My Wish List for Au Pair Agencies

Most American Families Do NOT Know That Au Pairs Are Very Affordable

It is true that many working families do not know how affordable au pairs are! I think one of the reasons is that the term au pair may scare off many parents who think you have to have money to hire a French babysitter! Most middle income families have little idea what an au pair is, or how affordable they are!

I was talking to a woman in the supermarket the other day and she was stressing out about her babysitter who just quit. This woman runs a dry cleaner and works long, hard hours. She was paying over $700 a week for a babysitter to care for her 2 children from 8 am - 5 pm. Her husband came home at 5 pm to relieve the babysitter.

When I told her she could host an au pair for half that amount she was thrilled, but said, "we don't speak French!"

Au Pair Agencies Do NOT Do a Good Job of Educating the American Public

There are many misconceptions about au pairs in this country - even after 25 years. A quarter of a century is more than enough time to educate the American public about au pairs, who they are, where they come from, and how much they cost, etc., but the au pair agencies have not done a very good job of it.

Many times, the only media attention au pairs get is when they do something wrong - then they are on the 5 o'clock news! These sensational stories do nothing for the au pair industry - if anything this reactive media attention serves to push the cultural exchange program further into the background of American childcare options.

Au Pair Programs Focus on Marketing Instead of Educating Their Customer Base

Why do au pair agencies do such a poor job of educating the American public about au pairs? Well, first, they don't have a long term vision of their business and the future of childcare in this country. They work pretty much day to day, to meet their quota of family enrollment to pay the bills and make a nice profit.

As long as this happens, au pair agencies don't really care about educating the American public, except to market their programs - these two goals are very different. You will never read a newspaper article about au pair programs unless it ends in a marketing sell. You don't read or hear from many VPs or CEOs of these unique businesses, not even in the Wall Street Journal or on the local news, unless again, it ends with a marketing plug. There are exceptions, but they are few and far between.

AuPairClearinghouse Educates and Shares Information with American Families

AuPairClearinghouse is the:

• First business to interview experts in the au pair industry and share with the American public how programs are run behind the scenes.
• First business to write loads of content on au pairs - who they are, how did the programs start, where they are recruited from, different nationalities, cultural differences, etc., even before the au pair programs did this themselves!
• Only third party business to rate and review the au pair agencies, giving parents the information they need to make educated choices when hiring a foreign stranger over the phone.

Au Pair Agencies Play Catch-Up, But Are They Gaining?

Now, little by little, au pair programs are placing blogs and content on their website for their host families. However, this is, in part, in reaction to the Clearinghouse's impact on the industry, but is it too little, too late? They had 25 years to educate the American public and they lost that opportunity. They cannot get that time back.

So, they play the marketing game, struggling to steal other agency customers by offering discounts, host family loyalty programs, etc.

Au Pair Programs Need to Educate the American Public

If they spent more money (and it doesn't cost that much to write about the program and send this information to newspapers in print and online; placing articles on their own website costs very little or next to nothing except to pay for a writer) on educating the American Family about au pairs, they would have more customers than they could handle.

Most agencies are small and cannot handle more than the 200 host families they service, but they also do not have people in charge who have the business acumen and vision to take their program to the top! What business do you know of that says "no" to more customers and more yearly revenue?

First Agency To Recruit Au Pairs Flounders

Once a leading agency, an older au pair agency, who is losing market share every day to their faster, sleeker competitors, actually tell their counselors they cannot give them money to place their au pair program stories in newspapers! They continue to tell their counselors that "word of mouth is the best marketing ad" and to just "keep providing good service". Well, they made the wrong decision years ago and now they are at the bottom of the bigger agencies and may soon call it quits. As their clusters dwindle, experienced counselors are jumping ship, because they need to replace lost revenue, and now the company is run largely by young, inexperienced counselors who are not giving the same good, quality service.

What Is Down the Road for Au Pair Agencies?

Keeping up with the times and current technology is important for any industry - the au pair programs struggle to keep their heads above water and to make themselves seen online to potential customers. But, you hardly hear from them - only occasionally, and most of the time the news story or press release is in the form of an ad or price reductions or a new discount. Older agencies have to freshen their marketing methods, get up to speed, replace old, outdated websites and hire writers to place good, useful content on their host family pages.

What should today's au pair agencies deliver today?

I have a few things on my wish list:

• Free Skype access to all host families and au pairs - in today's world, NO family should have to hire an au pair sight unseen over the phone!
• Personality Screening Disclosures - what kind of screening do agencies use and what do these tests reveal? Who makes the decision to block a prospective au pair based on this test?
• Au Pair Personality Reports that summarize this test and show how well (or poorly) the au pair did on the test. Allow the host parent access to this information so they can make an educated childcare choice!
• Full Disclosure On Rematch Au Pair - too many times programs will not share why rematch au pairs failed in their first and sometimes second family. Families have the right to know the facts! Let host families have access to this kind of information so they can make educated decisions for their children's well-being and safety.
• Full Disclosure on Weaknesses by Nationality - au pair agencies like to pretend that all au pairs are the same! They don't like to admit most Asian au pairs struggle with both English and driving. They point at the exceptions and say "See, Asian au pairs can drive! It is a myth that Asians cannot drive or speak English!" Well, the truth is MOST Asian au pairs struggle with both driving and English and it is due to their cultural experiences at home. Most of these au pairs, who have infant experience, are matched with new host parents, who don't know about these weaknesses. It is not fair, nor ethical, to hide an au pair's weaknesses when working with a new, inexperienced host family (who also has an infant) and expect that family to make due with a Thai or South Korean au pair who cannot communicate with them nor drive the family car.
• Special Needs Au Pairs - the au pair industry had 25 years to figure out how to recruit and train au pairs to care for America's special needs families. This is a lost opportunity for both the au pair business and sadly, for American parents who struggle to find safe, reliable and affordable childcare for their special needs children. I look forward to new au pair agencies who will develop a special needs program for one of most important and cricial issues facing our country today.

That is my short list! Anyone else want to add to this list?

What would be on your Wish List for au pair agencies?