When hiring staff for your household, it is important to make sure that you are all clear about expectations in terms of job role and description. Here we talk about how best to navigate the boundaries between employer and staff so that everyone feels like they’re able to succeed.

Can My Nanny or House Manager Assist With Housekeeping?

Many families come to us asking whether or not an employee like a nanny or a house manager will be willing to assist with housekeeping duties. To help you navigate the boundaries related to job titles, we’ve broken it down into 3 simple steps:

1. Clearly Define The Role

One thing to consider is your employee’s “area of expertise”. Decide what is considered a priority for your employee and pay them for that role specifically. If necessary, hire a second person to take on the other responsibilities that fall outside of their job description. Too often, families try to merge two unrelated roles together, creating an unrealistic job title (like a housekeeper and a nanny) and it makes their search for the right candidate a long, grueling process, often with unsatisfying results.

2. Outline Duties in the Work Agreement/Contract

Provided that duties are outlined in their job description and they are compensated accordingly for them, some employees are more than happy to take on a “hybrid” role, if the two roles are related (Ex: Nanny/House Manager)

But, do remember that it is best practice for a family to be appreciative if an employee performs any non-contracted extras and also that you understand that these “extras” are not to become an expectation.

3. Be wary of combining housekeeping duties with other roles

We help families find domestic staff to fulfill many roles in their home, one of which is a full-time housekeeper. Our housekeepers have extensive experience professionally cleaning large private homes. Many come from backgrounds in hotel service or working as part of a professional maid service. If you are seeking a cleaning service for your home, we recommend hiring a full-time or part-time housekeeper that is able to focus their time solely on housekeeping duties.

There are certain scenarios where current staff are able to help with other roles so our best advice is to communicate clearly and openly with your staff about both their and your needs.

Things a Nanny Can Help With

Many of our nanny candidates are willing to assist with light housekeeping duties or organizational tasks during their down time, especially while children are in school or sleeping. However, it is best to let your nanny take a break for at least 30 minutes while children are sleeping to avoid burnout. Some nannies are more than happy to assist with light housekeeping duties for the entire family. Other nannies like to keep their job description to solely childcare-related duties and picking up after themselves and the children. It is important to ensure that if your employee is willing to assist with light household duties, that they are outlined in their work agreement or contract, so they do not feel taken advantage of.

Things a House Manager Can Help With

If you’re not sure whether a house manager is what you need, then be sure to check out this previous blog post where we defined the role. Traditionally, a house manager is focused on managing other staff in the home, running errands for the principal (owner) of the home, or handling administrative duties. However, there are house managers that have more “down-time”. For example: if there are no other staff in the home to manage, if their role is a hybrid nanny/house manager (to be a nanny during times children are present and later help manage the home while the children are in school). In this case, it may be that a house manager can help with other tasks.

Here are the light housekeeping duties that an employee like a nanny or a house manager can help with (feel free to put these in your work agreement)

Daily cleaning of the kitchen area and dishes that are used by the children and the nanny, including dirty dishes placed in the dishwasher, and wiping down counters and stove.
Changing child’s bedsheets once per week
With help from children whenever possible, daily picking-up of toys and clothes in the children's play areas and keeping child’s room and play area tidy and organized
Keeping common areas of the house tidy (vacuuming, sweeping/swiffer, taking garbage out, loading and unloading dishwasher, etc.) and emptying children's diaper pails when needed
Children’s laundry weekly or as needed. Fold, hang and put away child’s clothes
Cleaning & care of child’s belongings (highchair, crib, toys, stroller etc.)

Maintain Your Work Agreements

Remember that when the list of your responsibilities assigned to your household employee increases, you should update your work agreement or at the very least, get the updates somewhere in writing, and offer a raise at the beginning of the new year to reflect the increased responsibility. This way, your staff will continue to feel appreciated and you will all know exactly what can be expected.

You’ve got enough on your plate in your day-to-day life — let us make your life easier by handling your unique household staffing needs.

If you are a family looking to hire a household employee or other home service, submit an application with My Household Managed.

If you are a professional nanny, house manager, or other household employee looking for a job, apply at My Household Managed.