Community› The Bump Message Boards› Working Moms
Working Moms
New Discussion

Have you used a nanny referral agency?

cja06cja06 member
in Working Moms
We are starting the process of looking for a nanny. We've only used daycare centers before. I have been looking into 4 local nanny referral/placement agencies but I am really surprised at the cost for these services. They are all requiring between 14-20% of the Nancy's first year gross salary as their fee. For us that would be around $4-5,000! A nanny already is more expensive than daycare, and the nannies that these services provide command a pretty high salary. If you used a referral service, rather than Care.com or Sittercity, what was their fee structure and did you find it worth the investment? I like how thorough the background checks are and the one-year placement guarantee, but I have a hard time believing the quality will be that much better than using a web site to justify the added cost.


image

Report Reply to Post

Re: Have you used a nanny referral agency?

  • Lilly&CoLilly&Co member
    Yes we used an agency. There are several reasons why. There is not security with Care.com, if the nanny bails, we are guaranteed free replacement and they reimburse for interim babysitter or childcare arrangements until the replacement is found. Another, the background is more extensive and we are guaranteed more in-depth understanding as to this person is. 
    Report Reply
  • Loading the player...
  • cja06cja06 member
    Thanks for the insight. @mal922, can I ask how you found the PI to run the background check?


    image

    Report Reply
  • PSU_TexanPSU_Texan member

    I've used both.  As a new mom, I found our first nanny with a referral agency.  We owed $100 to start the search, then 10% of her annual gross salary once we hired.  I think it was guaranteed for ~30 days.  So if something didn't work out in the first month, they would search again for no additional cost.  Then there was a 6 month guarantee that if we wanted to search again within 6 months it was at 50% of the original fee.  Our second nanny (who is frankly better than the agency one) we found at care.com or sittercity.com (can't remember which).  I felt more confident the second time around searching on my own.

    I ussed an online service called Intelius.com where you can run criminal checks.  Also, if she will be driving your LO, then ask for her DL number and run a driving report through your state DPS.

    Report Reply
  • tarynh75tarynh75 member
    I tried care.com and it just took too much time to screen all the candidates. I told the agency what I was looking for and that's all they sent me. They also arranged the interviews, which saved me tons of time. If you are busy, it is completely, 100%, worth it.
    Report Reply
  • 82Sonia82Sonia member

    We used a nanny agency but ultimately stuck with daycare.  We had to pay $450 to get started.  This included our interview so they could determine our needs and them placing an ad on their website.  They sent us two qualified, really nice women who had been professional nannies for 20+ years each and who had a long relationship with the agency already.  If we had hired one, we would have been required to pay the agency 12% of the nanny's gross annual income (minimum $3000) for the first year only.  If the nanny didn't work out within 6 months, they'd do a new search for no additional charge. 

    I appreciated that these women were already known to the agency, were professional nannies (not just babysitters looking for a long term gig), had current backgroud checks, great references, and that I didn't have to spend my time searching. 

     I think that an agency can be really helpful if you're limited on time.  Care.com and sittercity.com are fine but we didn't want to deal with the hassle of background checks and checking references when for $3450, we could hire it out.   

     

    Report Reply
  • emberlee3emberlee3 member
    I used an agency with a placement fee, it was a set fee not based on salary. I thought it was totally worth it for time saving and peace of mind.
    DS born 8/8/09 and DD born 6/12/12.
    Report Reply
  • rockychryslerb2010rockychryslerb2010 member
    Our agency had three different levels - they all came with the pre-screen, background check, credit check and driver check.  The only difference was what services you got from the agency.  Our agency provides backup care, so if nanny was sick and we needed a sitter for the day, we could call them and they would send someone.  The three levels each had a different number of days you could use the service for.  The different levels also covered you if the nanny bailed, something from like 30-90 days, again depending on which level you purchased.

    I agree, it was a large cost up front, but we weren't getting quality candidates on our own, we live a good 30 min from the closest city, so there wasn't a whole lot of selection.  However, we love our nanny and she is started our third year with us this March.  She has been with E since he was 12 weeks old (now 26.5 months) and she will stay on for at least the first year with #2.  So although a high cost, it was a one time cost and we got a great nanny from it.
    image
    laying down the law on Oahu's North Shore

    Pregnancy Ticker
    Report Reply
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"