United States
Household Staffing Agency
in Los Angeles
Last updated:
Morgan & Mallet is a luxury household staffing agency in Los Angeles that places exceptional household staff with high-net-worth families.
We place private chefs, nannies, housekeepers, butlers and many more roles in homes in Los Angeles that demand only the very best staff.
We recruit over 1,200 staff members annually, with 96% staying successfully.
Over a decade of placements has shown us what works.
Whether it’s a Bel Air estate, a Malibu compound or a Hollywood Hills retreat, we handpick proven, experienced staff for you.
We place candidates who have already proved they can perform under pressure in high-net-worth environments.
We listen to exactly what you need and find the right person for you, whatever your situation.
Contact us today to hire domestic staff in Los Angeles.
Tailored Household Staff Recruitment in LA
Founded 2015
Placing household staff with HNW and UHNW households for over a decade.
All Candidates Verified
We check identity, references and work history as standard. Criminal checks with consent, as California law allows.
Only Experienced Candidates
We work entirely with candidates that have prior HNW/UHNW experience. In our Los Angeles job briefs from clients, three and five years were the most common minimums.
Routine Check-ins
After making a placement we will follow up with both client and candidate.
What Happens When You Contact Our Domestic Staffing Agency in Los Angeles?
When you contact Morgan & Mallet about staff for your Los Angeles home, a recruiter from our LA office talks through the household with you first.
The role, the property, who the candidate reports to, and how the position should be set up under California employment law.
About a quarter of our Los Angeles searches (26%) were for a family with a second home as well, from a beach house to somewhere in another state or abroad.
So early on we ask if travel will be involved in the role.
“In California, the labor laws are very strict. They are pro-labor,” says Morgan Richez, co-founder of Morgan & Mallet.
We help you structure the role properly right from the beginning, because in California a loosely defined arrangement can be risky for you as the employer.
Getting the structure right also attracts better candidates.
The best housekeepers, chefs, and estate staff in Los Angeles have options, and a well-organized household will be the one that wins them.
We plan that first call around the role you are looking to hire.
“We prepare a list of questions depending on the request, because at the beginning, before meeting the client, the potential client is going to say, ‘I’m looking for a house manager for my property in Beverly Hills.’
“So we are going to prepare our questions depending on this role. Do you have staff in this property? For how long? How many staff? What are their roles?
“The house manager you are looking for: is it a new position, or is he going to replace someone? Is he going to be mobile, maybe to travel to your other estate?
“How many languages does he need to speak? Live-in, live-out?” says co-founder Laurine Mallet.
Once the brief is ready and agreed, we search our vetted database for candidates matched to your property, whether that’s a Bel Air estate, a Malibu beach house, or a family home in Pasadena or Brentwood.
We then give you a shortlist of profiles that you can browse through, we coordinate the interviews, and we back the placement with a three-month guarantee.
Most candidate searches take three to six weeks to find the right person for you. The more specialist the role, the longer it could take.
How Do You Know a Candidate is Right Before Sending Them to Me?
Skills get a candidate into our interview. Character is what gets them onto your shortlist.
“The skills and the CV are so important, but the feeling you can’t control,” says Morgan Richez our co-founder and former butler and chauffeur. “A household job is not the same as a company job.
“If I work for you as a butler, I’m so close to you, to your family, when you get stressed, when you get upset. I’m almost part of the family. That’s why the feeling is so important.”
Our recruiters put a lot of weight on personality and discretion before any technical ability, because our experience has shown us that skills can be taught, but character can’t.
It’s what families here ask us for too. Discretion has been added to 68% of our past Los Angeles job briefs, and one family in the Brentwood area asked its new estate manager to sign an NDA before starting.
The technical checks are still very important though. Every candidate has a 90-minute interview where we verify their actual skills. We also call their former employers directly for references, and keep this all stored in our Applicant Tracking System.
In Los Angeles the bar is high on specialist ability too. Many of the private chef requests we get in Los Angeles ask for chefs specialized in certain menus for example.
