a third (29%) did use an agency first but did not find a job through an agency.
Other reasons they didn’t find a job first through an agency were: ability to find a better job on their own, the agency wouldn’t place them because they were only looking for a position for a year, and they weren’t vaccinated.
Agencies should be aware that there are some job seekers who do not know that agencies are an option for them.
Benefits Nannies Receive
Paid holidays, vacation and sick days are provided to almost all nannies.
This can be useful to share with families who may be balking at providing these basics as about 90% of nannies receive these benefits.
Half of nannies receive annual bonus pay.
Only 23% receive health care insurance and 5% have a retirement plan.
When nannies were asked to rank benefits in order of importance to them, annual bonus pay ranked highest (48%) with employer paid health insurance ranking as a close second (43%).
Either bonus pay or paid health insurance can be effective benefits for families to offer to attract and retain top talent.
Retirement plans and dental insurance were less desired by nannies.
Nanny Job Satisfaction
Good news as the survey shows that 88% of nannies are satisfied or very satisfied with their career choice.
What nannies like most about their work is the respect and trust they receive from their family, the joys of caring for children and the ability to make a difference in their lives.
Nannies and COVID-19
Nannies differ from families in their preferences for working for a family that is not vaccinated. Half would not work for a family that was not vaccinated whereas 84% of families would not hire a nanny that was unvaccinated.
Legal Pay
Two thirds of nannies said that it was a mutual decision between them and the family to be paid legally.
The top three reasons nannies value legal pay are eligibility for Social Security and Medicare, peace of mind that they are legally compliant, and legal employment history for credit and loan eligibility.
Nannies who are paid legally are highly unlikely to take a job that is paid under the table. If they do so, it would most likely be for a temporary assignment.
Key Opportunities for Nanny Placement Agencies
Nannies and families both place trustworthiness at the top of their list for selecting a family/nanny.
When recruiting candidates emphasize selection of higher paying jobs with more benefits and vetted families for security.
Recruit vaccinated nannies and educate nannies that are not vaccinated that they will have limited placement opportunities.
Share the benefits that the majority of nannies receive like holiday, vacation and sick pay and the most desired benefits, annual bonus pay and health insurance, which can help a family secure and retain a top candidate.
For families that may be reluctant to pay their nanny legally, educate them on the reasons nannies want legal pay.
Your agency should be easily found when searching online and make sure you have claimed your local listing. And your website should have content for nannies and messaging that emphasizes what they value most. Leverage current and past nannies for referrals for candidates to expand your recruitment pool.
Please remember that GTM is here for you and your families as a resource for all things concerning household payroll. Contact us with any questions or to request information.
