I have a contract for a full time nanny, if anyone is interested. My wife - a lawyer - drafted it and I expect it could be easily adapted.
best,
J.
We have been searching high and low for a new nanny for a few weeks now. Lilliput website should win an award for being badly designed, but it has produced some candidates. Similarly you may want to visit nanny-agency.com. there are a LOT of women from thailand, india etc but once you create an 'account' (login) you can search in some detail. There are au pairs and nannies from the US and UK, also some living in switzerland.
Katie, I believe this is true. I met the family I will be working for on aupair-world.net. Luckily, they happened to be living in Philadelphia, where I was going to school, so we were able to meet in person and realize we were a great match without using an agency. (They went back to Switzerland last week and I will be joining them soon.) The mother heard the same exact thing about the official agency requirement on a message board, so we decided that we would find an agency. We got in touch with an agency run by a woman who lived in Zurich and she seemed like she was going to be really helpful, so I filled out forms, got references, etc. Then she completely stopped returning our calls and e-mails! We still don't know why she flaked out on us like that - she had not been paid yet. I can't remember the name of her agency...
So we decided that in order to fulfill this official agency requirement we had to find a new agency...we discussed a few but the one we ended up going with was called Wind Connections ( http://www.canadalink.ch/index.htm ). Although they are a Canadian agency and usually only try to place Canadians and Australians in Switzerland, they made an exception for me because I had already met the family we we both said we were a great match. They took care of all the relations with the government and paperwork without any problems. (Although I am not actually in Switzerland yet, everything has gone smoothly so far!)
Sooo that was a pretty long story but what I really wanted to say was the Wind Connections seems to be a reputable agency that the government works with!
This is not massively helpful Suzanne but some of the Krippes in Uster have places available (not Wednesday though), if you can handle the additional journey each morning it might be a stop gap option.
hello, I visited the website babysitting24.ch, where I found listing for nanny's and aupair. I myself am struggling at the bottom of the "food chain" and looking to find someone to help guide me through this process of relocation. The only experience I have as an aupair is being a mother of 2 kids.
I have a bachelors degree, and various job experience (in computers basically) and resorting to finding a job here in just about any industry. (yes, an act of temporary desperation or insanity...which ever you prefer). I did not transfer here with any company, and hoped to do things the hard way by arriving and sorting out the details. I want to work, I want to get my MBA, and I want to live and contribute to Switzerland. Oh and did I mention I only speak English!? So I am EAGERLY interested in learning German, as I have a slight background with that....
Can somebody please, please help me, help me?
We are going through this at the moment. It's not easy at all. We are lucky to have a Krippe opposite our house and luckily booked it up before our son was born so he's now there 4 days a week. Wednesday is a problem because the schools do a half day so the Krippe is full.
We are also facing the same issue everybody has mentioned here that we need to pick him up before 18:00. Although my current role allows it I really don't see me and Mrs Peachy being able to leave work at 17:00 every single day. This puts us in the au pair territory where we need somebody to pick him up after 18:00.
Has anybody thought of getting together with local people to tackle this together? It strikes me that even if we have somebody to do this we are completely dependent on them, if they can't make it for whatever reason we need to have a backup, and that will be very hard to find at short notice.
We have multiple parents in each area facing the same issue. If we can face to together we can probably work out some kind of scheme where if your nanny lets you down ours takes over and vice verse. It's only an idea and doesn't need to be intrusive, just for when things go bad.
I think you've covered this and I'm partly posting in disbelief.
I am British my missus is French and we live in the German speaking part. If we want a full time au pair (from overseas) they must not speak any of these three languages fluently?
How can they expect to look after a child in Switzerland without being able to communicate in one of these languages to at least half decent level?
Hi there,
I am struggling to find a nanny or au pair... I need someone from December onwards, my son will be one year old... I'm a full time working mum, and child care here is pretty hard to find...
Anyone know a day mummy ? or someone interested in taking care of my baby whilst I work...
Thanks
Here is a list of Krippes in Uster.
Thanks, I have been looking, there is a long waiting list for most.... but good of you to send... I have a bit of time until Xmas, and I really would like an English family, or nanny...au pair perhaps...we'll see..
Other thing that was commented to me by the Principal at our school was that even though there are long waiting lists, lots of parents put their child onto several lists - so even if the school thinks they have a long list - 80% of those families might choose somewhere else when enrolment time comes...
So do consider putting your child down on multiple lists (like everyone else seems to do) if you would consider Krippe...
it is a real headache for the schools too because they have to maintain relationships with so many 'potential' enrolments that are going to end up having several offers from several places and then have to choose what they want to do!
Remember and I am assuming that you are a native English speaker that an au pair comes to Switzerland on an cultural exchange program. Therefore it is not allowed at all for you to legally hire a German or English speaking au pair if you are a English speaking family living in a German speaking Canton.