What we’re really looking at is how someone will behave inside your home over years, under pressure, around your family.
Three out of four applicants don’t make it through our selection process. The one who does make it has been tested on the things that decide whether a placement lasts.
Over all our searches since 2022, our recruiters turned down 79% of the applications they made a decision on. Our standards are high and our data backs that up.
Where We Place Staff in Los Angeles
Our clients in Los Angeles are a little different from our New York ones. “In Los Angeles, it’s almost [all] people from fintech, startups, this kind of industry, or even celebrities from the Hollywood industry,” says co-founder Morgan Richez.
From the Westside to the canyons, each area can differ in the types of household staff we are asked for:
- Bel Air – estate managers for large gated estates, often looking after big renovations, contractors and the rest of the household team.
- Malibu – private chefs and housekeepers for beachfront homes, many staff here are used to traveling with the family to a second property.
- Holmby Hills – traditional butlers and formal-service staff for older estates, including needing to know how to manage wine cellars and formal dinners.
- Pacific Palisades – nannies and staff for families with homes on the coast near the best schools.
- Hidden Hills & Calabasas – house managers and live-in staff for gated-community estates.
We also place staff in Brentwood, the Hollywood Hills, Bel Air Crest and Malibu Colony. For Beverly Hills, see our dedicated Beverly Hills page.
Our searches here have also taken us to Santa Monica, Pasadena, Manhattan Beach, Toluca Lake and Glendale.
The Westside, from Bel Air and Brentwood to Santa Monica, Holmby Hills, Malibu and the Palisades, accounts for 31% of everyone who has applied to our Los Angeles jobs.
The Staff We Place in Los Angeles
Some of our most interesting household staffing placements in Los Angeles are private estate managers who manage large properties.
These estate managers are in charge of budgets as well as looking after staff and contractors.
Our estate manager searches in Brentwood and Bel Air had 197 and 181 applicants recently. Across the whole US in comparison, our estate manager searches average about 135.
A new estate manager often helps set up the rest of the team.
“When the client asks for an estate manager, they are the ones who will set up the team for the new property.
“They are going to participate in the recruitment with the agency, they’re going to choose the people, they’re going to make the job description.
“So they’ve got a clear view of the needs and how they need to set up the team,” says co-founder Morgan Richez.
Private Chefs are frequently requested in Los Angeles.
A 2023 Pasadena private chef search we ran for a client was for dinners six nights a week, French-inspired food as well as BBQ and comfort food, with group events for up to 15 people.
Diet requests can be very precise.
“We have requests like, ‘I’m on a diet, so I would like to eat just protein, no sugar.’ We are going to select someone who already had this kind of experience.
“Or, ‘I don’t want to eat gluten, and I would like someone who can make his own pasta.’ So we are going to find someone who already had this kind of experience,” says co-founder Laurine Mallet.
For nannies in Los Angeles early childhood education qualifications, CPR certification and being able to speak another language (particularly Spanish, French or Mandarin) are something many families want, with many placements asking the nanny to travel internationally too.
Half of the searches we have done for nannies in Los Angeles asked for CPR or First Aid.
Our search for a Santa Monica nanny that needed to be fluent in English and Spanish had just 6 applicants, compared with 41 for a typical nanny search we do, so asking for two languages really narrows the field.
Working for a family that travels makes the role quite different.
“With this kind of family, you travel a lot, so it brings you new skills.
“It’s a different experience, because when you travel, it’s completely other responsibilities or duties, and you normally work with staff: a chauffeur, a cook, a governess. So it’s completely different,” says co-founder Laurine Mallet, who worked as a nanny herself.
We see that butlers in Los Angeles need to have a mix of being formal when needed but then fitting into that more relaxed Californian way of life too and understanding that.
A 2024 Santa Monica butler search we carried out for a client had 120 applicants, more than any other butler search we’ve worked on in the US. The family wanted British-style formality with Italian warmth.
Today’s butlers are more relaxed, but they still need the old skills.
