Live-in or live-out au pair: how to choose in South Africa

The default is live-out

In Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban most au pairs live out. They arrive around 13:00, do the afternoon, and leave in the evening. Families keep their privacy, students keep their independence, and the arrangement fits a university timetable.

When live-in makes sense

For families:

• You are far from the universities: Ballito, Blouberg, Noordhoek, the Garden Route, Mbombela, Rustenburg, Kimberley. Offering a room widens the pool dramatically.
• Parents travel for work and need someone on site overnight.
• You have a cottage, flatlet or separate room with its own bathroom.
• Your hours are irregular, for example shift work, and you need flexibility that a commuting student can’t give.

For au pairs:

• You are studying away from home and want to avoid rent and a commute.
• You want to work in an area you couldn’t otherwise reach, like an estate or a coastal town.
• You like being part of a household rather than in and out.

What live-in must include

A live-in arrangement only works when it is structured. Write down:

• Accommodation: which room, whether it has its own bathroom, and what is shared.
• Meals and household items: what is provided, and what the au pair buys themselves.
• Hours: living in the house does not mean being on duty. Ordinary hours, and how extra hours are asked for and paid.
• Days off: at least a day and a half a week, and which days.
• Privacy and guests: whether friends may visit, any house rules about noise or curfew.
• When the family is away: is the au pair expected to house-sit, is that paid, and can they leave?
• Notice: how much time to move out if the placement ends.

Families who blur these lines burn through au pairs; au pairs who don’t ask about them end up unhappy.

Pay differences

Live-in au pairs earn roughly 10 to 20 percent less in cash than live-out au pairs on similar hours, because room and board are part of the package. In the metros that is around R6,000 to R11,000 a month live-in against R7,000 to R13,000 live-out; regional towns are lower. See the pocket money guide for your area.

Live-in and the law

A live-in au pair is still an employee under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. Accommodation may be part of the package but must be stated, hours and leave still apply, and UIF registration is still required. The contract guide has a section on live-in boundaries.

Areas that lean live-in

Constantia, Hout Bay and Noordhoek in Cape Town; the Helderberg and Stellenbosch wine farms; Fourways, Dainfern and the Midrand estates in Gauteng; Hillcrest and Kloof, Ballito and Zimbali in KwaZulu-Natal; and nearly every town outside the metros. Each area page on Au Pair Nation says whether live-in is common there.

Deciding

If you can offer a proper room and you’re far from a university, offer live-in and say so in your profile; it may be the difference between two matches and twenty. If you’re in a suburb full of students, live-out is simpler for everyone. Many families set their profile to “either” and let the match decide.