Nanny · Comparison
Nanny share between two families: one contract or two?
What does the nanny get in the pension fund?
CHF 16'740insured wage per year in the pension fund when one family pays the whole wage.
12 monthly wages, legal minimum. With two contracts she can insure her whole wage voluntarily (Art. 46 BVG).
30 days free, then CHF 19.90/month · cancel anytime
With age, 13th salary and accident cover ↓
Two families share one nanny and the cost: it saves money, and the children have company. Usually each family signs its own contract for its hours. That is allowed and common. For the nanny, though, a single contract is often better: her whole wage then counts with one employer, and only that way does she get into the pension fund, or get properly insured there. The calculator shows what it means in your case.
Three ways to share a nanny
Who is the employer? Everything depends on it: registration, insurance, payslips and what the nanny ends up insured for.
- the usual way
Two contracts
Each family employs the nanny for its own hours, with its own AHV registration, accident insurance and payslips.
- Employers
- 2
- Counts for BVG and accidents
- each share alone
- Payslips per month
- 2
- AHV registration
- each family
- usually better for the nanny
One contract, one family employs
Family A employs the nanny for all the hours. Family B pays A back its share under a written agreement.
- Employers
- 1
- Counts for BVG and accidents
- the whole wage
- Payslips per month
- 1
- AHV registration
- one family
- check first
One contract, both sign
Both families are joint employers (a simple partnership, Art. 530 OR) and are liable to the nanny for the whole wage.
- Employers
- 2, jointly
- Counts for BVG and accidents
- the whole wage
- Payslips per month
- 1
- AHV registration
- ask the office
The rules for the usual way with two contracts and the cost per family are on our nanny share page. This post is about the question it leaves open: what is better for the nanny?
The pension fund: why one contract gives her more
The pension fund (BVG) is mandatory when an employee earns more than CHF 22'680 a year with one employer (Art. 7 BVG), that is more than CHF 1'890 a month. With one employer: the wages from two families are not added up, as for any employee with several employers.
That cuts both ways. If each family pays CHF 1'800 a month, each share is below the threshold: no pension fund. With one contract it is CHF 43'200 with one employer, and CHF 16'740 a year would be insured. If each family pays CHF 2'100, each one must insure the nanny, but after a deduction of CHF 26'460 each, only at the minimum of CHF 3'780. Together that is CHF 7'560 of insured wage instead of CHF 23'940 with one contract.
One contract or two: the comparison
One contract
one family runs the payroll
CHF 43'200 a year
- Insured wage (BVG)
- CHF 16'740
- Old-age credit per year
- CHF 1'172
- Non-work accidents covered
- yes
- Simplified procedure possible
- no
- Payslips per month
- 1
Two contracts
each family its share
CHF 21'600 a year
CHF 21'600 a year
- Insured wage (BVG)
- no BVG
- Old-age credit per year
- –
- Non-work accidents covered
- yes
- Simplified procedure possible
- A: yes · B: yes
- Payslips per month
- 2
Voluntary under Art. 46 BVG: CHF 16'740 insurable, each family pays half the contributions on its share.
Legal minimum. Many pension funds insure part-timers better, with a lower coordination deduction; the law does not require it. What the contributions cost is in the post on the pension fund for nannies.
Two contracts, and still fully insured
If you stay with two contracts, the nanny can insure her whole wage voluntarily, with the BVG substitute occupational benefit institution (Auffangeinrichtung) or with one family's pension fund if its rules allow it (Art. 46 BVG). Her total income is then insured (Art. 29 BVV 2). Each family pays half the contributions on its share of the wage, but only from the day the nanny told it (Art. 30 BVV 2). The nanny applies herself. Put this promise into the families' agreement, so nobody has to negotiate it later.
Accidents, payslips, holidays
The nanny is only covered for non-work accidents if she works at least 8 hours a week for one employer (Art. 13 UVV). With two families at 7 hours each she has this cover nowhere; with one contract for 14 hours she does. If she reaches 8 hours with one of the two families, that family's policy also covers her free time (Art. 99 UVV). What each family has to insure is in the post on accident insurance.
