How to Find and Recruit a Great Nanny in Bangkok

Before we moved to Bangkok, one of our biggest questions was how to find and recruit a great nanny in Bangkok…

Finding, recruiting and retaining a nanny who is a good fit for your family can be a bit of a minefield at the best of times, never mind when you’re outside of your home country, maybe don’t speak the local language and are unfamiliar with the local traditions in baby and child-care.

We have had a fantastic experience in recruiting and welcoming our nanny into our family in Bangkok and I’m going to share some of the advice we received as well as some things we’ve learned along the way ourselves. A few common questions are answered below, and we welcome hearing other’s experiences, lessons and advice in addition to this.

Where to find candidates?

We started our search for a nanny before we arrived in Bangkok in the hopes that we may be able to line someone up to start helping us as soon as possible after our arrival.

Ask your organization for references: If you are arriving in Bangkok to work with a particular organization, or with a study program, or some other network to which you will become a part, you could ask them if they have any recommendations or resources for you. Our first step was to connect with our employer that was bringing us to Bangkok. They have a huge number of employees based here and so they have a lot of experience and expect questions from newcomers around where to look to find a nanny. They were able to share resources with us, for example, a couple of adverts from other employees leaving Bangkok to head home or to another country who were trying to help their nanny to find their next employer here in Bangkok.

The benefit of this is that usually the recommendations hold true and the candidates are as your co-employee describe (they’re not passing off a nanny who is not great at their job). There is also a greater possibility that if you are coming from the same country and similar culture as the person making the recommendation, you may hold similar expectations and norms on how things should be done in the household and with child care.

Join the “Expat Mummy Club, Bangkok” Facebook group: This a great all-round resource for expat parents in the Bangkok area, and one issue that makes a common appearance for discussion is the availability of nannies for hire, how to hire and (unfortunately) fire nannies, advice on how to work with nannies, what the pay rate should be etc. It’s possible to find short-term, longer-term, part-time, full-time, short-notice options for child care in this group as they are posted.

Join Bangkok Mothers and Babies International (BAMBI): Another great place for networking and finding information, advice and support in general is the BAMBI group which welcomes expat parents to come together at various events each week. At events, playgroups, breastfeeding group discussions etc. you can connect with the organizers and with other parents participating in the event and ask if they know of any great nannies available, or any agency they might recommend.

Contact child care agencies: There are a whole host of nanny agencies in Bangkok who maintain a list of nannies available. This is a much less personal option than the two options above, but can be very effective, especially for finding help on short notice. There is not one in particular that I would recommend, but they are a popular option, and a quick search on google will bring up many agencies to contact – a few popular ones are kiidu, Bangkok Nannies, Nitiporn’s Professional Nanny Agency and Ayasan.

Preparing to interview a nanny

Before you begin the interview process, it’s important to identify for your family what are the role and responsibilities that you would like your nanny to perform, what are your priorities in those functions, and if you have any specific way you would like them to be done. Decide how many days or hours per week you would like help e.g. full-time of part-time. Do you need help just in the afternoon once your young children come back from morning playschool, or all day if your children stay home or you would like the nanny to take them to baby-groups, for example, or do you need help in the evening?

If you have space within your home, you may also think about whether you would like them to live-in with you, or live out in their own accommodations. Some nannies prefer live-in because this saves them on accommodation and commuting transport costs, as well as a lengthy commute in a large city like Bangkok, and some prefer to live in their own place where they have more freedom from their workplace and more of a private life to themselves.

A live-in nanny can be helpful in a situation, for example, where you have a very young baby and may need a lot of support even during nighttime, or if your partner travels a lot or you are a single parent. The trade-off is that some people do not like having someone who is not a family member in their home all the time, they prefer to have some private time. It’s important to think through your preferences, what you think your needs are and how you think you will feel working with the nanny in different situations.

It’s a good idea to ask them to come to your home for the interview so that they can see your home where they may be working, its size, location, and any maid-quarters if the nanny is to be live-in. However, if you have not yet arrived in Bangkok, it’s also possible to do an interview via skype or some other online video or call chat to get to know the candidate. Video chat is better than a voice call from the point of view that it obviously allows you to see how the person expresses themself, and allows you to make a greater personal connection with them ‘eye-to-eye’ so to speak.

Some ideas on what to ask in the nanny interview

A few things that are important to keep in mind while you interview are that the interviewee is communicating with you most likely in a language in which they are not fluent and so they will take time to think of answers and how to best express themselves. They also may not be feeling at their most confident while trying to do this, and the Thais can be quite reserved in new company anyway, so it is a good idea to smile often and give them as much time as they need to answer your questions. If you ask a question and you feel the response doesn’t answer it, you can ask the question in a different way – use different vocabulary and re-phrase things as they may not have understood the question first time around.

