Au Pair Link Live Chat

Have you ever considered having an Au Pair? Ever wondered what it involves? What it costs? What help you could expect?

Have all your questions answered here by Cecilia Robinson, Au Pair Link Managing Director, this Thursday from 10am.

I have a few questions too.

Just wondering how the employment agreement side of things works? Do the family 'employ' the au pair and pay tax on their earnings, or does the au pair contract and organise that? Also, how does it work - is it just tax on the cash earnings, or also on the benefits - i.e., room and board?

And one more, can an Au Pair take on another families child so that the families are essentially sharing the Au Pair's babysitting time? If so, how does this work?

Thanks!

Hi Ceres,

Thank you for your question! The family is the employer of the Au Pair and therefore must pay tax for their employee. Tax is based on the entire package, e.g. the weekly stipend plus room and board. Room and board must be included as part of the tax calculation as if this is not included it would be breaching the minimum wage act.

Au Pair Link provides all our families with a template employment contract which has been drafted by our employment lawyers. We recommend using our template to ensure that your family is complying with all relevant tax and legal obligations. In addition to this Au Pair Link provides a comprehensive payroll service for only $6.00 per/week where we can pay your Au Pair and assist with your tax payments to the IRD. For more information on tax please visit our website: http://www.aupairlink.co.nz/content/host-families/host-families/your-tax-obligations.aspx.

Au Pair Link does not recommend ‘sharing’ an Au Pair. There are several issues with sharing an Au Pair, for example the Au Pair being uncertain of who their employer is and where their key obligations are. We have also found that sometimes Au Pairs get taken advantage of in situations like this and we therefore do not recommend this. If 2 families would like to share an Au Pair they can still do this however we would not source the Au Pair for the family. Once the families have found their AU Pair they can easily enrol in our Private Support Programme which is Free of charge for all families with a child under 5. For more information please visit our website: http://www.aupairlink.co.nz/content/host-families/our-programmes/Au-Pair-Support-Programme.aspx

Hi Cecilia,

Just wondering about the holiday situation. How much holiday is the Au Pair entitled to, and does it have to be decided a long time in advance? Also do we have to take the Au Pair with us on holiday: every year we go to Europe for a month to visit friends and family and we wouldn't need the Au Pair then and it would cost a lot of money in flights!

Another question about bringing friends/boyfriends home. Are there set rules to follow or is it up to us to decide what happens. For example, it's fine for the Au Pair to friends over as long as we know about it, but we don't want boyfriends staying.

Many thanks

Hi Newmaman,
The Au Pair is entitled to normal holiday leave entitlements, e.g. 4 weeks for every 12 months worked. The Au Pairs holiday is negotiated in conjunction with the family and most of our Au Pairs take most of their leave over the Christmas period.
If you do have a specific period that you generally go on holiday I suggest advising your Au Pair of this before he/she arrives. Generally the Au Pairs are happy to have additional time travelling so this shouldn’t be an issue. It is certainly not an expectation for you to bring the Au Pair with you on your holiday.
IAu Pair Link guidelines stipulates that we do not feel it is appropriate to bring boyfriends/girlfriends to the home without the approval of the family and certainly not staying the night unless the family has approved this. Most of our families are happy for the Au Pair to bring a friend home however Au Pair Link always recommends ‘clearing’ this with the family in advance and introducing the friend when they arrive.
Warm Regards,
Cecilia

What if one of your children requires a little extra care? Would they be willing to learn, if it's not too hard or much extra? Would there be extra costs involved?

ie. My youngest is fed fully by NG. Would an Au Pair still be happy to take care of her?

Hi Mizim,
We definitely work with families with special needs children (e.g. anything from specific feeding requirements – severe handicaps) and there are no extra costs associated with having an Au Pair who works with special needs children. In fact, sometimes we receive applicants who only want to work with special needs children.
Some families with special needs children do opt for our Au Pair Whiz programme, which is our fully qualified/or Experienced Au Pair programme. But this is ultimately up to the family to decide, for more information on our Whiz programme please visit our website http://www.aupairlink.co.nz/content/host-families/our-programmes/aupair-whiz-programme.aspx

As it may take a bit longer to source an Au Pair who has the right skills and experience for your family we do always advise registering well in advance to ensure that you secure the right person for your family.
Warm Regards,
Cecilia

Hi Peace and Love,

Thank you for your follow-up those are really good questions! In terms of the Au Pairs living environment, they need to have their own private bedroom. They do not require a separate bathroom or kitchenette. Most of our host families are just normal ‘kiwi families’ and we find that Au Pairs love being incorporated as part of the family like a ‘regular’ family member.

The Au Pairs range in age – anywhere from 18 – 30. Our ‘sweet spot’ is generally around 19 – 21. All of our Au Pairs on our 123, Mate and Whiz programme have to have a minimum amount of documented childcare experience (100 hours). This is generally gained from babysitting, coaching, working in a kindergarten or daycare. On average our Au Pairs have 1300 hours of documented childcare experience.

If a family wants someone with more experience they generally opt for our Whiz programme where the Au Pair is either qualified or has worked a minimum 2 years full-time with children. Generally the Whiz applicants have both a qualification and full-time work history.
The people that become Au Pairs do it because they love children and want to combine it with travelling.
Thanks again for your q!

Warm Regards,
Cecilia

First spot przie goes to Ceres in our live chat - please email renata@ohbaby.co.nz with your name and address details thanks!

Thank you very much for your answers.
One more question, is it possible to ask for an Au Pair with specific language skills? Our children will be brought up as bilingual (English and French), so it wouldn't be fair on the Au Pair if she didn't know any French.
Many thanks