Navigating the challenges of looking for a nanny in Mumbai

Two months after Aakanksha Singhrsquos parents left Mumbai for a trip abroad following the birth of her child it became extremely difficult for her to manage her job and the baby by herself Her husbandrsquos twoweek paternity leave had ended and he had to work from the office five days a weekThe Powaibased engineer had no choice but to look for a nanny She was already part of several ldquomomsrsquo WhatsApp groupsrdquo so she posted a message asking for nanny recommendations and the group which included mothers from across Mumbai sent dozens of suggestions for her areaUntil then she had relied on her mother who had looked after her and her baby But now she had to teach a stranger everything from scratchNannies at Maids 24X7 Agency interact with each other at their office in GoregaonShe wasnrsquot looking for a japa maidmdashthis is a specialised caregiver who supports both mother and baby in the initial postpartum period known as the japa period using traditional methods including full baby care postdelivery recovery massages and preparing nutritious meals to aid breastfeeding ldquoLuckily my mother was with me in the early months Now I needed someone to help me as I returned to my routinerdquo says Singh who works for a USbased auditing firmBut never in her wildest dreams had Singh imagined that finding a nanny would take nearly six months ldquoBoth my husband and I were sleeping less than four hours a day till we found a reliable handrdquo she saysSoon she realised the problem was quite common at least across Mumbai Her friends and people in the momsrsquo WhatsApp group had to go through months of trial and error hiring at least seven or eight nannies before finding the right oneFaiz udDin Hussain the owner of Maids 24X7 Agency at his office PicsSatej ShindeShe was surprised that even in Indiarsquos biggest and most advanced city there is no organised structure for hiring nannies Indiarsquos domestic help sector remains highly unregulated with no centralstate law or enforcement mechanism No formal body or union exists to address issues like job retention proper contracts or fair wages The closest thing to a formal body for domestic workers is The National Domestic Workersrsquo Movement NDWM but it focuses on protecting domestic workersrsquo rights rather than regulating the industry And due to lack of education most domestic workers remain unaware that such an organisation even existsAs a result this vast unorganised workforce is not only highly unreliable for nuclear families where both members work from offices but also prone to exploitation and high costsNo private companies offer reliable longterm nanny services with proper contracts in India We spoke to at least five agencies in Mumbai all of which operate through personal references and wordofmouth CVs No state or nationallevel company provides such services reliably Most are either local or hyperlocal operating in just suburbsAakanksha Singh engineer and mother of a oneyearoldThe families we interviewed revealed that many agencies with flashy websites and apps are often fraudulent Several mothers in Singhrsquos WhatsApp group confirmed they had been scammed by such servicesSunday midday spoke to Varsha Singh of Shree Gauri Manpower who has worked in this industry for over two decades Currently the secondincommand at the Chandivlibased company she has been a former nanny herself She says ldquoThis industry runs solely on trust Both the nanny and the family must like each other In many ways itrsquos like dating because human relationships are involved References from families are crucialmdashthey can be written or oralrdquoWhen asked how many people work with Shree Gauri Manpower Varsha replied ldquoTherersquos no fixed number We have worked with more than a thousand women in total over two decades If someone comes with a strong reference from a good family we verify them and help them secure new placements We charge a onemonth brokerage fee annually from the family if the nanny stays for that period and offer a 10day free trial We also verify the candidatersquos Aadhaar number before approving them as a resident nannyrdquoHowever Faiz udDin Hussain who runs Goregaonbased Maid 24X7 an agency providing domestic help for cleaning cooking and childcare offers a different perspective ldquoMost women in this industry come from poor backgrounds like many in the unorganised sector Nannies from Odisha Jharkhand Chhattisgarh and Assam are in high demand due to the reputation for good work that they have built over the years Another reason for the demand is that their hometowns are far so they canrsquot take leave frequently But when they do visit home they often overstay Since there are no formal contracts and plenty of opportunities yearround nannies with strong references sometimes abuse their leave privilegesrdquoOn the business model Hussain says ldquoAnyone can open this businessrdquo The requirements are minimal ldquoBasic permissions for a space from BMC fire hazard approvals and police verification of the ownerrsquos identity The same documents you would require for a kirana storerdquo The rest he explains operates entirely on trust and wordofmouth ldquoWe make sure to check Aadhaar We have a guy in Bengaluru who verifies that the Aadhaars we receive are genuine and checks for any crime recordsrdquo he also addsIn Mumbai the average cost for a resident nanny ranges from Rs 