Hiring an Assistant??

[SunflowerMama]

So I'm considering hiring an assistant for next Spring when 3 of my families are expecting new babies.

Because of licensing ratios I would have never been able to watch the infants but with an assistant all my families and their new babies could stay and I'd be full.

For those that have assistants where did you advertise or are they mostly family or people your family/friends know?

How much do you pay them (if you don't mind me asking) and do you pay for anything like insurance, benefits, etc.? How many hours do they work? I'm thinking I may have to have my assistant 7 hrs/day (9a - 4p) otherwise I may risk being over ratio for a short period by myself.

I was thinking of hiring an assistant that also speaks Spanish so we could have daily Spanish lessons for the kids. I was just going to pay an hourly or daily rate and wasn't thinking about including benefits or health insurance at all.

What do the rest of you do? What have your experiences, good or bad, been with assistants?

[Blackcat31]

Maybe start with your local college....especially if they have a child development program, they should have lots of students looking for experience.

[wdmmom]

Craigslist. Free to advertise. You just have to weed out the flakes.

When I advertised on there, I requested all applicants email me their resume or their information by a certain date.

Then I compiled the 5 I thought would be a good fit and hired one of those 5.

The only problem that I found was the people wanting interviews and not showing up.

I wouldn't give out my address until the day of the interview. Helped to stop the no shows.

As for hiring/benefits/insurance/taxes/ect. I would ask your tax preparer if your state has any mandatory regulations. (i.e. minimum wage, taxable or independent contractor, what's considered full time, benefits required for full time, etc.)

[SunflowerMama]

Just found out at pickup today that another family is expecting!! How crazy!! 4 of my families are now pregnant and I can only take one unless I get an assistant.

I just don't know if the positives could outweight the negatives...

[wdmmom]

Just found out at pickup today that another family is expecting!! How crazy!! 4 of my families are now pregnant and I can only take one unless I get an assistant.

I just don't know if the positives could outweight the negatives...

The positives are:

Earning a lot more, babies!, the families clearly appreciate your services if they want to bring you more kids, etc.

The negatives are:

4 INFANTS! (I'd pass on that deal), hiring an assistant and get one that's beneficial and stays long term, getting put into a higher tax bracket, giving sibling discounts (if you do that), etc.

It's up to you to decide what you want to do. If you established a good relationship with your families, it might be beneficial. I would talk to them and ask how they feel about hiring an assistant. I would discuss with them when they are needing care, how long they will be taking off for maternity leave, if they will be leaving the older sibling in daycare during maternity leave or if he/she will be at home with mom too and agree on a rate in advance.

I wouldn't do this too early though. A lot of things can change in the up and coming months. Good luck!

[Country Kids]

Here is something you might do:

Have a meeting with your parents individually and see what their plans are for after the baby is born. Where they planning on staying with you. Let them know whatever they pick you respect their decision but you are needing to know in case you need to bring in an assistant.

If everyone is planning on staying with you, do some number crunching and see how much it will take to take on an assistant. I would think you should at least pay minimum wage for your state.

Now you probably wouldn't want to do any type of sibling discounts because you are going to need the income to cover your assistants wages and still make yourself some money. This may even mean you will need to raise rates a little. I would be doing the number crunching again and see if you need to raise rates how much so that its not a total blow to your parents but enough that they see why you are needing to do it.

Have another parent meeting and explain the above. I have four new babies coming on, I am having to hire an assistant, in order for me to do this so that your children are well taken care of while they are here I will need to raise rates to .........

Good luck with this. I've never had new babies born into my childcare. They were either singles forever or the baby.

[SunflowerMama]

Here is something you might do:

Have a meeting with your parents individually and see what their plans are for after the baby is born. Where they planning on staying with you. Let them know whatever they pick you respect their decision but you are needing to know in case you need to bring in an assistant.

If everyone is planning on staying with you, do some number crunching and see how much it will take to take on an assistant. I would think you should at least pay minimum wage for your state.

Now you probably wouldn't want to do any type of sibling discounts because you are going to need the income to cover your assistants wages and still make yourself some money. This may even mean you will need to raise rates a little. I would be doing the number crunching again and see if you need to raise rates how much so that its not a total blow to your parents but enough that they see why you are needing to do it.

Have another parent meeting and explain the above. I have four new babies coming on, I am having to hire an assistant, in order for me to do this so that your children are well taken care of while they are here I will need to raise rates to .........

Good luck with this. I've never had new babies born into my childcare. They were either singles forever or the baby.

I think this is all great advice! I think I'm going to wait a few months to see how things play out but I definitely want to sit down with each of them and I've already decided little to no sibling discount and only a slight increase in rates if I do decide to bring on an assistant.

Thanks for the advice everyone!