10 Ways a Nanny Could Violate Your Trust


Posted on January 16, 2012 by admin | in Background Check

If you’ve followed our recommendations and screened candidates carefully, preferably with the aid of a reputable agency, then chances are you’ll never have to concern yourself with today’s topic. But we’d be remiss if we ignored the possibility, so consider the following a serviceable framework for use when searching for the right nanny. We give you 10 ways in which a nanny could violate your trust.

  1. Child Abuse – First and foremost in every parent’s mind is their children’s welfare. As such, an employer should scrutinize a candidate’s background carefully, checking state sex offender registries, also contacting and verifying references.
  2. Theft – Your nanny will have complete access to your home and property. If it isn’t locked away, then you are trusting your nanny with its security. She’ll have security codes, a set of keys, even credit cards for shopping. So it’s OK to work gradually on giving her 100% access, until you’re 100% at ease with it.
  3. Negligence – Nanny cams are great and all, but you can’t have your nanny on camera 24/7, nor would you want to. You’ll be trusting her to be mindful of your children at all times, to not fall asleep on the job, to drive carefully.
  4. Unauthorized Guests – In most cases, parents would prefer that a nanny not have visitors in their home without prior approval. In fact, by bringing a guest into their home, a nanny is now asking her employers to entrust their children and home to someone else, whom they may not even know.
  5. Hours Worked – A working agreement between the employer and nanny may provide for the nanny to document her work hours in a logbook or computer spreadsheet. In those cases, the employer is trusting the nanny to keep an accurate record of actual hours worked.
  6. Overtime – Call it sand-bagging. Since overtime is premium pay, there’s incentive in working longer hours, which is the whole idea. Except that it’s also tempting to strrr-etch the work week in order to make some extra cash. A nanny needs to make an honest effort to complete her assigned responsibilities within her normal work hours.
  7. False Information – Providing misleading, inaccurate or fraudulent information or personal data in order to secure employment,  or avoid consequences. This is one area where enlisting the help of a nanny agency really pays off.
  8. Confidentiality – A nanny is essentially a part of the family she works for, and as such is privy to much of the family’s personal business. Particularly in the case of high profile employers, a violation of trust such as disclosing privileged information is a serious matter.
  9. Working Agreements –  Breaking the agreement without due cause, such as quitting prior to the agreed term in order to take a higher paying job, is another trust issue. Employer and nanny should make it a point to periodically evaluate the job together.
  10. Hanky-Panky – Let’s face it, there’s a fairly well-established history of, shall we say, extracurricular activity between nanny and  certain family member. This is definitely a violation of trust, not to mention vows.
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