A How-to Guide for Employers: The Process of a Successful Nanny Performance Review

Nanny performance reviews not only help your nanny grow professionally, but they also provide an opportunity for you to formally assess the nanny’s work and decide if any increased duties or responsibilities merit an increase in salary. Reviews also support your nanny’s professional development.

However, if you’ve never been an employer who has conducted performance reviews, you might feel a little lost on where to begin and how to help your nanny have a productive review.

We’re here to guide you through the whole process from beginning to end. Continue reading to learn how to conduct a successful performance review for your nanny.

Prepare for the Review

Before you are ready to begin a performance review with your nanny, you must prepare yourself and your nanny.

Review your nanny’s handbook to refresh your memory on your nanny’s current duties. Now is also a good time to check your nanny’s logbook for hours. Is your nanny punctual arriving at your home? Is your nanny taking on a lot of extra requested hours? Is your nanny currently performing a lot of additional responsibilities that were not originally in the handbook?

If you have previously conducted a performance review with your nanny, it’s also time to look over your notes and observations that you might’ve made since the last review. What areas did you discuss together for improvement, and has your nanny shown improvement in those areas?

Next, you should have a private meeting with your nanny and let them know about the upcoming review. No one likes to be surprised, so help your nanny be prepared as well by reviewing their work agreement with them and discussing what areas will be evaluated using a Nanny Performance Review Form.

Work together with your nanny to determine a date to hold the review and give your nanny a copy of the review form for them to fill out and bring to the review. You will also fill out that review form about your nanny before the review date.

During the Review

When the day arrives for your nanny’s performance review, make sure to hold the meeting in a space away from the children and clear of distractions.
As the employer, it is your job to lead the discussion. Start by highlighting a few strengths of your nanny that you have noticed. Does your nanny usually come up with great activities to do with the children? Does your nanny often help your children with their homework? Ease your nanny in the review by sharing your observations of what they are doing really well.

Once you have shown gratitude and appreciation toward your nanny for their hard work, you should share with your nanny a few areas that you want to see improvement. Discuss suggestions with your nanny about how to improve. Be careful to frame these suggestions as helpful, constructive criticism. After you have identified a few areas to work on, ask your nanny if you can work together to think of ways to grow and improve.

You should also discuss a couple of simple goals for your nanny to work on before her next review. For example, maybe you’d like your nanny to help with potty training your child or to help get the children more involved with chores around the house. If you discuss a few of these goals now, your nanny knows to focus on and prioritize those goals moving forward.

As you conduct your discussion, ask your nanny about their perspective on what you have highlighted. Do you and your nanny hold similar perspectives? Allow your nanny to provide you with feedback as well. Try to be an active listener and allow this to be a time to openly communicate.

Once you and your nanny have had time to discuss all of the areas you’d like to address, make sure that you are clear on your nanny’s views by taking note of concerns. Be open to reconsidering your nanny’s evaluation if new information merits a change in your assessment. If so, make changes to your evaluation accordingly.

After the Review

When your meeting has concluded, either you or your nanny are free to make any updates to the review before you sign. Once you both agree, both of you should sign and date the performance review form. This indicates that you held a review, not that you agree with everything that was said. 

Give your nanny a copy of their evaluation to keep. Keep your own copy as well.

Your nanny’s performance review is the time for you to reassess your nanny's feedback and duties. Take time to analyze your nanny’s responsibilities and duties to make any raises in salary, provide additional benefits, or to make any other updates to their nanny agreement if their duties and responsibilities have increased over the year or their work merits a raise. 

As you add duties for your nanny to perform, you should expect to increase your nanny’s salary. Raises in salary should be given at least every year, as detailed in this article by Homework Solutions.  

Recognize Your Nanny and Help Them Grow

An annual performance review is standard in many professions and shows that you are following professional procedures and giving your nanny credit for their hard work. 

Reviews support upleveling your nanny’s skills by identifying areas in which your nanny excels, and also areas where additional training might be necessary. In turn, your nanny can learn how to support your family to the best of their ability.