It is also important to ask them if they have any questions for you, so that you can identify what are the important factors to them in any future employment relationship they may have with you, and discuss these. It could bring to light something either that is important for them but that may not work for you (thereby avoiding you a lot of stress of hiring them, finding out later and having to let them go), or something that is important for them that you are more than happy to provide.

For example, with our nanny she indicated she would prefer to have two days off per week (Saturday and Sunday) as she likes to take weekend trips to go hike and fulfill her passion for photography, and she was willing to accept a lower salary than her previous salary to do this. This worked for us and is something we were happy to agree to, and so it has been a set-up different from many other families where work is provided 6 days per week, but is something that I believe has improved our working relationship from the get-go as she appreciates that time off.

You can ask them about their previous experience, particularly with children that may be a similar age as your kids now, and what they did to support that family. And you can ask for references from previous employers. The interviewee may even bring a copy of these to the interview, as our nanny did.

You can ask about any training they may have received in, for example, baby and child CPR, child development or anything else related to the care of children. But keep in mind that the nanny profession is not as professionalized as you might expect it to be in somewhere like the US in terms of training on child care, development, education, nutrition etc., so it’s not necessarily a negative sign if they don’t have this.

Is the correct immigration paperwork in place, if needed?

It is very common to find that many of the nannies you connect with will be Burmese or Filipino. Some English speaking families prefer to hire Burmese and Filipino nannies in particular because their ability to communicate in English is usually at a higher level than many Thai nannies. However, this introduces the challenge of ensuring that the nanny has the necessary immigration paperwork – work permit or pink card (temporary work permit) – in place and, if not, you, as the employer, will be responsible for setting this up should you decide to hire this person. Many families decide the nanny is so wonderful it is worth investing the time and money in pursuing the appropriate paperwork, other families decide not so.

Gaining the work permit for your non-Thai nanny has become more challenging recently, particularly in the latter half of 2018, as the Thai government has increasingly been implementing a crack-down on illegal migrants. The Bangkok Post reports “according to the 2017 executive decree on the management of migrant workers, legal action will be pursued against both employers and unregistered staff in the event of any visa-related transgressions.” The Migration Policy Institute offer a concise summary of government actions in recent years and the consequences in this article. “Migrants can be fined between 2,000 to 100,000 Baht and/or imprisoned for up to 5 years” and “employers can face fines of 400,000 to 800,000 Baht per worker”, which is a serious amount of money to have to pay for both the labourer and the employer, so you don’t want to get caught in this situation.

To avoid this, it is necessary to obtain a Non-immigrant visa for your domestic worker and to then apply for the work permit. This can be a complicated process and vary in different situations and so I’m not able to provide legal advice on how to go about this. As a family, we found an excellent Thai nanny and were relieved we didn’t have to deal with the visa and work permit issue which seems to have gotten stricter in the past two years since the executive decree on Managing the Work of Aliens became effective in June 2017. However, for more information on this, KPMG Thailand has prepared a thorough report with helpful updates on regulations and their implications.

The International Labour Organization prepared an excellent report “Worker, Helper, Auntie, Maid?” on the working conditions and attitudes experienced by migrant domestic workers in Thailand and Malaysia. It also explain the difference between “fictive kin” and employment contracts (more below).

Should you have a contract with your nanny?

In Thailand, it is not uncommon for the domestic help be thought of as “fictive kin” or false kin, which is a term used by anthropologists and sociologists, but basically means that the domestic help is treated as family – they are taken care of and provided security in the family and household. And it is believed by some that this is a strong enough connection to ensure the relationship works well in both direction: “it is governed by emotion and reciprocity”. Domestic workers like this because it captures the emotional parts of their role in the household that a contract does not, and employers like it because of the flexibility and discretion it offers them. It also provides both parties greater freedom to end the relationship, and quickly. The risk though is what happens when an employee needs support and the family does not provide it, for example, when the nanny is sick or gives birth?

Unfortunately, in Thailand domestic help seems to fall between the cracks of government department regulation: “Domestic work is not included in the purview of labour ministries because it is related to families, and not regulated by family or gender ministries because it is related to labour”.

For our family, it felt more familiar to us to have a written contract that provided some guaranteed protections for our employee and for ourselves, in addition to any protections that do exist under Thai law. The contract we created sets out some expectations for our working relationship and, importantly, provided us an opportunity to discuss upfront the details around holidays, overtime, basic hours, work-free days of the week, start and finish times each day, role and responsibilities. Having this agreed in advance, I believe, has helped us to have smoother working relations in our time together. There is, of course, scope for maneuvrability, for example, to offer additional holidays to those mentioned in the contract, but the basic minimums are at least guaranteed in the contract.

