How Working From Home Impacts Babysitting Costs

How Working From Home Impacts Babysitting Costs

By Babysits
5 min read

Work from home has become the norm for many parents, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need childcare. In fact, more parents have been resorting to hiring babysitters while working from home -- but does babysitting cost the same when the parent is working from home? Hiring a babysitter while working from home, does it cost just as much? 

What is the average cost of babysitting, and how does working from home impact this

Babysits analyzed the rates offered by it’s thousands of babysitters to bring you the average rates for babysitting across cities in many countries. But there’s a hitch!

Work from home has become the norm for many parents, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need childcare. So, parents have been resorting to hiring babysitters while working from home, (and companies have been supporting this!).

That begs the question: does babysitting cost just as much if you are working from home? 

Babysits sent surveys to 5000 babysitters about their take on babysitting while the parent is working from home.

71.6% of the babysitters who responded indicated that they would not accept or offer to be paid less if the parent is working from home while they are babysitting. Some of the main reasons why:

  • “Because I’ll still be doing the same job as I would be when parents are not there.”“Great question, but because they are “working” we are to ensure they can do their job (reporting, emails, zoom calls) as seamlessly as possible. So the expectations are that we do the same tasks with the kids and make sure they can do their work.If anything it’s sometimes harder when the parents are home because the kids know they’re around so want to go to them, or know that their authority trumps us so it’s harder in those respects, thus why I wouldn’t be dropping the rate.”
  • “Not unless I was sharing the care with them.”

The remaining 28.4% of babysitters answered that accepting less pay when babysitting while the parent worked from home would be something they would consider. What they had to say regarding why:

  • “Parent is on hand for questions and possible interactions with the babysitter and child or assistance so the babysitter does not have full responsibility during the babysitting period.”
  • “Prefer not to but if it helps the family I am willing to.”

But, what do parents think?

We sent surveys to 3200 parents, here’s what they thought:

Parents seem to think the same as babysitters! 68% of the respondents indicated that they expected to pay just as much when they hire a babysitter while working from home. The remaining 32% expected to pay less. Some of the reasons why:

  • “They have a job to do and if we are not contributing to the care of the children whilst the babysitter is "on the job" then they deserve a proper wage. They are doing the same job”.
  • “If I was solidly working, I think it's irrelevant if I'm home, however if I was in and out, and available and it was a case of them just helping rather than full charge, then perhaps a bit less might be a consideration.”

So, can you pay less for a babysitter if you’re working from home?

At the end of the day, that’s up to the individual babysitter and parent, and the situation. Babysitters and parents can always negotiate their own rates. Based on the mixed results of the survey, we can safely assume that: 

Most babysitters (71.6%) will expect to be paid the same rate as they are doing the same work, but some may be flexible to less compensation, if for example the childcare burden is shared by the parent or if it is easier on the family. And most parents (68%) expect to pay their babysitter just as much as they would whether or not they were working from home.

how wfh impacts the cost of babysitting

Interested in the average babysitting rate in cities across different countries? Check out some of the rates via the links below!

Join the Babysitting Community!

Sign up for free