Salary recommendations for babysitters and nannies

What is a fair wage for child carers?

The wages must always be negotiated by the parties. A general salary recommendation for babysitters, nannies or childminders is not possible because the tasks in relation to educational responsibility, regularity, place of care and household duties differ greatly. In addition, these forms of care are legally different:

For adolescent babysitters, who occasionally supervise children at their place of residence and have no housekeeping duties, there is no binding wage. Our hourly wage calculator can give you a rough recommendation.
Older babysitters are subject to the federal government’s normal employment contract for housekeeping if they are at least 18 years old and work an average of at least 5 hours per week. The mandatory minimum wage then applies.
nannys are employed in the private household, take on an educational and pedagogical responsibility for the children and often help in the household. As a result, they fall within the scope of the federal government’s normal employment contract (NAV) on housekeeping. Therefore, if they work an average of 5 hours or more a week, the mandatory minimum wage applies to Nannys.
childminders, looking after children outside the family are not employed by the family, but work independently. You therefore also determine yourself how high the compensation for your performance should be.

minimum wage

From a workload of 5 hours a week, the mandatory minimum wage applies. It is divided into different categories. It is the gross wage without a holiday allowance. Of that still posts deducted from social security, which is why the amount paid out is lower. Experience has shown that the average wages across Switzerland are around 20 percent above the minimum wage.

qualification	minimum wage in francs per hour
Unskilled and without work experience	CHF 18.90
Untrained with at least four years of professional experience in housekeeping / childcare	CHF 20.75
Learned with a federal certificate of competence (EFZ) as a specialist in housekeeping or with at least three years of basic vocational training that is suitable for the housekeeping activity to be performed.	CHF 22.85
Learned with a federal professional certificate (EBA) as a housekeeping practitioner or with a completed two-year basic vocational training that is suitable for the housekeeping activity to be performed.	CHF 20.75

Overnight Package

If the babysitter or nanny stays overnight, an additional wage benefit should be agreed. The easiest way to do this is in the form of a so-called overnight break. That the caregiver receives a lump sum for the care including accommodation. How much this is at your own discretion; but of course this should be fair and adapted to the care requirements. For example, if your children sleep well through the night and the The babysitter or the nanny can spend a quiet night, the flat rate will be different than when looking after an infant or restlessly sleeping children with many sleep interruptions.

In addition, the amount of the lump sum also depends on how long the babysitter or nanny stays overall. If she starts at 5 p.m. and stays until 10 a.m., then understandably a different amount is appropriate than if she only comes shortly before the children are put to bed and leaves immediately after getting up in the morning.

It should also be noted that, depending on the hourly wages paid, different night rates are naturally also paid – for example, a trained childcare specialist will claim a different wage than the 14-year-old student without extensive childcare experience. It is therefore difficult to provide a uniform guideline. We recommend that you use common sense for the amount of the overnight package and remain fair. That Just think about what you would pay your babysitter or nanny for regular evening care (e.g. from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.) and then add an additional amount in the case of an overnight stay. Please also remember to discuss this in advance with the caregiver so that they can adjust to the additional flat rate for the overnight stay.

Billing type

The parties have to decide how they want to measure the wages. Hourly wages can be agreed if the number and duration of the assignments vary. Monthly wage on the other hand is an advantage for regular and long-term employment relationships in which the domestic help has a fixed number weeks Holidays per year.

What is a fair wage for child carers?

minimum wage

Overnight Package

Billing type

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