"Do I need to provide my nanny with a cell phone?"

Providing your employee with a cell phone is often a good idea, but you have to consider the need and establish some guidelines on its use. If your employee either needs to be reached or needs to make calls during work, a cell phone should be provided. That is particularly true for all nannies and house managers. For other staff members, a cell phone may be less important, it all depends on their duties and responsibilities.

One of the biggest advantages to providing a work cell phone is that you can have your employee turn off their personal cell phone. This cuts down on non-work related calls, texts and messages. If you have your employee using their own cell for work purposes it is hard for them to distinguish if it is a work related or personal call. When you provide them with a phone they should be required to keep it on at all times so they can be accessible to you when they are working. The basic guideline is that they have access to the cell phone to send and receive work related messages and not be distracted from their duties by personal use.


Providing a cell phone does not have to be expensive. These days there are tons of options to choose from.

Cricket has phones for as low as $39 and monthly plans for $25 with no contract required.

Tracfone has phones as low as $9.99 and then you can purchase minutes to add as needed. They have 60 minutes (must use in 90 days) for $19.99. No contracts or billing.

You can also check out Walmart for many more options.