Most of the time the au pair/host family relationship works out really well and is a positive experience for everyone involved. Sometimes, though, things just don't mesh which can be stressful for everyone involved.
But if you set expectations ahead of time about how things will be handled if you are not getting along, it can make a rematch much smoother. Your Local Childcare Consultant will also cover all of this at your host family orientation once your au pair arrives.
If you're wondering what to do if the going gets tough, Cultural Care Au Pair has defined the steps below.
Keep communication lines open
First, we encourage you to always keep the communication lines open with your au pair. You should both be comfortable talking to each other about how things are going. If things aren’t going well, try first to resolve problems between yourselves. If you don’t feel as if you can resolve things on your own, you need to let your Local Childcare Consultant know and they will schedule a mediation meeting with all of you.
Meet with your Local Childcare Consultant
The consultant will come over to your house and sit down with all of you to see if you can come up with a possible solution. Then they'll suggest ways to improve the situation for a couple of weeks. If after trying to work things out, the situation just can’t be resolved, an exit interview is conducted.
The exit interview
At this meeting, everyone comes to an agreement about what will happen in the coming weeks. The au pair has to stay with the host family for up to two weeks during their replacement. If they continue working during that time, they have to be paid, but if you decide not to have them work, you don’t have to pay them the weekly stipend. At the exit interview, the au pair’s working schedule, their last day, and any modified household rules like curfew and car use are also decided.
Follow-up
Your Customer Relations Manager will give you a confirmation call after the exit interview and answer any questions you might have. They’ll also talk to you about whether you want to rematch with a new au pair and provide contact information for your Placement Manager. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee continuous childcare, so it’s important for you to have options for back-up childcare in case there is a gap between au pairs.
Happy endings
While rematches are rare, they do happen. The better you set expectations ahead of time and talk openly with your au pair, the more likely you are to avoid a rematch.
However, there are happy endings to most rematches! For example, Swati Sharma, a Cultural Care host mom who nominated her rematch au pair for Au Pair of the Year, says, "What makes [my au pair's] story so remarkable to us is how it began: we were her third family after two re-matches in her first 3 months as an Au Pair!" She fully believes that her rematch au pair is a "testament to the idea that there is an amazing family and experience waiting for every au pair, and sometimes it does not happen right away."