Almost there . . .
Some Mummies mention that they dare not confront the Nanny while she is on the job for fear of how the baby could be treated afterwards. Others recounted how they suffered helplessness, high blood pressure, and depression and could only count down to the day the Nanny would leave their home. The best they can do at the moment is to make complaints on personal blogs, forums, and social media only after the Nanny leaves their home. Unfortunately, these complaints are unable to prevent new Mummies from having the same experience. The complaints go undiscovered on the Internet mainly due to a lack of visibility and accessibility. MummyNanny addresses this issue with the Complaint Radar. It allows you to find Mummy complaints that already exist on the Internet in one place and also allows you to submit newly discovered ones. Based on lessons learned from these complaints, here are the 7 most common reasons why Mummies have bad experiences with confinement Nannies, whether engaged through freelance or Agencies. One of the recipes for confinement problems is when you simply settle for a Nanny who was suggested by a friend or another Nanny. Just selecting only one Nanny from a list provided by an Agency is no different, whether or not your choice was based on previous recommendations. Take a couple of days to select a Nanny. Start by creating a shortlist of your most preferred candidates. Then give each of them a call to introduce themselves. After that, add them to your WhatsApp contacts and get to know them better through chat. Leave messages and allow them to respond at their own pace. After communicating with the shortlisted Nannies for a while, you will gather knowledge from each of them and have a better idea about all the things you need to take into consideration as well as the important questions you need to ask. Based on previous complaints, another factor that often leads to misunderstanding between a Mummy and her confinement Nanny is the lack of house rules. Without a clear set of house rules, the Nanny may not be aware of her boundaries in your house. Imagine a new member is joining your family and you need them to know how things are usually done in the house. Start by making a list of the dos and don’ts in your house. For example, a family living on the fifth floor with a 4-year old might say “always keep the window closed for safety reasons”. Next, extend the list to things the Nanny is not expected to do. You might want to go through the previous complaints to get more ideas. Most Nannies have their own rules and job scope. Some of them draw a fine line between the duties of a maid and those of a confinement Nanny. The professional thing for them to do is to inform you about these rules before you make any commitment. However, some may fail to do so while others may leave out some points they think you should already know. Unfortunately, some Mummies only learn about certain important aspects of the Nanny’s job scope during the confinement. The differences in expectations eventually lead to friction along the way. To avoid unpleasant surprises, insist that each shortlisted Nanny submits her complete job scope in written form. This can also be used as a reference to settle misunderstandings that may arise in the future. Nannies can easily create their job scope here. Without a direct line of communication with your shortlisted Nannies, there is no way for you to know how much they are willing to abide by your house rules. Also, you will not be able to ask them to provide you with a complete list of their job scope. Ensure that you can directly communicate with each Nanny in your shortlist. When Mummies share their bad experiences with confinement Nannies recommended by people they know, some comments suggest that the problems could have been avoided if they engaged an Agency instead. On the other hand, some responses to complaints about Nannies engaged through Agencies advise new Mummies to hire Nannies recommended by people they know instead. The previous complaints show that neither of these beliefs is true. That is why is it not safe to make a decision solely based on one of these standpoints. The choice to engage a Nanny based on a friend’s recommendation or through an Agency should not be based on a belief that it is the safer option. Instead, it should be based on your instincts after getting a better understanding of your shortlisted Nannies. Always bear in mind that nobody is more qualified than yourself to determine a suitable Nanny for your confinement. The sad reality is that, unlike most careers, a Nanny’s performance on the job hardly affects her career and reputation, whether she is a freelancer or affiliated with an Agency. From a business standpoint, most Nannies are not bothered by bad recommendations because they are always dealing with new and inexperienced Mummies rather than returning customers. Therefore, these problems just continue without affecting their business. Furthermore, getting blacklisted by one Agency does not prevent a Nanny from getting assignments with another Agency. This has continued because there has been no single platform to confirm the authenticity of Nannies and also access their previous records — until now. MummyNanny addresses this problem through the Nanny Evaluation System. With the system, Nannies will strive to put on their best performance for each assignment they get through MummyNanny because they will be publicly evaluated after the job and their reputation is at stake. It is reassuring to know that there will be another option if things turn out unexpectedly with a Nanny. However, the idea of getting a replacement Nanny causes more harm than good. Without the assurance that your feedback will have significant implications on the Nanny’s career and reputation, any lady can simply become a confinement Nanny and claim to have some years of experience on the job. After all, she can always be assigned to another Mummy if she is replaced. This leaves a lot of room for unqualified Nannies to be put in charge of Mummies and babies and will only cause more bad experiences in the future. Entirely relying on the idea of replacements means that there is no guarantee you are receiving a professional and worry-free confinement service. So instead, ensure that you will be able to publicly evaluate the Nanny’s performance and it will have an impact on her reputation as a confinement Nanny. For instance, Mummies who have used the Nanny Evaluation System agree that it brings out the best in Nannies, as their assessment determines the Nanny’s rank and reputation. Congratulations for making it this far. By now you understand that there is no shortcut to this. Just like the saying goes: easy come easy go. It’s not every day you have confinement so it is worth putting in the effort to ensure that you do not have a bad experience. We hope every Mummy will go the additional mile to avoid disappointment. Repeating the same old process will not give different results, so let us join our efforts in creating a better confinement experience for every Mummy out there.