“The modern [butler] is not like the traditional English butler at all. The modern one is more flexible and more focused on technology.
“But I think it’s good to know the roots of this work, and to know even the traditional way, because sometimes they will organize a dinner and the principal can say, ‘Oh, I would like a very formal dinner,’ so they can use the old-fashioned way,” says co-founder Morgan Richez.
Housekeepers in Los Angeles need to understand how to care for luxury finishes and antiques. But also know about the best eco-friendly cleaning products to use.
More than half of our Los Angeles housekeeping briefs (58%) mentioned fine surfaces or precious things, such as marble, antiques, artwork, silver or crystal.
Products are as important as technique.
“You need to understand every single material and product. I’ll give you an example. We’ve got some clients who don’t want alcohol in the products, because the products to clean the windows sometimes have alcohol inside.
“Some people say, ‘I want a housekeeper who knows the products without alcohol.’ Other clients don’t want chemical products, so you need to use products without chemicals,” says co-founder Morgan Richez.
Which Roles Do Los Angeles Homes Hire Us to Fill?
We place candidates in a variety of roles in the Los Angeles area, from part-time housekeepers to estate managers for homes with a full team.
A sample of eight of the searches we have carried out are below, with the number of people who applied to each one.
| Role and place | Year | People who applied |
|---|---|---|
| Estate manager for a main home and a beach house, Brentwood | 2025 | 197 |
| Estate manager, Bel Air | 2025 | 181 |
| Live-in nanny who travels with the family, Los Angeles | 2024 | 158 |
| Butler, Santa Monica | 2024 | 120 |
| Personal assistant, Los Angeles | 2025 | 109 |
| Chauffeur, Bel Air | 2025 | 77 |
| House manager for a beachfront home, Malibu | 2025 | 71 |
| Housekeeper working with an executive housekeeper, Pasadena | 2024 | 64 |
Housekeepers are the role families in LA ask us for the most, 32% of our searches here. The people who run a house get the biggest response though.
Estate managers, house managers and butlers made up 26% of our searches but brought in 38% of all the applicants.
Most of these homes already have a team in place. In 58% of our searches in Los Angeles the family had staff already there, so the new hire was joining a team or leading one.
Live-in jobs are less common here than you might think, only 21% of our searches have been for live-in roles. Nanny jobs are different though.
Half of our nanny searches were live-in, and three out of four asked the nanny to travel with the family, which was often abroad.
How we counted this: every search Morgan & Mallet conducted for a home in Los Angeles County between April 2022 and March 2026, with 2,485 applicants.
What Our Co-Founder Says About LA Salaries
Why are salaries in Los Angeles so high right now?
“I get asked this question a lot, and honestly, it’s one of my favorite things to unpack, because the answer tells you so much about what private service has become in places like LA.
LA has lots of ultra-high-net-worth families managing multiple properties, family offices, international travel, and art collections. Running these households takes real skill, and that skill costs money.
Many roles are live-in or need serious flexibility: early mornings, late nights, last-minute travel. When your life revolves around a family’s schedule, your pay should reflect that.
And families need people they can trust completely. Candidates with a proven track record of keeping things private are worth more.
At Morgan & Mallet, we only place candidates with proven experience in a similar role in a private home. They already get it. That pushes salaries higher, because that kind of experience is rare and protects everyone.”
Household Staff Salaries in Los Angeles in 2026
Position | US Salary Range | Example Placement Made by Morgan & Mallet | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
Estate Managers | $150,000 – $250,000 | Oversaw a high-profile primary residence and guest quarters for an entertainment industry principal. | Beverly Hills |
Executive Housekeepers | $95,000 – $170,000 | Specialist in luxury textile care and museum-quality art handling for a historic multi-acre estate. | Brentwood |
Nannies | $60,000 – $120,000 | Managed enrichment schedules, school runs, and outdoor activities like surf lessons for three children. | Pacific Palisades |
Private Chefs | $120,000 – $350,000 | Expert in macro-balancing and functional nutrition, providing tailored meal plans for a beachfront household. | Malibu |
Chauffeurs | $85,000 – $150,000 | Provided executive protection and secure transport for a high-profile family in a gated community. | Hollywood Hills |
Data source: Morgan & Mallet Annual Salary Report 2025/2026.
