Hi

I have a friend at work who just had a baby but has decided she would like a full time nanny.. as she would like to come back to work.

Does anyone know how much a full time live out nanny for a three month old would cost in the Lausanne region?

Cheers
Sophie

Hi,

[asbestos]A colleague was telling me a few days ago that an au-pair costs around the SFr1500 mark per month.[/asbestos]

By way of comparison, currently we pay about SFr90 / day (3 days a week) for a Kinderkrippe (creche) place. At least there our wee one gets to play with other kids and learn new skills from his peers.

Cheers,
Nick

A nanny I would guess would be min. 3'000 CHF/month. An Au Pair would of course be cheaper but then you would have to pay the apartment on top of that most probably. Plus all the issues with permits and the like with Au Pair.

Day-care in comparison costs between 80 and 120 CHF per day depending on region.

Thanks for the correction, Tilia.

What's the difference between a nanny and an au-pair BTW? Is it just that a nanny is professionally trained?

Just curious.

Cheers,
Nick

An au-pair lives with the family, and a nanny lives out of the home

I believe a nanny would normally be a trained 'adult' with qualifications and would be able to take full responsibility for the child or children. (I'm sure I've heard of a live-in nanny).
I think there are quite a few rules about au pairs.
My understanding of an au pair is - she (few hes) will usually be someone younger who is good with children (we hope!) and wants to learn the language of the country and gain experience. Her payment will be board and lodging and a 'decent' bit of pocket money. She may be quite 'green' and need teaching and will be treated more or less as one of the family. I believe the law says she must have the opportunity to attend language lessons... not sure on this.
I think there is quite a difference though, in wages too!
I'll be pleased to hear the correct version from someone with more experience than I have!

i also believe that au pair's are legally only allowed to work a certain amount of hours per week as opposed to a nanny. Not sure about the hours though..maybe its 30 hours/week.

Hi,

I would be interested in being a full time nanny (live out)
I think Im now considered an adult 28 years old and I have lots of expeience with international children as well as a very good education.

Please dont hesistate to call or email if you have any further questions.
Kind regards
Abi Mackinnon

Just a tip - I'd remove the e-mail address and Mobile number if I were you. The Spam Spreaders love new information.
Folk in the Forum who want to get in touch can PM you. Much safer.

some of us might consider ourselves past caring what people do with their most personal of information....fortunately, I am not one of them.

This thing about the difference between an au-pair and a nanny is a bit of a grey zone and even more so with the new bilateral agreements. It's being discussed in an other thread here.

In Switzerland you can basically employ anyone for any salary. There is no minimum salary according to the law. It is purly a negotiation issue between the employer and the employee as long as the rules about working-hours etc are upheld.

What you do have are "people in training". These you will find in most trades, also in child-care. As such you have a contract either as "Praktikantin" or a "Lehrvertrag" (sorry, don't know the French terms).

So if you have someone who is trained or has experience as a caregiver, this person would probably expect a normal salary for her services which would be _at least_ 3'000 CHF.

If you hire someone as a Praktikantin, it is a totally different story. There the monthly "salary" is around 700 CHF.

So what about Au Pairs then? Well, as I have understood it, they are placed under the level of "Praktikant" _and_ they come from abroad. Because of this (that they are from abroad), of course the authorities can put restrictions on who they will grant permision to enter and under what conditions. This is where all the issues about language and schooling and hours comes in.

Now, what I am still not sure about is what happens if you want to hire someone to work in your home from an EU-17 country as "Praktikantin". Seems like there is an exception to the rule of the bilaterals for "training" positions but this I haven't confirmed. Thus, the authorities are still applying the old Au-Pair rules in these cases.

Another way to go would be to hire someone from abroad and give them a salary at the level of a "trained" person. Then I don't see how the authorities could apply "Au-pair" rules. You are of course allowed then to deduct "room and board" from the salary if the person is live-in.

Or you hire a Swiss person as a "Praktikantin" in which case you can speak whatever language you want to and they can have a normal 42.5 hour working week with you.

You could always drop the kids off at the free day care centre in Ikea and drop back in the evening to pick them up and buy that much needed frying pan.......and flourescent lamp, mini pot plants, bread bin, knife sharpener, fleece blanket, ice pop makers etc etc etc

Can someone please tell me what Praktikantin means? I tried to do a translation on Babel Fish and it just gave me back the same word, Google Translator gave me "trainee"

Sorry for my ignorance

Thanks

That's correct..

by the way that's what Tilia said:

Perhaps this is the sort of definition you are looking for.

Babelfish translates this as:

praktikantin A Praktikantin/a trainee is a juvenile person between 16 and 18 years, who completes one intermediate year in a family after the mandatory school time to often learn in order after the Praktikantenzeit a social occupation. Usually the Praktikantin from the region is and spends the night at the Gastfamilie, but does not sleep with itself at home. A Praktikantin may be left not regularly or over a longer time alone. She is not a cheap worker, which takes over the support, while parents work except house, but a learning, which is to receive a view of different practice ranges. Usually the Praktikantin visits 1-2 days per week the school.
The duration of the practical course is fixed on 6 months until 1 year. Costs: Starting from CHF 550,00 to 700,00 per month, additionally meals at the family.

If it doesn't help, it will at least give everyone a giggle!

It sure did give me a giggle! I get it now, I think...

How did you get that from Babel Fish? I just got the word praktikanton back!? Doing something wrong I guess...?

Many thanks for the info!

Yeah, I just wasn't sure which way to interpret it. Got it now though!

Thanks!

Ok - Step by step.

I Googled 'Praktikantin' and came up with several results - looked up a couple of the sites; the East Switzerland Group (or somesuch name) came up with the sort of thing I was looking for. I then opened up Babelfish, cut and pasted the text into it (you can also do it directly, just putting in the link, but I only wanted part of the page), told it what language it was, and what language I wanted, pressed translate, then cut and pasted the result into my post. As usual, I clicked on 'Review Post' and then on the link to make sure I had added the right one and that it worked, then I sent it off.

Nothing simpler.

Obviuolsy the type of child care one chooses is personal choice, but I would be very nervous to leave a 3-4 month baby with an Au Pair... indeed, au pairs are typically young and untrained in child caring and a baby has very specific needs...

I think a krippe/creche or trained nanny are a much better option in this case.

An Au Pair may be more appropriate for older children who need more of a playmate than a carer.

Ciao
k

Hi,

Don't know if this helps at all but i am employed as a "nanny" (21 years old, plenty of child care experience but no official training) As mentioned before it means that you can pay whatever is agreed between employer and nanny (though the commune do sometimes give guidance on levels on pay and may check up on someone you employ to see that they are not being overworked/mistreated etc - i know of this having been done)

I originally applied for an au pair permit but law here states that you must be of a different nationality / speak a different native language to the family that you work for. If you hire an au pair they can only work 30 hours per week, must be paid minimun 700 francs per month (living with you and having food for free) but must also have 3 hours(?) language lessons a week and lots of other factors too about the exact type of housework (if any) that they are permitted to do. In all for me i benefit more from not being on an au pair permit (though i guess im lucky too with the family i work for)
I looked into au pairing and all the details a lot with my employers and got the impression that its easier to employ someone yourself as there are so many restrictions that have to be kept to otherwise. In personal opinion i would say that having someone who can come to the house or taking your little one to a garderie would be the better option. Just my own experience but hope that helps??