Based on our interviews with Mummies after their confinement, almost 60% of them wish they had done a proper interview before making a down payment. Some common complaints include: Passing the job to another Nanny; last-minute changes & cancellation; additional charges after confirmation; refusal to refund the down payment; bad manners; over-demanding; refusing certain tasks on the job; poor hygiene; and endangering the baby. There have also been recent reports of scams, whereby someone posing as a freelance confinement Nanny takes the down payment and disappears. To prevent these problems from happening to new Mummies over and over again, we did extensive research and came up with this guide. Malaysian Nannies require a visa to work in Singapore. Refer to The Step-by-step Guide on how to apply for a Work Permit for your Confinement Nanny in Singapore. Determine the Nannies you wish to interview. If you made a job post on Facebook, a lot of Nannies available during your Expected Date of Delivery (EDD) usually respond, so it will be difficult to conduct a proper interview with each of them. This is when you filter out all those who do not meet your key criteria. Key criteria include: Simply being available during your EDD is not enough. You want to be sure that the Nanny you choose has enough free days before the start date of your job. This is to avoid cases of no-show or the job being transferred to an unknown Nanny if your delivery is earlier than expected. You need to be comfortable with the Nanny’s salary for the number of days you want to secure her services. The freelance community is packed with experienced confinement Nannies so there is usually enough of them who will meet your budget. Do you have specific meal preferences such as vegan meals; halal meals; traditional Malay, Chinese, or Indian confinement dishes; or western dishes? If your answer is yes, then you need to consider only Nannies who know how to prepare your type of meals. Communication is key to successful confinement. You should only hire a Nanny who can communicate fluently in the language(s) of your choice. Some Nannies require a separate room for themselves and the baby to sleep, while others are fine with sleeping in the same room as the Mummy. Therefore, you can only hire a Nanny who you have enough room to accommodate. We have created an easier way for you to filter out Nannies, which is by asking them to create an account on MummyNanny. With MummyNanny, you can select your key criteria from a list and only the qualified Nannies will be displayed. You can also view each Nanny’s calendar to decide if they have enough free time before your EDD. The platform is free for everyone to join so a Nanny who refuses to create an account upon your request might not be authentic. Make a list of interview questions to determine whether a Nanny is suitable for your confinement. Here are some points we suggest you consider when formulating interview questions: You need to know the things each Nanny does and the things that are out of their job scope. Ensure their job scopes are clearly stated to avoid conflicts in the future. It is important to take note of the payment process of each Nanny. The salary is usually split into 2 parts — the Down Payment and the Remaining Salary. You need to know the exact day each part of the salary will be paid. Some additional charges may come in form of ang pows, postnatal massage fees, staircase fees, house chore fees, extra cooking fees (e.g., cooking for the entire family), health insurance, etc. Therefore, it is also important to have a clear payment agreement so that you will not find yourself being charged unexpected fees in the future. For this, we suggest you ask the Nanny to provide a list of all her additional charges. It is also important to know each Nanny’s working hours and when they need to take their rest. Know the exact time and duration of their rest hours and try not to disturb them during this period so that they have enough energy to take care of your newborn for the remainder of the day. Some Nannies do not consider house chores as part of their job, so confirm what they do to keep the environment clean (e.g., cleaning after cooking). Their environmental and personal hygiene must meet your expectation so that you will not have problems with how she manages your house or handles the baby. Every Nanny takes care of babies differently, so find a way to access their level of experience and knowledge about baby care. Confinement is a period for the Mummy to recover from delivery after all. Hence, you need to understand how each Nanny plans to take care of you and determine whether it is up to your expectation. It is crucial to understand each Nanny’s procedure in case of any emergency. Find out how each Nanny will respond in case an unfortunate situation occurs. Ask each Nanny about the items that need to be purchased for your confinement. This could include the type of herbs, ingredients, house furniture, and home appliances or utensils. Try to make a list of the required items so that you do not over-purchase. Clarify what you do not want the Nanny to do or share with friends, colleagues, or others to protect you and your family’s privacy. For example, you may want to approve the photos she can share, or you may not want her inviting friends over. Mummies tend to be emotionally sensitive after delivery. To avoid disputes that may lead to episodes of high blood pressure and depression, try to determine each Nanny's personality to see if you can work with them during your confinement. A video call can give you more hints regarding your personality match. For Malaysian Nannies, ask each of them about their visa situation so that you know when to start the visa application process. Ask them the questions you formulated and take note of what you have agreed on because this will become the Terms of Service for the job. Ensure the selected Nanny agrees to abide by the Terms of Service before you make the down payment. Unfortunately, since the freelance community is open and lacking regulations, two things you cannot be sure of are getting a refund and receiving a professional service. Our solution to this is making the Nanny’s down payment through MummyNanny. This way, you can always get a refund because the Nanny will get the payment only after you confirm that she has arrived at your home. A portfolio will also be created for you and the Nanny so you are likely to receive a more professional service since you will publicly evaluate her performance after the job is complete. Stay in touch with the Nanny and keep her updated on your progress so that she knows when to arrive at your home. If you made the down payment through MummyNanny, you should evaluate her performance in the job portfolio and publish it after the confinement period. Take note that the Nanny can only see your evaluation after you publish the portfolio, so we encourage you to be as honest as possible. By taking part in this process, you will be doing future Mummies a lot of good and playing a very important role in advancing the freelance confinement community.