Pay from our own Los Angeles job ads
| Role and place | Year | Pay advertised |
|---|---|---|
| Butler, Santa Monica | 2024 | From $150,000 to $200,000 a year, with bonuses and help relocating |
| Butler and valet who travels overseas, Los Angeles | 2025 | $125,000 to $150,000 a year, plus benefits |
| House manager, Los Angeles | 2023 | $130,000 to $160,000 a year, plus health insurance |
| Chauffeur, Bel Air | 2025 | $95,000 to $130,000 a year |
| Live-in executive housekeeper, Pasadena | 2025 | from $100,000 a year, plus housing, health insurance and paid time off |
| Head housekeeper, Los Angeles | 2024 | $45 to $50 an hour |
| Housekeeper, Manhattan Beach | 2025 | $36 to $38 an hour, plus a benefits stipend |
| After-school nanny, Manhattan Beach | 2025 | $38 to $45 an hour, plus a benefits stipend |
| Live-in infant nanny, Los Angeles | 2024 | $50,000 to $55,000 a year, with a private bedroom |
Butler pay in our Los Angeles ads went up to $200,000 a year.
The hourly jobs worked out at roughly $62,000 to $104,000 for a full-time week, so most pay for housekeepers is below the executive housekeeper range in the table above.
Essential Information for Los Angeles Employers on Domestic Employment
California asks a lot from employers.
“The most difficult is California, for sure. My lawyer told me to be careful about California, because it’s a labor state and there is a lot of protection for the employee,” says co-founder Morgan Richez.
What is the Los Angeles minimum wage for household staff in 2026?
As of January 1, 2026, the minimum wage in California is $16.90 per hour, with some cities requiring higher rates:
- City of Los Angeles, which includes Bel Air, Brentwood, Pacific Palisades and the Hollywood Hills: $18.42 an hour from July 1, 2026
- Santa Monica and unincorporated Los Angeles County: $18.47
- Pasadena: $18.57
- Malibu: $17.91
- West Hollywood: $20.25
The state rate goes up to $17.40 on January 1, 2027.
When do nannies and live-in staff get overtime in California?
Domestic workers are entitled to overtime pay.
- For live-out domestic workers, overtime is needed after eight hours per day or 40 hours per week.
- Nannies and carers who mainly look after a child, or someone elderly or disabled, count as personal attendants. They get overtime after they pass nine hours in a day or 45 hours in a week.
- Live-out nannies also get overtime after 40 hours in a week under federal law.
- Other live-in staff don’t have a 45-hour rule. Any work during their 12 hours off, or the 3 hours off within their working day, is paid at time and a half, and so is a sixth or seventh day in a row, with double time after nine hours.
What meal and rest breaks do household staff get in California?
- Workers are entitled to a 30-minute unpaid meal break after five hours of work and a second meal break after 10 hours.
- Ten-minute paid rest breaks are required for every four hours worked.
- Live-in domestic workers must receive 12 consecutive hours of duty-free time within each workday.
Do household staff in Los Angeles get paid sick leave and workers' comp?
California requires employers to provide paid sick leave, with workers accruing at least one hour for every 30 hours worked.
The state minimum is 40 hours, or five days, a year, and in the City of Los Angeles it’s 48 hours a year.
Employers are required to provide workers’ compensation insurance for domestic workers.
In our own job ads in Los Angeles, 37% offered benefits on top of pay, such as health insurance, paid time off or a benefits stipend.
What does California's Domestic Worker Bill of Rights cover?
California’s Domestic Worker Bill of Rights gives overtime to nannies and carers who count as personal attendants, and Wage Order 15 sets the pay, break and live-in rules for other household staff.
Staff are protected from harassment in any home that employs them, and from discrimination in homes with five or more employees.
