Household Employee

A household employee is any public or private worker hired to perform housework duties around and inside the house by an employer. Household employees set their own wages with an agreement with their contractor. This can range in hourly, daily, or weekly wages for a specific period of time. Household employees range from gardeners, babysitters, cleaners, or chauffeurs.

Household employees are vital components of the national economy. Good household employees save their employers time. Their employers can range from businesses and companies to families and couples. Household employees are employed for convenience, efficiency, and specialized skills.

• Types of Household Employees: Household employees have a wide variety of skills that make their employers’ lives easier. They can be babysitters, yard workers, chefs and cooks, personal drivers, and cleaners.
• What Makes a Household Employee: Household employees have specified independence and are controlled by the contracts they sign with their employers. In addition, employers in some states are required to provide benefits and taxes for their employees.
• How to Hire a Household Employee: In order to hire a household employee correctly, employers must clearly identify their workers, specify job duties, time periods, and time tracking of their workers, and outline payments.
• What Factors Affect the Hiring of Household Employees: The hiring of household employees are affected by factors such as pandemics, epidemics, global events, financial status of those that hire them, and their reputation.

Household employees are essential to the economy and to the people who employ them, as they save time and resources for families and businesses. Household employees can greatly enhance the lifestyle, effectiveness, and value of a company, business, or family.

Types of Household Employees

• Babysitters: Like the name implies, babysitters are hired by families to watch the kids or babies. Babysitters are often hired in order to carve out time for parents or older children who wish to have free time or time in order to prioritize the financial situations of the family.
• Yard Workers: Yard workers are hired by families and companies to work in the yard on projects or to maintain the display of the yard.
• Chefs and Cooks: Chefs and cooks are hired by families, companies, or businesses in order to provide easy and convenient meals to members. With cooks and chefs, companies and businesses can save money and time without having to worry about meals.
• Personal Drivers/Chauffeurs: Personal drivers/Chauffeurs provide transportation to those who employ them. With chauffeurs, people are able to conduct business on the road without endangering themselves.
• Cleaners: Cleaners are hired by families, companies, or businesses in order to keep or clean houses, headquarters, or items to maintain a professional look or give workers/people time in their daily lives.

Distinctions of a Household Employee

• Control/Independence: Household employees are controlled through the contracts that they sign with their employers. Unlike independent workers, household employees are required by contract to fulfill their employer’s demands.
• Taxes/Benefits: Household employees are not required to pay or file their own taxes. Their employers are responsible for taxes and for providing other benefits.
• Contracts: Contracts are issued by household employees’ employers who. These employers lay out terms and conditions, what they want completed, and how they want it completed.

Regulations and Conditions to Meet When Hiring Household Employees

• Clearly Identify Your Worker: As an employer of a household employee, you must explicitly label your employee as a household employee and not an independent contractor. Misclassification can lead to financial and legal difficulties.
• Job Duties: The employer must also explicitly lay out the responsibilities and duties that the household employee must fulfill and follow.
• Time Period and Tracking: Employers must lay out terms and conditions relating to their household employee’s duration on duty and as a worker for that specific employer.
• Payments: The agreement between employee and employer must clearly outline hourly, daily, or monthly wages.

Factors Affecting Household Employee Demand

• Pandemics, Epidemics, Global Events: Demand for household employees may increase as the population grows. However, in the event of a pandemic or epidemic where quarantine is required, demand for household employees may decrease.
• Financial Security of Entities: Businesses, companies, and families, may depend more on household employees as they get wealthier in order to save more time to make more money.
• Quality of Household Employees: Household employees who are efficient and effective when working are more likely to be hired than household employees that slack on the job and perform poorly.