One contract also means one payslip a month, one salary certificate a year, one holiday plan. With two contracts the nanny gets a separate payslip from each family, and the families have to coordinate their holidays.
What the employing family carries
One contract is better for the nanny, but not free for the family that signs it. Both families should know this beforehand.
Every obligation is hers
AHV registration, accident insurance, payslips, pension fund, salary certificate: everything runs through the employing family, for the whole wage.
She carries the risk
If the other family stops paying, the employing family still owes the nanny the whole wage, including during illness and the notice period.
The simplified procedure ends sooner
It only applies up to CHF 22'680 of wage per employee and CHF 60'480 per employer. With the whole wage at one family that is reached quickly; it then uses the ordinary procedure. With two contracts each family often stays below.
Signing jointly is unsettled
Whether two households can be registered as one employer with one AHV account is not described officially anywhere. Ask your compensation office before choosing this way.
In short: if you want it simple, choose two contracts and write the voluntary pension fund into the agreement. If you want to make it easier for the nanny, choose one contract and protect yourself with the agreement.
What goes into the families' agreement
The employment contract sets what the nanny gets. What the families settle between themselves belongs in a second, short agreement. An example:
Nanny share agreement
between family A and family B
1. Hours and cost
The nanny works 40 hours a week for both families. Each family pays half the wage costs, social contributions included.
By hours, by children or half and half: the law does not prescribe it.
2. Place
Monday to Wednesday at family A, Thursday and Friday at family B. Travel with the children between the homes is working time.
If she looks after the children in her own home, it becomes childminding (Tagesfamilie), with its own rules.
3. Holidays
The families set the nanny's holidays together, by the end of January for the whole year.
At least 4 paid weeks, 5 until her 20th birthday (Art. 329a OR).
4. One family is away
If one family is away and the nanny is ready to work, that family keeps paying its share.
Art. 324 OR: whoever does not accept the work pays anyway.
5. Sick child
If a child is sick, the families agree the evening before where the nanny looks after the children. The wage runs either way.
For the nanny, a sick child is a normal working day.
6. Pension fund
If the nanny insures her whole wage voluntarily (Art. 46 BVG), each family pays half the contributions on its share.
Only needed with two contracts.
7. Payment
Family B transfers its share to family A every month by the 20th, for the following month.
Only with one contract: protects the employing family.
8. Leaving
A family that leaves gives the other family 3 months' notice to the end of a month and pays its share until then.
At least as long as the nanny's notice period, or one family is left with the whole wage.
Place, date
Family A
Family B
If one family leaves, with two contracts only its contract ends, with the normal notice period; the other one continues. With one contract the employing family keeps owing the whole wage. Fewer hours or a lower wage for the nanny only come with her agreement or a notice of change, as when you reduce the nanny's hours.
Who pays when a family travels is in the post on nanny holidays, what applies when someone is ill in sick child, sick nanny. What belongs in the employment contract itself is in the 10 clauses for the nanny contract; you can create it with the nanny employment contract.
Finding a second family, and what applies in Geneva
The second family is often close by: the daycare waiting list, the playground, the neighbourhood, the parents' chat. In Geneva, Koala Club matches families who want to share a nanny and helps with the contract.
In Geneva, domestic staff, nannies included, fall under the standard employment contract «CTT-EDom». The nanny earns at least CHF 24.59 an hour. If the nanny looks after both families' children at the same time, it is not settled whether each contract on its own has to reach the minimum wage. With one contract the question does not arise.
The «CTT-EDom» also requires daily sickness benefit insurance: 80 % of the wage for 720 days within 900 days. The family pays at least 50 % of the premium. With two contracts each family needs its own policy.
Everything else that applies is on the page register a nanny in Geneva.
Cost and tax per family
A shared nanny usually earns a little more than with one family alone; the City of Zurich mentions about 20 % more. Even so, each family pays clearly less than alone. Exactly how much, with social contributions and compared with daycare, is shown by the nanny share calculator; the overview is in the post on childcare costs.
