Samenvatting

This final project assesses the supervision and guidance provided by Smiling Faces in order to achieve the best possible fulfillment of the duty to care. The main question that will be answered in this final project is: how could Smiling Faces improve its position in the au pair business by achieving the best possible fulfilment of the duty to care and the most satisfactory preparation of the cultural differences to be experienced by future au pairs?
The duty to care strives to inform the au pairs as well as possible about the cultural exchange and about the cultural differences future au pairs could experience. The duties of au pair agencies are created by the institution “the IND” of the Dutch government. “The IND” implements and controls the immigration policy in the Netherlands.
Two types of applied research have been conducted to analyze the view of the au pairs and view of the au pair agencies. To draw conclusions of the view of au pairs, a questionnaire has been filled out by twenty au pairs working for Smiling Faces. The views of the au pair agencies will be illustrated with interviews held with two au pair agencies.
The following main points can be drawn based upon the outcomes of the questionnaire. The au pairs were informed well enough about the Netherlands and about the purpose of their stay by reading the training manual provided by Smiling Faces. All of the au pairs experienced cultural differences. The au pairs from South-America experienced the most cultural differences. The experienced cultural differences have not influenced the au pairs´ judgment of the guidance given to them by Smiling Faces. All of the au pairs have experienced being an au pair in the Netherlands in a positive way. The support and guidance given by Smiling Faces was rated positively because of its good services, its support and care to au pairs.
Based upon the results of the questionnaire four elements can be improved in order to obtain the best possible supervision and guidance provided by Smiling Faces: more interaction of monthly meetings and the Dutch course, more explanation of the duties of au pairs during the meetings, conversations with the au pairs on a monthly basis to see how the au pairs are doing and a mandatory course about the Netherlands for the au pairs from Colombia (and Indonesia) to prepare these au pairs as well as possible.
The following main points can be drawn based upon the results of the interviews. Au pair agencies really have to care about the customers and provide the best possible services in order to have success. The care given to au pairs can be distinguished into three phases: before their arrival in the Netherlands, during their stay in the Netherlands and after their return to their country of origin.
Based upon these results, two elements can be changed in order to strive for the best possible satisfaction by the au pairs: at least one interview by Smiling Faces with the au pair, once the au pair has returned to her country of origin to see how the au pair is doing; and making a video with images of daily life to obtain a better understanding of the Netherlands.
With these six changes, Smiling Faces will surely improve its position in the au pair business. By doing this, Smiling Faces will strive for the best possible supervision and guidance fulfilling their duty to care. The au pairs and “the IND” will experience more satisfaction by these changes made by Smiling Faces.