30000 to Rs 60000 per month For nannies of celebritiesrsquo children who Hussain says are also hired mostly through references the rates can run into lakhs monthlyBoth Varsha and Ahmed noted that the abundance of options in this market gives nannies the advantage of selecting their preferred households resulting in a high turnover rateSo in the absence of a reliable system and the grind of city life how does one find someone trustworthy to care for their child Singh says ldquoIn Mumbai getting a nanny yoursquoll click with is truly like a game of rouletterdquoRs 30000The starting monthly fee for a livein nanny from an agencylsquoThe attrition rate is dizzyingrsquoPooja Menon Vaidya 34 Associate vice president digital marketing at IIFL Capital mother of a 21montholdThe most harrowing part of motherhoodrdquo says Pooja Menon Vaidya ldquohas been finding a nannyrdquoThe Mulund resident has had over 10 nannies in the last 21 months ldquoThe attrition rate is dizzying They leave for betterpaying jobs vanish without notice or abruptly switch to office work One morning a nanny who was working with us came in and said she was joining as a receptionist that afternoon Any office job is more prestigious for themrdquoPooja Menon Vaidyarsquos daughter with her nanny who looks after her when Vaidya is at work right Pooja Menon VaidyaThe agencies offer little help ldquoThey just say lsquoGive us the deposit and wersquoll send someonersquo Therersquos no paperwork no documentationrdquo Vaidya explains She says she has heard of stories from friends of nanny agencies taking thousands of rupees for deposits and then blocking numbers Hiring through an agency is always a gamble ldquoYou call someone from Google and randomly give them access to your houserdquo she saysWhen nannies failed daycares seemed the alternative Vaidya describes inspecting a reputed chain ldquoMy daughter ran in and I saw broken toys covered with rust Thatrsquos why they wouldnrsquot let parents insiderdquo she says Another centre returned her child with unexplained wounds She says ldquoThey claimed she scratched herself but the footage showed another child gouging her eyesrdquoHome cameras as per Vaidya provide false comfort ldquoTechnically the nanny can do anything and get away with itrdquo she says ldquoWho will watch 12 hours of recording If my child isnrsquot crying when I return how would I know what happened at noonrdquo she addsThe biggest security threat happened to her when background checks proved to be meaningless One nanny presented an Aadhaar card as ldquoArchanardquo until her son called who had a different name ldquoShersquod lied about her name religion even how many children she had She was not even Indian she was from Bangladeshrdquo Vaidya saysVaidya says that dismissed nannies retain building access ldquoThey know where we live where our child goes If they kidnap a child they wonrsquot go to the address that is on recordrdquo she says She thinks without joint family support working parents face impossible choices Sometimes she relies on her neighbours ldquoThe nonresident nannies wonrsquot extend hours Today my nanny left and I couldnrsquot reach home so my neighbour watched my child for 15 hoursrdquolsquoSmall gestures built rapportrsquoPrarthna Shetty 33 Marketer at a leading auto organisation mother of a fourmontholdPrarthna Shettyrsquos first requirement was that she wanted a local nannyldquoInitially I got a japa from Mangaluru on my parentsrsquo recommendation but it didnrsquot work out I decided then on having somebody localBandra resident Prarthna Shetty with her fourmonthold babyThey can take regular days off but I donrsquot have to worry about them being gone for weeksrdquo says Shetty mother of a fourmontholdHer initial attempts through wordofmouth referrals ended in frustration as nannies came and left within days ldquoI had three people who left within daysrdquo Shetty recalls One nanny despite seeming sweet couldnrsquot handle the job ldquoWe tried to make her comfortable but she stayed awake most of the night talking to her husband and missed her own baby too muchrdquo she says Another was completely inexperienced but strangely she was asking for more money around Rs 35000Shetty then turned to an agency ldquoThis was the first one I interviewed from the agencyrdquo she says The process was different Instead of a reacutesumeacute Shetty received a voice note detailing the nannyrsquos experience She was from GhatkoparldquoThis nanny takes her monthly two days off to visit her familyrdquo Shetty explains Food preferences were also a point of negotiation as Shettyrsquos household is largely vegetarian and the nanny was not used to eating just vegetarian foodShetty installed cameras but was careful about how they were perceived ldquoI made it a point for her to know that yes therersquos a camera but itrsquos to make sure the baby is okayrdquo she explains Over time small gestures built rapport ldquoI donrsquot make her do all the work When Irsquom done feeding shersquoll take overrdquo she says adding ldquoThe nanny said not everybody does this She appreciates thatrdquoldquoA lot of them jump for moneyrdquo Shetty says of nannies in general Her advice to other parents interviewing a new nanny She says ldquoConsider all aspectsmdashwhy they left previous employers their flexibility their experience Itrsquos much like a corporate job interviewrdquoatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params