Guidance for setting up a contract

Our aim was to be as fair to our nanny as possible and to be in compliance with Thai laws. A very helpful resource that a friend referred me to for this purpose was “My Fair Home” an initiative by the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF), and supported by the ILO. In addition to informing about Thai labor laws, as well as norms and expectations in the Thai market (e.g. to receive a yearly bonus in the sum of one months salary), it also excellent in that it provides versions in English, in Thai and in Burmese. (However, it’s also important to keep in mind that even some Thai domestic help do not speak Thai fluently. Often domestic help arrives in the major cities of Thailand, like Bangkok, from various less affluent, more rural provinces. For example, they may be Karen from the Thai-Myanmar border area, in which case they will likely speak one of the Karen languages or if they are from a Northeastern province they may speak Isan. Nonetheless, it is an excellent resource to be able to have the contract in Thai, English and Burmese.)

What should be included in a contract?

The contract provided by My Fair Home is compliant with Thai law and also includes ‘good practice’ measures by specifying details like:

• hours of work per week (must not exceed 48 hours, otherwise overtime rates kick-in, and maximum overtime is 36 hours per week);
• rest periods between working days should be at least 11 hours;
• weekly rest day(s) (also taking into consideration their day of religious worship if they have one;
• specific protections for anyone you hire under the age of 18 years;
• 60 minutes of paid break time for every 5 hours worked;
• minimum wage is 37.5 baht per hour (although I highly recommend you do NOT pay such a low rate) and must be paid directly to the worker;
• overtime is 1.5 times normal rate, and 3 times normal rate if on a holiday;
• custom in Thailand is to pay an end of year bonus equivalent to one month’s wages;
• minimum annual increase of 3%;
• paid annual leave is required, 90 days maternity leave is required (45 days paid by employer and 45 days paid by Social Security Office), and additional compassionate leave or training leave if you feel appropriate;
• requirement to provide safety equipment e.g. protective gloves if dealing with harmful chemicals;
• since domestic workers are excluded from the protection of the Workmen Compensation Fund, its is advisable to cover medical expenses for illness or injury related to work;

What should you pay the nanny?

There is broad variation in what a nanny is paid. It can depend upon whether they are live-in (less pay) or live-out (more pay), how many days they work, how many hours they work, what their previous family paid them, how many years experience they have, whether they have experience with your child’s age range. It can also depend on other factors like what country and culture you are from – some nationalities have a reputation for paying higher than others, and can depend on what the nanny’s friends are paid, setting their expectation of what they should be paid.

The Expat Mommy group has a member who does an approximately annual survey of what the group members pay their nannies, and what benefits they offer. This can be a helpful guideline to get a sense of the labor market in Bangkok.

To provide a ball-park, the lowest salary I have heard of, as an expat, is 16,000 baht for a full-time 5 day live-in nanny, and the highest salary I have heard of is 33,000 baht for a full-time 6 day live-out nanny.

What other benefits might you include?

Some families, particularly those with live-in nannies, provide all meals for the nanny – generally sharing the meals that the nanny prepares for the family.

Some families provide transport costs for live-out nannies. This is generally calculated based on the daily cost of transport multiplied by the number of trips they must make each month.

Families should generally have some medical insurance for the nanny.

Some families pay into retirement savings and some contribute towards children’s school fees.

Some families who hire a nanny from outside Thailand, cover the transport costs of one trip home annually. We interviewed a nanny from Myanmar and she made this request explaining that her previous employer provided that and it is common practice.

Some families decide not to include any of these benefits but to provide a salary that is sufficient to include costs involved in transport and meals.

The customary health check-up

Once you decide you would like to hire a particular nanny, it is common for the employer to ask the future employee to undergo some basic health check-ups, especially if you have babies or young children. The employer will pay for the costs of these tests, and the employee will schedule according to their preference but as soon as possible if they and you are keen for them to start quickly. Many international hospitals in Bangkok have pre-employment health check programs specific for domestic help, and include tests for TB, HIV, hepatitis A.

A trial period with your nanny

It’s perfectly acceptable to set up a trial period of, for example, one month or three months to provide both you and the nanny time to decide if this set-up and working relationship is working for you both. At the end of the trial period you can have a discussion that things are going great and you’d like it to continue, or you are happy having them with your family but there are just a couple of things you would like to adjust, or that, unfortunately, you just don’t feel that it’s a good fit.

Coming to the end of employment

Of course, it goes without saying that you must pay them all the wages they have earned since their start date until the agreed termination date (according to your contract). If things go very badly and you feel you need to ask them to stop coming to work even before the end of their notice period, you must still pay them until the end of the notice period (payment in lieu). Under Thai law, this must be paid within three days of termination, otherwise interest will accrue on the amount due. It is appropriate that employers should give advance notice of at least one pay period (at least one month) before dismissing domestic staff. But if the employee decides to end employment, you need only pay for the hours actually worked, and any accumulated annual leave pay. Severance pay can be included within the contract and may be, for example, one or two months pay or linked to the length of service.

Happy searching!

I hope this has provided some useful and concrete guidance on how to go about finding a nanny for your family. May this help you find someone who is a great fit for you and your family.