There can't be many nannies who haven't at one time or another been tempted to exchange a dreary English winter for a bracing stint in an Alpine ski resort, or wondered about doing a summer season in Greece or Spain. Just a glance at the job pages of Professional Nanny and Nursery World will show you the array of overseas tour operators and agencies you can choose from to follow your fancies.
But Ashanti Dickson, managing director of the new UK-based company Nannies Abroad, says that the service she is offering is 'radically different' from everything else on the market.
'We're the only ones who employ nannies directly,' says Ashanti. 'We're not a recruitment agency, we're an employer, and this makes a massive difference to the nannies' well-being.'
She explains that a typical agency will offer a placement service and its only obligation is to put forward the nannies on its books for interview.
Once they are offered a job, nannies sign a contract with the tour operator and their relationship with the recruitment agency ends.
This approach, Ashanti says, can leave many young people vulnerable to long working hours and inferior living conditions, with no one to step in on their behalf and speak up for them if something does go wrong - for example, if they have to fly home urgently or they encounter a problem with the accommodation. 'Our mission is to improve the working standards for our employees,' she says. As nannies are employed directly by Nannies Abroad, the company has a vested interest in the care of its staff. 'Because the nannies are our employees, they are not just cut loose with a tour operator. All the tour operators we use are contractually obliged to sign up to our strict working and living conditions.'
This means the nannies should only work a maximum of a 48-hour week over a 17- week period. If for any reason they work more than this, they can claim the time back. They also have a day-and-a half off every week. Nannies are paid monthly and earn between 80 and 120 per week, depending on their qualifications and experience. Essentially it's spending money, as Nannies Abroad will pay for all their travel, accommodation and insurance.
The package also includes, in the winter resorts, free ski passes. Ashanti says she has heard of unscrupulous tour operators withholding a percentage of their nannies' pay until the end of the season - something she swears her company would never do.
There is also the possibility of continued training on-site, with Nannies Abroad offering to send freelance NVQ assessors out to resorts. The company is planning to recruit a permanent assessor. With an emphasis on safety, all employees are given a 24-hour emergency contact number and their own private e-mail address.
As the owner of Abbotsworthy Day Nursery, a 48-place nursery in Hampshire, Ashanti was already well versed in the childcare industry when she opened her first creche in the French Alps. Disappointed with the facilities that were on offer for her children during a ski holiday in the resort of Les Gets, Ashanti approached the tour operator directly with a proposal to set up and run the cr che. The result was her company Snowkidz, which opened in 1997. Nannies Abroad is a more ambitious venture growing out of Snowkidz and its first winter season has just ended.
The company currently has 120 nannies on its books and is now at the peak of a drive to recruit as many as 500 to 1,000 for the summer season, mostly to work in Mediterranean resorts with some of the largest UK tour operators.
Applicants need to have at least one year's experience in childcare, which could include working as a chalet boy or girl, a student teacher, or even a paediatric nurse, as well as the more traditional jobs in a nursery or as a nanny. One of the current male employees is a qualified sports coach, and the company is keen to recruit more men and welcomes couples who want to work at the same resort. Contracts offer flexibility; they can even be as short as a week. Employees who sign annual contracts will receive four weeks paid leave a year.
Nannies Abroad can be contacted on 01962 882 299
HAPPY CAMPERS
Joanne Baker is 21 and qualified with an NNEB from Barnfield College in Luton in 2000. She has just finished working a winter season in a creche in Meribel for Nannies Abroad, with Crystal Thompson. A typical week involved looking after four children at a time, aged from six months to four years, working with one other nanny.
Joanne's previous experience working directly for a large tour operator was not an entirely happy one. 'One company I worked for would put you on extra room-listening duty if you were ten minutes late,' she says. Normally she had to do room-listening once or twice a week anyway, monitoring children's rooms, from outside the door, to check for noise every 15 minutes between 8pm and midnight.
Although she earned 100 a week, that tour operator only paid her Pounds 60 and held the remainder back until the end of the season. She worked from 8.30am to 6pm, with an hour and a half for lunch and one day off a week. Working for Nannies Abroad, she had only one babysitting duty a week on a set night, from 7.30pm to 11.30pm. Joanne says, 'If I had a problem, I always felt I could call them up. I never thought, "Oh, should I ring them up or not?"'
Carla Reeves, 22, has just returned home to Luton, after working for a tour operator in the French ski resort of Montchavin. Attracted by the promise of shorter working hours than she encountered in her previous experiences, she has just signed up for a summer season with Nannies Abroad.
After qualifying with a diploma in nursery nursing from Bournemouth and Poole College three years ago, Carla worked as a teacher's assistant in a school and as a nanny. 'After that I decided I fancied a challenge,' says Carla. 'I wanted to work abroad but I didn't want to travel on my own. So I decided to combine travelling with working with children.'
She started applying for jobs and in 2002 spent June to September working for a tour operator in Chamonix. She has just completed a winter season with the same company. Although she says she had 'no major problems', the long hours took their toll. 'I was exhausted, because I was often working 15-hour or 18-hour days. You should have a day and a half off a week "normally", but this is not guaranteed and if something comes up, you have to work.' A typical day in her last job would mean she was with children constantly from 8.15am until 5pm. She might then have a break for a couple of hours before a weekly babysitting shift, from 7.30 to midnight. On other evenings she might help with the children's dinner or with an activity club. Sometimes she didn't finish work until 9.30pm.
Carla signed up with Nannies Abroad when it made a recruitment visit to Montchavin and she had an interview there. Her contract with them runs from 15 May to 21 October and she will be working as a children's holiday rep in a Mediterranean resort as yet to be specified.