Are you reaching the point where you feel that you need an extra pair of hands around your house? Ever thought about hiring a private member of staff to help you? Whether that is helping with child or pet care, there are plenty of benefits for doing so. Of course, if you haven’t done this before, you may have some concerns or questions, and this is completely understandable. Saying that, here are the top 3 reasons why you should consider hiring private staff through a private household agency as opposed to bringing on the self-employed.
In a Nutshell: Why Hire Private Household Staff?
Look, we might be stating the obvious here. But, there are many reasons why homeowners might choose to hire private household staff. Life can get chaotic at times, and sometimes it can get a little bit overwhelming for some (especially those with growing families and young children). We get it! We are all human, and sometimes we are completely unable to stay on top of it all. The solution – hire a private member of household staff to help you deal with your day-to-day life. Here’s what they can help you with!
Childcare and Daily Child Related Duties
Childcare and daily child related duties are one of the biggest reasons why parents choose to employ private household staff. This can also include staff to help at any stage of the parenting lifecycle, including maternity support to schooling tutors. Having someone to help you with childcare will not only make a huge difference to you but will improve the lives of your children too. If you have a newborn baby, you could also learn a great deal from an experienced parent or maternity nurse. You could ask them for advice and if they have any valuable parenting experience they can share with you.
Property Maintenance
A housekeeper can do so much more than just keep your house clean and tidy. They can do your shopping for you, take care of your children when you are not around and even cook the food. Even better, most of the time, you do not need to even let them know what tasks you want them to get done. They will just get on with it and use their own initiative to ensure your house is exactly the way you want it to be.
You could also consider employing a lady’s maid if you feel like you need daily assistance with your outfits. What about a chauffeur to get you and your family from “a to b”? No more worrying about the school run or getting stuck in morning and evening traffic!
Personal Assistance Style Tasks
We all have tasks and things we need to do that we dislike. That’s just the way of life. But, what if we were to say that you could offboard these tasks to someone who would be more than happy to help? A personal assistant can do just that. Anything like filing tax returns, paying in cheques, sorting out your diary and organising your paperwork can be a thing of the past. If you employ the services of a personal assistant, you will find your life becomes far less stressful.
Things to Consider When Hiring Private Household Staff
When hiring a domestic member of staff, there are a few things that you need to consider. Firstly, if you are living in the UK, it doesn’t matter what salary you agree on paying – it has to be over the national minimum wage by law. You also need to be clued up on the legal requirements surrounding employment, including days off and how long private household staff can work before needing a break.
It would help if you thought of it from an employer’s viewpoint – you might be bringing on a private household employee. But, they are still an employee, and you are still their employer. This means you have the same equal amount of responsibility as any other employer. You need to have systems in place to register them as an employee, and you are responsible for paying their tax and national insurance.
Of course, you do have the option of bringing on someone who is self-employed. This can save the hassle of doing all of what we just mentioned, but this isn’t really something we would recommend. Having a full-time employee offers far more security and the peace of mind knowing you have a dedicated member of staff that has your best interests in mind. Additionally, if you spend the time trying to find someone who is a perfect fit, you want them to help on a long-term basis and be reliable too.