Good Luck
I'm a nanny who is shared between two families. I came up with the idea when I realised that the only people who could afford to pay me what I think I'm worth were rich tossers who believed that hired help didn't were some sort of second class citizens. The people who I wanted to work for weren't so high up the economic ladder but had a far better attitude. So I found 2 such families and made a good price for them both. They each pay less for child care and my wages have increased to actually more than when I worked for the bankers. I look after both families boys on the same days and it's a win-win-win situaton. I get more pay, the parents have to pay less and the kids are now great mates.
I hope th be taking on a third family soon, a little girl this time for a bit of balance .
I think this is a great idea. I would love to find another family to share our nanny with not just to share the cost but so my little monster could have a friend to play with since there are not so many playgroups for 2 year olds available.
It always works better if the employer advertises for a share family rather than the nanny.
I would be happy to share a nanny, if this was the only option available... I mean it's so difficult trying to find a solution, working full time, and being a single mother... I wonder if there is anyone interested in sharing, perhaps it would be benifical for the children & parents.. pls contact me if anyone is interested...
What is the going rate for a live-out au pair?
From the posts on this thread I understand that Fr.1500 includes board & lodging, german lessons, contributions, etc.
Therefore, a live-out au pair would get Fr.1500 minus German lessons? Is my understanding correct?
hi there...the problem with taking on a live-out aupair is the cost of living in Switzerland is so high a single person would not be able to survive on that wage. An aupair is usually a young student from another country that has come here to learn another language,so unless you employed a swiss person that already had accomodation then you would find it hard to get a live-out aupair,so then the alternative becomes a live-out nanny but then the cost for one of those becomes greater 3000-4000chf on average. (I myself am a nanny)
Jenny
HI everyone,
We are an international (also swiss) family with now two kids, living in CH and both until now working. I have experience in the law and aupairs and childcare search.
So to whoever reads this and started this thread:
1) Kinderkrippe: very expensive as mentioned by others: around 2000.- /month but for full time MOn-Friday service. but quite unflexible on pick-up/drop-off times, and remember when the child is ill you STILL HAVE TO PAY, but the CHILD CANNOT GO., oh and ofcourse usually waiting lists.
2) tagesmutter: good deal, not too expensive, as mentioned above, but like kinderkrippe you have to find a real good one who is also flexible, and preferably in the village you are living, as well as someone with same educational ethics.
3)Nanny: very expensive... 3000-5000CHF Brutto ofcourse, so unless you earn in the high 6 digit salaries (single income) I don't now if you can really afford it. THe mother also has to ask herself, does she really want to pay so much money for someone else to enjoy her kids while she works her ass off? although some do not have the choice. if you do something to think about.
4)Au Pair: 50/50 chance, I have had swiss and non swiss, I believe I am sticking to the Swiss if I can from now on (no offense to non Swiss)...just finished with a horrible situation with international au pair, which some of you here were kind enough to comment on and attack me for abuse, although a complete lie, so WARNING to all those looking for good child care, either pay up the money for good profesionnals, or if that is not possible financially and you don't mind having someone live with you than au pair is a good idea (considering all risks ofcourse). they actually DO not cost only 700.- as this is NET as Katie here mentioned as one has to take into consideration living expenses, such as accomodation, food (which you also have to pay her if she is on vacation and away) as well as social charge, taxes, insurance, and school.... Mine got CHF1635/ brutto. (Just so you know, I believe it also s low salary to pay for the hard work they actually have to do, but in South Africa an office employee of a good company works for 15000Chf a YEAR)...
ALL of this is worth it when you land on a good egg as I believe this katie girl was as it sounds, and as I have experienced with two of my girls, who now also have LIFETime bonds with my daughter. Since they were good I paid them up 1000CHF /month net and gave them CHF500 bonus everytime they did something great with the kids (one even helped teach my daughter to speak at 18 months: 20 words a day).
THINK HARD though cause some are bad eggs, they steal and lie, and oh yes do not forget they are not professionals so you still have to keep a close eye on them until they have earned your trust (I made that mistake) and DON'T be too generous (as in don't buy their plane ticket for them), until they have earned it (also made that mistake). Pay what you need, and then give them extra when they have earned it.
5)Praktikantin: Read in a thread this is an option! thought about it too, thought though you had to be yourself, some sort of professional childcare person, or studied child psychiatry. but apparently not... and they only cost CHF500 net I assume as they mentioned in another thread. And I thought forums were a waste of time...now I also learned something.
GOOD LUCK...
oh yes, and the www.aupairworld.net is quite good, but you need to pay a fee of about EURO30 to get the contact information in case you find someone you like...
otherwise profilia is the better choice for au pairs as they help with all legal issues, and are not too expensive.
for nanny yes www.perfectway.ch (if that's the right address) is also good, so I've heard... just expensive ofcourse. (what isn't in Switzerland?)...
hope this helps.
Now that's a bargain! Does one have to have a child, or could I get one just for scrubbing?