A working nanny named Justine Mattson has gone viral on TikTok for calling out parents who underpay their nannies by explaining how nannying is a luxury service, not a daycare.
She begins her video by saying, "I already know I'm going to make a bunch of people mad when I say this, but it needs to be said: The nanny market is in a state of chaos, right? We all know this from all sides. But the reason it has been so chaotic is because the pandemic brought a huge new rush of families interested in hiring a nanny who never would have done so before. Why wouldn't they have done so? Because they can't afford a nanny. They couldn't then and they can't now."
She continues, "I want you to do a little exercise with me: Look up the average rent for where you live — say, a two-bedroom apartment or just an average rent. Multiply that by three. If you can't afford to pay someone at least that amount every single month, you cannot afford a nanny."
Justine adds, "And I get that that sucks, but this is a luxury service and it always has been. Nannies should never make a wage comparable to what you would pay at a daycare because you are not getting daycare service. You are not getting one teacher splitting their attention among 20 kids in a preset structure that has nothing to do with your child's specific goals or development. You are paying someone to come in to give one-on-one attention to know your child — their goals, their routines, their sensory needs, their developmental milestones — and provide for all of those needs and all of those plans on your schedule, according to your style."
She explains, "That is a luxury service. It is a service that should be paid a full living wage as a luxury service. And I need to emphasize this again. The three times the rent in your area is a minimum. If you are looking at that and thinking about complaining about giving away your whole paycheck or anything like that...I hear you. And no, you shouldn't spend that kind of money on childcare because you cannot afford to."
She concludes her TikTok this way: "That doesn't make nannies unreasonable. That doesn't mean nannies need to bring down their rates to a place where it's affordable to everyone. Childcare needs to be affordable. Nannying does not. Nannies are providing a LUXURY service, not accounting for the issues in systemic childcare."
It's clear that people in the comments backed Justine:
And emphasized her points about daycare versus nannying:
Basically, everything she said was accurate and backed by the commenters:
To get more insight, BuzzFeed spoke to Justine, who has been nannying for four years. She said the pandemic has made finding legitimate and fair-paying nannying jobs very difficult. "Initially, there was a huge boom in the industry when the pandemic started, and while it has tapered off somewhat, it never really went away. Job boards are overloaded with listings that are bordering on insulting."
And she said that is just one aspect of a multitude of problems in the nannying industry right now. "Unfortunately, some families seem to have resorted to manipulation to get nannies into interviews. The most common tactic is to list a false price range for pay, such as $15–$30 per hour, when they will not pay more than $15 an hour under any circumstances. Then, when a nanny does not agree to discount their rate, they are met with verbal abuse and aggression. It is not uncommon for these families to leave negative reviews and attempt to sabotage that nanny simply because they could not afford them," Justine explained.
"Even when this kind of egregious behavior is not present, it skews what people perceive as acceptable in this industry, which is part of what led me to make the video. It is hard to find reliable information about the nannying industry, so families will look at local job postings to determine what is normal. Once again, the problem is most of the job postings are not normal, or even in the ballpark of realistic, so well-meaning families leave with mismanaged expectations. The result is frustrated nannies and parents across the board."
Justine wants people to know that being a nanny is so much more than cute crafts, playtime, and handing out snacks. "When you hire a nanny, you are asking someone to give all that they are to your child. As nannies, we do not give your child a piece of our heart, we give them our entire hearts. This job is so much more than the childcare tasks listed in a job description. It requires an incredible amount of emotional labor, day in and day out. When you hire a nanny, you are asking someone to love your child as their own, knowing they may exit that child’s life forever in a matter of a few years. We commit to doing that knowing it will break our hearts down the line, because your child deserves that from us. There is so much more to being a nanny than meets the eye," she added.
According to Care.com, the current average national pay rate for nannies is $15.30 per hour, with bigger cities paying out about $20–$21 per hour. But Justine said that is not enough to live comfortably in a lot of cities. "Taking three times the average rent per month in your city is a good rule of thumb for determining what you should be paid per month — and this applies regardless of whether the nanny is a live-in or live-out. Nannies should use that number (or their own personal rent) to establish their base rate. From there, they should consider how much experience they have, their degrees and certifications, or specialty services offered, and increase their rate to reflect those qualifications. I would consider $20 an hour the absolute minimum, assuming you are not in a high–cost of living area."
Justine said her thoughts on pay do not apply exclusively to nannies. "The helping professions are under-compensated as a whole, and we need allyship. The difference is that household employees have the unique opportunity to speak directly to the people who make decisions about hiring and compensation in a way that is not possible in most industries."
Special thanks to Justine for sharing her firsthand experience in this matter and insight into what it is really like working in the nannying industry right now. You can follow her on TikTok.