How One Family Office Client Got Time Back to Focus on Their Newborn by Hiring Nanny Through TEAM
CHALLENGE
One family office client, a Bay Area dual-career couple, was ecstatic when they became pregnant with their first child, and knew that hiring a nanny would be key to balancing the new responsibilities of parenthood alongside their busy personal and professional schedules.
However, they understood that finding a nanny would not be as simple as it may seem. They needed to find the right candidate for the position, while accepting that the competitive labor market would make that even more challenging. They also recognized that they were entering a phase of becoming first-time parents and first-time household employers, and wanted to do the best they could in both of these new roles. With their priority being to devote time to their growing family – and getting back to work – they knew they would be short on time and need support in hiring and employing a nanny.
In addition to saving time, setting up employment terms properly and reducing liability were also important to the family. They’d heard horror stories from friends and colleagues about nannies and housekeepers quitting without notice or injuring themselves on the job, and they aimed to avoid as much undue stress as possible.
They learned about TEAM Private Family Services through the multi-family office they worked with and engaged TEAM during the interview process. The couple interviewed candidates during the second trimester of pregnancy to ensure they had ample time to find the right match. “Once we’d found the perfect candidate, Beth, we knew keeping her happy in the role would be critical to our shared, long-term success,” said the couple.
How One Family Office Client Got Time Back to Focus on Their Newborn by Hiring Nanny through TEAM
SOLUTION
With the perfect nanny selected, the pair enlisted TEAM Private Family Services prior to giving birth to ensure Beth’s employment terms were properly set up. TEAM offered recommendations and best practices for a competitive employment package while staying within the family’s budget, such as:
- Wage benchmarking to ensure a fair rate in a high-cost area
- Gross and net pay calculators to to account for tax withholdings and ensure Beth’s take-home pay was in line with expectations
- Advice on handling pay when the family is traveling or sick, to ensure Beth had monetary stability during periods of time when not working
- Custom job duties and expectations that clearly laid out “standard” expectations of caring for the child as well as “additional” duties, such as light chores and feeding the family pet
- Tailored worksite manual and employment agreement with specific terms that were important to the family, such as protocols for driving family vehicles and securing the home when leaving the property
- Paid time off guidance to ensure Beth took time to recharge
- Health insurance benefits information, which compared Beth’s current plan against TEAM’s insurance options to ensure the offer is attractive yet within budget
- Consultation on how TEAM’s services interacted with existing benefits offered through the couple’s employers, such as a dependent care FSA
The couple also recognized the importance of keeping Beth engaged in the months between extending the verbal job offer and when her work would begin post-birth. During this time, TEAM moved forward with the hiring process to officialize the employment relationship, including:
- Sending a formal, written offer letter that confirmed employment according to the specified terms and helped put both parties at ease
- Drafting a confidentiality agreement to maintain the family’s privacy and set clear expectations in advance
- Running a background check compliantly with the local law to verify Beth’s history
When the baby did arrive, both the family and Beth had peace of mind knowing that they could begin working together as soon as needed. “Not hassling with paperwork was an incredible gift at that time,” said the couple. “I simply sent TEAM an email when I was ready to activate Beth’s employment, and she started the next day.”
RESULTS
In the first three months, the couple saved countless hours with TEAM’s support in hiring, onboarding, setting expectations, securing benefits, procuring insurance, managing timecards, processing payroll, preparing taxes, and maintaining records for Beth’s employment.
They also had a sense of relief knowing that it was all executed compliantly, so they didn’t bear the burden of becoming payroll and HR experts themselves – or worse, accidentally running afoul of employment laws.
Six months into Beth’s tenure, an unexpected incident occurred while she was doing the dishes. A dishwasher detergent pod exploded and got into her eye, severely burning her cornea and causing temporary vision loss. After receiving treatment in the emergency room, she quickly contacted TEAM to discuss how to handle not only the workplace injury, but the time she would need to take off work to heal.
Thankfully Beth’s vision was restored, but she was left with numerous follow-up appointments, accumulating medical bills, and two weeks of recovery time away from work. Because the injury occurred when Beth was performing her job duties, TEAM’s comprehensive workplace insurance fully covered her medical bills. TEAM liaised with Beth and the insurance carrier to ensure that she also received continuation of pay during her time off and ongoing treatment, as well as worked directly with the doctor to determine a process for returning to work – including understanding how the injury may affect her job duties and providing guidance on working safely going forward.
Throughout the process, the family received regular updates from TEAM about Beth’s recovery and return to work procedure, was absolved of paying for any medical fees, and was able to maintain a smooth relationship with her without the need to discuss bills, treatment, and next steps.
“Accidents are bound to happen,” said the family, “but we would have been completely frazzled trying to manage the fallout from this situation ourselves.” When Beth returned to work, she and the family were able to pick up right where they left off, with no concern about the incident affecting their working relationship.
“We’re immensely grateful for TEAM’s help. Beth gets all the support she needs, and we get to focus on spending time with our family and returning to our careers. You can’t put a price on the time we’ve gotten to spend with our daughter – and ensure she’s in safe hands when we’re not around – thanks to TEAM.”