Hallelujah and Help!
I hesitate to write this observation for fear of jinxing it—call me superstitious—but I do think we have rounded a corner. Yes, hallelujah! For those of us who have temporary services, business is once again booming. While private agency clients have been asking for in-home help all along, event, hotel, and corporate demand are just now coming back. Phones are ringing off the hook. Welcome news after a hard slog and plummeting revenues. Fortunately, permanent placement demand never stopped for many of us throughout the pandemic.
There remains one catch—and, therefore, the plea for “help!”
After 15 months of what effectively amounted to shutdowns in many locales, businesses are now opening back up to full capacity… But now, companies across all sectors need workers. We are all suffering from the supply/demand inequity.
Thankfully for our industry, camps and schools are opening, helping to make available nannies who remained in long-term jobs to support families during the worst of times. Will stopping unemployment checks bring caregivers who stayed home back into the workforce? Only time will tell.
The good news for nannies (and agencies) is that after parents have been sequestered with their children for the last year plus and other childcare options were either unavailable or undesirable—hourly rates have risen, and our clients seem less likely to haggle over money. I don’t see rates going down anytime soon because of the aforementioned supply issue. The silver lining for nannies is the increased income they so deserve.
Happy summer, everyone! Enjoy good weather and time with friends and family once again.
Your Pandemic President
Barbara Kline