For tax, each family deducts its own childcare costs: for federal tax up to CHF 25'800 per child under 14 (Art. 33 para. 3 DBG), for cantonal tax depending on the canton. With one contract, the agreement records what family B paid family A; whether the tax office accepts those payments, check with it. The nanny tax deduction calculator works out your deduction.
For the nanny: what you can ask for
Two families, one job: your rights apply in full with each family. Four points you can raise before you sign.
One contract, or the BVG promise
Ask whether one family can employ you for all the hours. If not, have it put in writing that both families pay their share if you insure your whole wage voluntarily (Art. 46 BVG).
The 8-hour line
You are only covered for non-work accidents if you work at least 8 hours a week for one family. Otherwise you need accident cover through your health insurance.
A payslip from each family
Every family that employs you registers you with the AHV, gives you a payslip each month and a salary certificate. With one contract everything comes from one family.
Paid holidays
At least 4 weeks a year, with each family. If a family is away and you are ready to work, your wage keeps running.
Independent support: Swiss Nanny Association
The Swiss Nanny Association is a nonprofit association supporting nannies and Au Pairs with information, resources, training and guidance on fair working conditions in Switzerland.
For information and resources, visit swissnanny.orgFrequently asked questions
Is a nanny share with two contracts allowed?
Yes, it is the usual way: each family is the employer for its hours, with its own AHV registration, accident insurance and payslips. For the pension fund and non-work accident cover, though, each share then counts on its own.
From what wage does a shared nanny have a pension fund?
It is mandatory when a single employer pays more than CHF 22'680 a year (Art. 7 BVG). With one contract the whole wage counts, with two contracts each share on its own. If both shares are below, the nanny can insure her whole wage voluntarily; each family then pays half the contributions on its share (Art. 46 BVG).
Can one family employ the nanny and the other pay back its share?
Yes. Then only the employing family is the employer: it registers the nanny, runs the payroll on the whole wage and owes it to her alone. The other family pays its share under a written agreement between the families.
Can both families sign one contract together?
Yes, as a simple partnership (Art. 530 OR). Both families are then employers and are liable to the nanny for the whole wage (Art. 544 para. 3 OR). Whether the compensation office keeps two households as one employer with one account is not settled officially. Ask there before you sign.
What happens if one family leaves?
With two contracts, that family ends its contract with the normal notice period; the other one continues. With one contract, the employing family keeps owing the whole wage. Fewer hours or a lower wage for the nanny only come with her agreement or a notice of change. That is why a notice period belongs in the families' agreement.
Who pays when one family is on holiday?
That family keeps paying its share if the nanny is ready to work (Art. 324 OR). The simplest is for both families to set the holidays together, so the nanny is off when both are away.
Register your nanny
Clino prepares the AHV registration, makes the payslip every month and adds the pension fund as soon as it is due: with one contract for the whole wage or with two, one per family.
How registration works step by step is on the page register a nanny.
30 days free, then CHF 19.90/month · cancel anytime
Sources
- BVG Art. 7, 8 and 46: mandatory with one employer, voluntary with severalwww.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1983/797_797_797/en
- BVV 2 Art. 29 and 30: total income, employer contributions from noticewww.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1984/543_543_543/de
- UVV Art. 13 and 99: non-work accidents from 8 hours a week with one employerwww.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1983/38_38_38/de
- OR Art. 324, 329a, 530 and 544www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/27/317_321_377/en
- AHV leaflet 2.06, household workwww.ahv-iv.ch/p/2.06.e
- Geneva: «CTT-EDom» (rsGE J 1 50.03), minimum wage and sickness benefitsilgeneve.ch/legis/data/rsg_j1_50p03.htm
- City of Zurich: work and family, nanny sharingwww.stadt-zuerich.ch/de/lebenslagen/unterstuetzung-und-beratung/diversitaet-und-inklusion/gleichstellung/vereinbarkeit-von-familie-und-beruf.html
- DBG Art. 33 para. 3: deduction for third-party childcarewww.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1991/1184_1184_1184/de