The International Agency with the truly personal touch...
In late 2021, we were delighted to sit down with the team at Purple Dragon, a family members club – a place where families can escape the city & enjoy effortless, guilt-free, family time together, to discuss Nannies Incorporated and our journey so far.
For over thirty years, Nannies Incorporated have helped families around the world recruit exceptional nannies, maternity nurses and governesses. From placing expertly-qualified maternity nurses for royalty, to discrete rota nannies for high-profile couples, it's easy to see that Nannies Incorporated are a safe pair of hands.
As we edge cautiously into a new normal, we spoke to Annie Martin, founder and director of Nannies Incorporated, about keeping the personal touch in business, her proudest moments with the agency, and the challenges of the last year.
PD: Annie, it's lovely to meet you. For those who don't know Nannies Incorporated, could you give us a brief overview of the agency, and how it works?
AM: Of course, and it's lovely to sit down with you! I started Nannies Incorporated in February 1989 having just had my first child, Philippe. I felt like there was a lack of truly bespoke nanny agencies who understood the importance of balancing the child's needs, while also valuing the needs and wants of working mothers!
We are a small team, and work directly with families as a liaison between them and our hand-selected candidates, only introducing families to individuals who we feel would be a perfect fit. We work all over the world, and have established desks in the UK, France and Dubai.
PD: Music to our ears, and to lots of our readers we're sure. Thirty years is obviously a long time to run a business for, and you could argue that the last thirty have seen huge amounts of change. In your experience, how has the way you work changed?
AM: I've always wanted to keep to a small team of trusted consultants, and we've always ensured that each and every family has a dedicated point of contact throughout their journey with us. Truly understanding the needs of the family is crucial; and of each individual child too of course! As a mother of three, I know well how each child has their own temperament and personality from a very early age.
The biggest change for us has been not the way in which we conduct ourselves, but the means by which we do. Back when I started Nannies Incorporated, there was no such thing as readily accessible internet - all applications were received by post, and CVs hand-typed. We were actually the first agency in London to have a fax machine, something that has always made me smile, albeit one where you had to feed in the documents one page at a time!
Nowadays, almost all of our initial contact with families and candidates is electronic, and I've always been keen to move with the times - we have a very successful website, an encyclopeadic blog, and active Social accounts. I believe in always keeping an eye to the future.
PD: Do you find that the roles you're placing in the last few years are different to those you placed in the beginning?
AM: In a way, yes. Historically it would be common place for our candidates to be placed with the 'traditional, nuclear' family, where either both parents worked, or the candidates were employed to support the Mother.
Now, we're so happy to work with a range of family make ups - single mothers, single fathers, co-parents, adoptive families, gay parents, extended families, international families - it goes on! The wonder of life is in the variety, I believe, and we're so proud and pleased to work with and support all loving parents.
PD: That's wonderful. You touched on pride there - we wondered if there were any other moments in the Nannies Incorporated journey that make you particuly proud?
AM: Oh, so many! First and foremost, no matter how many roles we place, I'm also so proud of our team when I get glowing feedback from a family. The difference a carefully selected nanny can make to a family can be enormous, so I know the thanks goes further than the impact of a single pair of hands.
I was also so happy when we opened our dedicated Paris desk in the early 90s, and our Dubai desk in the early 00s. We were growing our French-speaking and Middle Eastern networks so quickly, it was an easy decision to make, and those desks have gone from strength to strength in the years since.
I'm also so proud of how our team has navigated the past eighteen months; everyone knows the challenges that have been faced, but to see our consultants go above and beyond for our families and candidates around the world, in an exceptional context, made such an impact on me. We made sure that no family was left unaided, and all our candidates guided and supported - sometimes with as a little as a friendly ear on the end of the telephone - to ensure that, above all, there was no compromise in the level of care or comfort of the children.
PD: We can emphathise with the challenges you must have felt, and are so glad to hear you felt strong throughout. What's next for Nannies Incorporated?
AM: For the immediate future, we're focusing on refining our processes to adjust to the varying working requirements both in the UK, in Europe, and further afield.
The combination of the UK's departure from the European Union and evolving travel restrictions (often at short notice) mean we have to be completely on top of the situation, and how differing guidance interacts between different territories. I'm pleased to say that we've adjusted very well, our consultants are now experts on both domestic and international movement, and we're yet to find ourselves with a challenge we can't overcome!
PD: That's fantastic to hear. And, finally, do you have any advice for families considering working with a nanny or maternity nurse for the first time?
AM: Oh, absolutely. I could speak all day on the subject! My biggest piece of advice would be to make sure that you feel absolutely understood by your consultant. They should ask you about your lifestyle, your children, your preferred parenting styles, and your wishes for the future. You should feel confident in them, so that you can lean on their judgement when selecting candidates - several of our Nannies Incorporated nannies have actually worked with my family over the years, and I make it a personal policy to never place a candidate I wouldn't welcome into my home.
Outside of this, it would be vital to make sure the agency you work with has an outstanding track record, and are completely versed in the legal and financial requirements when employing someone into your family. You don't want to feel you've found a perfect fit for you family, only to find out that a vital piece of paperwork was overlooked.
PD: Thank you Annie - invaluable.