Mums and dads across the country are set to benefit from an app that allows them to access and hire trusted, reliable and qualified babysitters, carers and nannies for their children at just the touch of a button.
Sittr is an app created and developed by parents for parents. It is the brainchild of Samantha and James McKinnon who came up with the idea after experiencing their own frustrations with finding a reliable carer for their three young children.
“We were fed up with the process of hiring a babysitter for our kids. There was no easy solution. We would spend hours vetting, sometimes late into the night. It was hard to tell who was genuine and who wasn’t. I didn’t want to leave my kids with just anyone. I wanted to know I was hiring someone I could trust,” said Samantha.
“When you do eventually find someone, sometimes it’s not all smooth sailing. We’ve had a few instances of people cancelling on us. James and I have been there when the babysitter cancels on you at the last minute. It can be so stressful, especially if you have tickets to an event or show. One of the great things about Sittr is that if the babysitter cancels, we will work tirelessly until we find you a replacement.
“One of our goals at Sittr was to create an app that was easy to use where you could call your partner, organise a night to have dinner together or see a movie and then book a carer within minutes. It was important for us to create a product that’s simple to use and works like any other on demand app in the market for food, taxi services and manual labour,” she said.
The pair spent years trying to perfect the app and its process. All sitters undergo an identity check and hold a Working with Children Check (Blue Card in Queensland) that is issued by the government after a thorough background check.
All sitters must also have current first aid qualification that includes asthma and anaphylaxis training and most have formal childcare qualifications or have years of experience looking after children.
“One of the key benefits of using Sittr is our insurance policy,” said James. “All bookings made through Sittr are covered by a $10million Public Liability insurance policy. We found it rare for sitters to carry their own insurance, because it requires a high upfront investment, however with our policy in place we are able to provide additional piece of mind for parents and carers without the extra cost.”
Unlike many babysitting services, Sittr has zero uplifts for extra children, no booking fees and no monthly membership fees. Instead parents pay a standard hourly rate, which is collected by Sittr via credit card at the time of booking and sent to the babysitter on completion.
Sittr is now available in all major capital cities around Australia and some regional areas too. Visit http://sittr.com to find out more information or download the app through the iTunes App Store or Google Play (Android).