Excellence: the quality of being outstanding or extremely good.
White House Nannies, in Washington DC, has been owned and operated by Barbara and Richard Kline for almost 30 years. From its inception, excellence has been a basic tenet of the business along with honesty, integrity and of course, hard work. Excellence might be defined as always gone the extra mile. Barbara says ” It’s important for a business to establish its identity or brand: Know who you are and what you stand for. We have managed to do that. Integrity is a big part of who we are.”
White House Nannies believes that a measure of a good agency is how they behave when things are not going well. When things get tough, they stick around. They try to resolve whatever the issue is, even if it means doing a free placement or refunding money not technically owed. They believes that sometimes, you just have to do what you have to do because it’s the right thing.
The hallmark of White House Nanny’s success has been in their willingness to listen and hear what both nannies and families want and then make great matches. The amount of time and level of detail that goes into getting to know every client and every nanny is extensive and beyond the norm. They truly feel that they know our nannies when they place them. The reward over the years is to learn how many of these “marriages” have not only survived but also thrived. Relationships have been forged between nanny and family that will last a life time.
Staffing people’s homes is a very personal business. Everyone wants to hear that live voice on the other end of the line. From day one, White House Nannies knew the importance of a voice on the other end of the telephone line. They have never used an answering machine or services except when we leave at night. Nothing has changed despite technology which would allow us NOT to answer and make our business a lot less personal.
Another hallmark of Excellence is their rigorous procedures for screening and evaluating candidates. While they are very time consuming, White House Nannies never trys to cut corners in assessing candidates. Three staff members interview every nanny who applies. This methodology gives clients the benefit of a wide range of comments and observations. They spend a minimum of 20 to 30 minutes on each of our reference calls-assuming the person on the other end of the line is willing to give us their time. They have plenty of questions and follow up questions for them. Those questions have evolved over time and are very thorough. But they also understand the importance of not just following a script and allowing room for the conversation to flow. They meet all our candidates in person. Those interviews reveal facts not evident in written applications. While they have done some Skype interviews, they still meet the candidates when they come to town.
At the same time they are looking at nanny candidates, White House Nannies also evaluate our client applicants. They learned early on that saying no to a client family may be the most prudent course of action. It’s not easy to turn down business, but sometimes it’s the best decision to be made. Barbara gave a presentation on this very topic at an APNA Conference in Georgetown many years ago.
The point of all this preliminary screening is to make the best matches possible. White House Nannies has never believed in the theory: If you throw enough spaghetti on a wall, some will stick. Or another widely held thought that for every nanny there is a family–somewhere. They only send their clients the most viable caregivers for their positions. And they only send their nannies to positions that offer most, if not all, of what they are looking for. Sometimes this commitment to sending only the best candidates is very frustrating. Instead of sending lesser candidates, they opt to wait until they have the quality match they want. Not having the right jobs for their great nannies is equally frustrating. But they believe it is important to send nannies to interview only for positions that they have indicated they want.
Some of their methods are just tried and true but are not necessarily time savers. They have chosen to go beyond the APNA standard in their quest for excellence . Because they don’t cut corners in evaluating candidates, once a candidate does qualify, White House Nannies stand behind them. They make sure they have contracts from prospective employers and spend time going over them if needed. They are always available to talk or meet in the office. They also offer trainings for their nannies at no cost to them. They follow up with our nannies and their clients once the placement has had some time to gel. They share information about current trends and through blogs and newsletters. Maintaining relationships is as important to us as the making the placements.
Health insurance coverage for their nannies has always been essential to the agency. White House Nannies was certainly one of the first agencies to tell clients that they should consider paying all or part of their nanny’s health care. Their clients listened! White House Nannies is proud to have paved the way for health insurance to become a national norm.
White House Nannies has been told that we do the most extensive background checks that agencies do. Because they live in a tri-state area (MD, DC, VA),they realized that just checking in one jurisdiction was not enough. So they check all three and they check under all names. If a candidate is from outside their area, all areas where they have lived and worked are checked. In addition, they run a Social Security Verification and Trace, check driving records, the National Sex Offender Registry, US District Courts, and the National Criminal FIle. They also offer education verification.
Barbara says “As an agency owner, I have felt the importance of belonging to and serving on the boards of both INA and APNA. It is too easy to be sequestered and isolated in this business. Meeting and getting to know other agency owners across the country has helped me continue to grow our business while retaining our “gold standard”. I believe that all the agencies who belong to APNA feel strongly about upholding standards of excellence.” Congratulations to White House Nannies for being the standard bearer of excellence for 30 years.