Morgan & Mallet can guide you through payroll setup, onboarding, and background checks to ensure you are fully compliant and protected.
Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Families should consult legal or HR professionals for definitive guidance specific to their circumstances.
A Trusted Domestic Staffing Agency in Los Angeles
Before launching Morgan & Mallet, the co-founders worked in private households themselves. Laurine worked as a nanny, while Morgan, the other founder, served as a chauffeur and butler.
Laurine knows the candidate side well.
“I worked as an after-school nanny in France. I started when I was 16, and as soon as I decided to move to the UK, I found a full-time position.
“As soon as I posted my resume, I received a lot of calls from agencies, nanny agencies but also general household staff agencies, and I was registered with 18 agencies in two days,” says co-founder Laurine Mallet.
Because of this we truly understand what it is you need from private staff.
Some Los Angeles families come back to us. Three of our recent candidate searches here have been for returning clients, including a Pasadena household that came back to us for an executive housekeeper.
We have international offices, so if you need to staff your home in New York, London, Paris, Monaco or Switzerland, one team can staff them all.
Meet Your Los Angeles
Recruitment Team
Los Angeles Household Staffing:Frequently Asked Questions
How do I legally pay a housekeeper in Los Angeles?
Housekeepers in the Los Angeles roles we recruited for were paid $30 to $45 an hour between 2024 and 2026.
You register as a household employer and do payroll taxes, including Social Security and Medicare, plus workers’ compensation insurance, which California requires even for one member of staff.
You’ll also need to follow California’s overtime rules. We offer an Employer of Record service that does all of it for you.
Can I trial a candidate before making a permanent hire?
Yes. You can trial someone to confirm that there is a fit. In California every trial hour has to be paid, at least the local minimum wage.
Every placement also comes with a three-month guarantee, and we check in with both sides every 10 days.
Some homes also test new staff on their own house rules.
“Before starting a job, we ask the staff to read carefully the documents and the process inside the property.
“Sometimes the household manager can train them when they come to the property, and they test them as well, for example on pictures, the phone, the security process, or even the protocol with the principal.
“Some very formal houses have this kind of protocol book and process book,” says co-founder Morgan Richez.
What kind of background checks does Morgan & Mallet perform?
We do thorough vetting for every candidate we place. We verify two professional references from past employers, speaking directly with each one to confirm work history and performance.
We also collect driver’s licenses for roles requiring driving, passports for staff who need to travel, and work certificates.
With the candidate’s written consent, a professional screening company, Accurate, checks identity, work history and criminal records. In California we only do criminal checks at the point the law allows, which is usually after a job offer.
Jonathan de Vanderbilt, a recruiter in our New York office, goes through this with clients: “That’s part of our terms and conditions.
“When I speak with clients, I make sure they understand that that’s our process: we check references, background, criminal backgrounds and all that.
“So they’re more assured, they’re more at ease, knowing that at least that part was handled and we’re not just sending them random [candidates].”
Can you staff homes outside California?
One family in Los Angeles we recruited for spends two to three months each summer in Massachusetts, and the nanny we searched for would live in with them there.
Yes. With offices across the US and Europe, we place staff in second and third homes, and coordinate teams that move between them.
Co-founder Morgan Richez on why families with several homes stay with one agency: “This kind of client doesn’t use only one property. They use many properties.
“So as soon as you’ve got a request for your properties in London, the UK, New York, whatever, we are the one.”
Los Angeles
office address
895 Dove St, Newport Beach, CA 92660, United States
phone
+1 917-843-5691
opening hours
Monday - Thursday : 9AM - 6PM
Friday : 9AM - 5PM
Saturday & Sunday : Closed
Your Trusted Partner for Los Angeles Household Staffing
Tell us what your Los Angeles home needs and we’ll start the search today.
You don’t have to be here yet. In 2026 we searched for a family assistant for a family moving to Los Angeles from abroad, and 85 people applied.
Call us or get in touch through the site, and we’ll reply within 24 hours with a recruiter who knows this market.