A family hiring for what they describe as a “temp-to-perm” position is signaling something specific: they want the flexibility to evaluate the nanny and the fit before committing to permanent employment, and they want to keep their options open. A nanny accepting a temp-to-perm position is taking on risk that a straightforward permanent hire doesn’t involve. The arrangement can work for both parties, but only when both understand what they’re actually agreeing to and when the terms are clear enough that nobody is making assumptions that won’t hold up.
What the Family Usually Means by Temp-to-Perm
A family offering a temp-to-perm position typically means one of several things. They’re not sure yet whether they need permanent childcare and want to try it before committing. They want to evaluate the nanny’s fit with their family before making a permanent offer. They’re in a transition period and the permanence of their childcare need depends on factors they can’t control yet. Or they want the nanny to prove herself before they’re willing to offer permanent employment with the compensation and benefits that implies.
All of these are legitimate reasons for a family to structure a position as temporary with possible conversion. What’s not legitimate is framing a position as temp-to-perm when the family has already decided it’s temporary and has no real intention of making it permanent, but is using the possibility of conversion to attract stronger candidates than a straight temporary position would.
What the Nanny Is Risking
A nanny who accepts a temp-to-perm position is accepting uncertainty about her employment continuity that a permanent hire doesn’t have. She may turn down other opportunities, believing this position will convert to permanent. She may plan her finances around the expectation of ongoing income. And she may invest professionally and emotionally in a placement that the family ultimately decides not to continue.
If the position doesn’t convert, the nanny is back in the job market having lost the time she could have used searching for permanent work, and potentially having passed on opportunities that would have been better. The risk is real, and it should be acknowledged by families who are asking nannies to take it.
What Should Be Explicit From the Start
A temp-to-perm arrangement that works for both parties is one where the terms are clear enough that both the family and the nanny know what they’re agreeing to. How long is the temporary period? What criteria will the family use to decide whether to convert to permanent? If the position does convert, what will the compensation and benefits be? And if it doesn’t convert, how much notice will the nanny receive?
Without clarity on these questions, the temp-to-perm arrangement becomes a source of anxiety for the nanny and potential conflict with the family. The nanny doesn’t know if she’s secure or should be looking for other work. The family doesn’t know if the nanny expects conversion and will feel misled if it doesn’t happen. And both parties are operating from assumptions that may not align.
When the Arrangement Actually Works
Temp-to-perm positions work when both parties are genuinely using the arrangement for what it’s intended to be: a mutual assessment period with a clear timeline and clear criteria. The family is evaluating fit and need. The nanny is evaluating whether she wants this position permanently. And at the end of the defined period, both parties make an informed decision about whether to continue.
The arrangements that don’t work are the ones where the temporary period stretches indefinitely without resolution, where the nanny is being evaluated on criteria she wasn’t told about, or where the family has essentially decided but hasn’t communicated the decision, leaving the nanny in uncertainty longer than necessary.
What Families Owe Nannies in This Arrangement
A family that hires on a temp-to-perm basis owes the nanny honest communication about the status of the conversion decision as the temporary period progresses. If the family has decided the position won’t convert, the nanny deserves to know that early enough to search for other work. If the family is genuinely still evaluating, the nanny deserves to know what would need to change for conversion to happen. And if the family decides to convert, the nanny deserves a clear, written offer with the permanent terms.
At Seaside Nannies, temp-to-perm positions are approached with careful attention to whether the terms are actually clear and fair to both parties, because the arrangement creates risk that both sides should understand before agreeing to it.
