When “I” was a nanny I was hired as contract labor. I did NOT have taxes withheld, I did NOT get paid cash where I did not claim it. The families that I worked for got a full statement at the end of the year for their taxes. I claimed my income each and every year according to that same statement. I paid my taxes in full.
So you need to make sure you inform the person you hire that YOU WILL be claiming their pay on your taxes and they WILL be required to claim this income on their taxes. THEY will need to pay their own taxes.
As contract labor you do not guarantee them any sort of hours per week, vacation pay, benefits, nothing. They come to YOUR home to babysit your kids and you pay them on the XX and the XX at a rate per hour or it could be a set amount that you either pay divided up or all at once on a certain day of the month.
For instance, the mom got paid once per month but the dad got paid every other week. So I got paid every other week by that mom.
Another mom got paid once per month and I got paid for the whole month the day after she got paid.
When they didn’t work I didn’t work. If they worked overtime I worked overtime. I was paid something like $2 per hour per child. This paid me about $800 per month. I went to work when the mom left for work in the morning at 8:15am and dad got home at 4pm. I had 1 kiddo home all day and one kiddo in half day kindergarten. The other mom worked all day as a teacher and so it was more 7:30-4.
Since both family’s that I worked for were teachers I knew going in that I was not going to be working on days out of school. I didn’t expect to work so I was not disappointed. I used the public school calendar as my work schedule.
I think a nanny is a good idea but you are stuck with them in your home and there is no one else for checks and balances. If you fire them you are out of luck.
In a full child care facility you have numerous teachers, a director, cook, and other staff. They are in and out of the rooms your child would be in. They can and do report any issues they see or hear going on. I like that knowledge, that the teachers are not “alone” with the kids all day and they have others in and out of their rooms where they can take breaks and have time away from the kids.
I hope you can find someone that you trust and that will take good care of your kids, it’s very hard to wonder if they are safe while you’re working all day.