Family in Sweden employed Ukrainian refugee as nanny
Lena was visiting friends in Sweden when the war broke out. Suddenly she was a refugee in need of accommodation and work. She quickly started looking for a job, anything would do but her dream was to work with children. At the same time Alexandra was preparing to go back to work full time after her parental leave. Together with her husband Tord, she evaluated different childcare options and found that privately employing a nanny would be the best for the family. Diretto was the obvious choice for handling the nanny’s salary. Finding Lena was the perfect match.
Interested in privately employing a nanny in Sweden? Read more about how it works here
Employing a nanny relieves the family from stress
Alexandra works as a lawyer for a company making medical devices and Tord is a software developer. They both work from home. Alexandra was making plans for going back to work full time after parental leave. She was well aware that the prevailing and affordable solution in Sweden is “dagis”(förskola) /preschool. But she felt her son Gustav was still too small, and with the ongoing pandemic she felt dagis would expose the family to risk of infections. Alexandra also felt that her friends and colleagues who had small kids either were always on their way to pick up sick children from the day care or working from home with skick children running around in the background.
-Many friends said it would be too expensive to hire a nanny. Of course a nanny is more expensive compared with preschool but for us it’s definitely worth it. Employing privately cuts the cost compared with going via a child care agency.
-You reevaluate what is expensive when you realize that the salary for the nanny can help you live a stress free life. As long as you have an interesting job and make more money than the nanny it would be worth it, says Alexandra.
Found nanny in Sweden through job post in Russian
Alexandra is from Kazakstan and her mother tongue is Russian. So she wanted to find a nanny already in Sweden who could speak Russian with her son to ensure he would learn the language. It was when Alexandra scrolled through a Russian/Swedish job site that she found the post where Lena was searching for a job. Lena declared that she was prepared to work with anything, gardening, cleaning, factory but her preference was to work with children.
–I had some worries before hiring a nanny. What if my son will become so fond of his nanny that I will come in second place? But I have learned that it doesn’t work like that, there is enough love for all caregivers in a child’s life and a nanny doesn’t replace a parent, says Alexandra.
Colleague recommended Diretto for paying nanny
When Tord and Alexandra were evaluating different options a former colleague explained that the most economical way to engage a nanny is to employ privately. She also recommended using Diretto for the salary administration. Lena’s salary is 130 sek per hour. The final cost becomes 130 sek per hour since Alexandra makes rut-deduction for the employer fees. Lena also has 25 days of vacation per year that the family pays for.
Read also: Paying salary to au pair in Sweden using rut-deduction
Nanny Lena works 6 hours per weekday
The family’s morning routine starts at 7 when little Gustav wakes up. Tord takes care of the morning shift. Father-and-son-time includes breakfast, play and some TV. Alexandra starts work at 8 am. At 10 am nanny Lena arrives. This is when Tord starts working. Lena takes care of Gustav from 10 am to 4 pm. Sometimes Alexandra and Tord take breaks from work and have “fika” with Lena and Gustav. Lena cooks lunch for Gustav and makes sure he takes his nap. Most days Lena and Gustav have lunch outside as Gustav seems to have better appetite out in the open. At 4 pm they come back home from the playground and this is when Alexandra finishes work and she takes over from Lena. When Tord finishes work at 6 pm the family has dinner together.
Taking care of a child helps diverts the thoughts about the war
Lena was working as a confectioner in Ukraine. Russia’s invasion changed everything and is of course a traumatic experience. Alexandra wants to support Lena and hopes that Lena will start a new life in Sweden. Now that Lena has a job as nanny it increases her possibilities of staying in Sweden. Alexandra wants to be a great employer so that Lena will want to work as the family’s nanny for a long time. Lena finds that taking care of Gustav relieves her mind for a while. She loves children.
Can you provide a job in your home? Read more about how to employ a Ukrainian refugee as a private individual
Use Diretto for salary, tax and “rut” or “rot” deduction
As a private individual and employer, you can handle the administration manually. But for from SEK 69 per payment, you can easily handle everything in Diretto’s service, you can handle the salary, tax and any “rut” or “rot” deduction. The employee automatically receives a salary specification. On our page Diretto.se, you can calculate what the cost will be.
