I can’t afford Quality

‘’All the good Au pairs work for rich families”

The assumption: you get what you pay for. If you pay more, you get better

The Reality: Au pairs value the support, respect and recognition parents provide more than an above-market salary. You don’t need to offer more than market rate to hire a good Au pair.

This assumption that all the good Au pairs work for rich families comes out of childhood stories about the lives of British aristocrats who raised a brood of children with the help of a dotting nanny. Our belief about a Mary Poppins from the last century comes alive in the present as we peek yet again into the lives of the rich and famous. Whether it’s the Nanny Diaries or news briefs about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s travels with Nanny and children, we expect that only the rich get the better Au pairs, leaving the rest of the Au pairs to those unglamorous souls treading through a daily life of diapers and dishes and offering a pittance of glory and market wages to our Au pairs.

Does the ‘’more you pay the better you get’’ rule apply in the Au pair market? Is compensation an indicator of quality? Au pair working hours and pay rates

In our experience, the ‘’more you pay the better you get’’ rule applies only to families looking for Au pairs in a rush, those that need an Au pair to start this or next week and if possible someone already in Australia, in those cases this girls have shown in all cases to be picky and prefer families with a good location, if possible near the beach and offering the best salaries.

Is compensation the only thing that motivates a Nanny? In this case again it has to do with the kind of au pair you are considering, those already here in Australia are not real au pairs but backpackers, their main priority was never to be an au pair but to travel, once here after realizing how expensive are accommodation and meals in Australia, then they consider the option of Au pairing as an alternative, but for that reason our agency does not recruit these kind of candidates as we prefer to place an au pair who’s main priority from the beginning was to care children, who registered with months in advance preparing all her supporting documents to achieve this experience, someone flexible about accepting families so that we have or chances to ensure a successful placement. Read more about Why choose an au pair agency and the danger of Au pair internet matches

These kind of Au pairs that are currently overseas vetted by our Partner agencies  at the time we start the matching and interview process of selecting an Au pair are those we target and they find satisfaction in working with almost any kind of family, with children of any age. We suggest our customers to compare between agencies when choosing your Au pair agency. Looking at the question in this way, it is not that the rich get better Au pairs; they get Au pairs that are motivated primarily to be part of their lives and earn higher salaries or pocket money.