What is considered "on time" and "late"?
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Anonymous
| Our nanny's been with us for about a month and a half and she would regularly arrive 5 minutes late and occasionally 10 minutes late. Hoping to nip this in the bud, I told her in her 2nd week of work that being on time was very important to me. She was apologetic and said she would be on time going forward. Since then, she still arrives late almost every day, but it's more like 3-5 minutes late. Would most people consider this "on time"? I know for personal things, such as coffee with friends, arriving within 5 minutes of the meeting time is considered "on time", at least among my circle, but for "professional" things, such as work or school, IMO "on time" means just that, no grace period. Our former nanny would arrive literally on the minute every day (she would arrive early & wait in our building lobby until it was time), I guess I've been spoiled by this? Current nanny has other tardiness issues (excessive lateness averaging once a week(!)) and I'm wondering if I should bring up the daily lateness in the same conversation or let it go. |
Anonymous
| 3 mins? Unclench. |
Anonymous
|
Honestly, I would consider 5 minutes on a daily basis to be late. Here and there, it wouldn't bother me, but daily? Yes. I'm expected to arrive at work at 9:00. If I were to arrive at 9:05 on a daily basis, it would be considered late. Thus, I am sure to arrive no later than 9:00, but usually aim for 8:50-8:55.
I would also expect to return home on time to relieve my nanny (not 5 minutes after her scheduled end time) unless we had made other arrangements. |
Anonymous
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I would now tell her that her lateness is threatening her job. 3-5 minutes is a problem for me. She needs to be at work, jacket and shoes off, purse put away and ready to begin work at the time she's supposed to be there.
I specifically have our nanny's hours 20 minutes after I will be home just in case I am running a few minutes behind. Bust mostly I get home at 5:45 and the nanny finishes an art project with one kid or starts a bath for the other while the kids climb on me and I hear about their day. |
Anonymous
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That is late to me too. I would tell her you are changing her hours and change her hours to come in 10 mins earlier.
I have to be at work, ready to work at 6am. I arrive at work at 5.50 most days so I have time to take my coat off, put lunch away etc. |
Anonymous
| 1 min after is late. She should arrive 1-2 min early |
Anonymous
|
Where I work...if I punch in 3 min after my start time, that is considered late. DS' nanny gets a 5 min window on both ends. Sometimes she's early and will jump right in to help (commute can be hard to gauge). If she's more than 5 min early, she gets paid in 15 min increments. Less than 5 min, she gets paid as if she showed up on the dot. Same goes for the other direction. If she's late within 5 min, she's on top. After 5 min, she's technically docked. I say technically because she's rarely late, calls the second she knows she's going to be late, and is apologetic. So I've never actually counted her as late.
She's been with us for 3 years so I assume she's happy with this arrangement. |
Anonymous
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I agree that the key difference here is consistent lateness versus occasional. Five minutes late here and there is no big deal. A few minutes late every day, after having already been spoken to about being on time, and in conjunction with weekly excessive lateness, is a different problem.
If she is good otherwise, then I'd suggest telling her that tardiness remains an ongoing concern, and clearly an ongoing challenge. Ask her why this is difficult for her? Tell her that your expectation is that she will ready to literally be handed a child at 8 am, every day. Show her the arrival times, and especially the consistent significant tardiness, on paper in the short time she has been with you. Make it clear that this is a job expectation and if she cannot meet it then it may be that this is not a good fit. Don't personalize it - make it about the job and the expectations and whether or not she can meet the expectations that were the same for her predecessor and in what you advertised when she applied. Good luck. I'm not optimistic that she can change but I hope it works out (if you want it to). |
Anonymous
| 5 mins before start time is on time, at start time is late |
Anonymous
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This is OP. So let's say nanny's work day is 8 - 6 p.m. Based on responses so far, it sounds like I can reasonably expect nanny to be there from say 7:55 to 6:05 if she needs 5 minutes at both ends to get ready to work/leave? I ask because our nanny spends about 5 minutes in the bathroom at the start and end of work day to use the toilet and change into her work clothes. I don't begrudge her use of the toilet, but changing seems a waste of her work time and she ends up starting work about 10 minutes after the start time due to a combination of lateness and her prep time.
FYI I NEVER arrive home late causing her to leave late. This is not a situation where DH and I keep her late sometimes so she feels it's okay for her to arrive late sometimes. I think the issue is that our nanny plans to arrive on time, but little things happen every day that cause her to arrive a few minutes late. I would like to tell our nanny that she needs to 1) give herself a cushion of 10 minutes so that she is arriving early to on time, not on time to late as she has been and 2) be ready to dig into work on the hour, sharp, meaning she needs to arrive a few minutes in advance to do whatever prep she feels is necessary. Sound reasonable? |
Anonymous
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I am a nanny, OP, and your nanny's behavior is unacceptable. Explain the situation to her and demand she arrive fifteen minutes earlier and demand she start on time (not arrive - start work all toileted and changed). Is she young? She sounds young.
For the record, I always arrive at work 10 to 15 minutes early. I start the baby's laundry and use the bathroom while a parent is still with her. We talk while I straighten up her room and then I take over at 7:30. I am never late |
Anonymous
She needs to arrive early enough to be ready to take baby from you at 8 full stop. Shoes off, hands washed, lunch out away (my nanny arrives 20 min earlier, changes, in summer she showered since she takes the metro/bus and walks, her choice). In return she leaves at 5 so I arrive before 5 so we can have 10-15 min for her to tell me about the day and change and be out the door at 5. |
Anonymous
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Your plan sounds reasonable, OP. Five minutes late on a daily basis, plus another 5 minutes in the bathroom upon arrival would be completely unacceptable to me. I don't need to start every single day with the stress of waiting for the nanny to arrive late, then dillydally, while I think about traffic getting worse and worse, and my own late arrival at work.
Why does she need to change into "work clothes" upon arrival? Why doesn't she just put on her work clothes at home when she gets dressed...before leaving for work? |
Anonymous
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The first boss I ever had drilled in my head "early is on time, on time is late, late is fired" and I've never been late to work in 11 years.
I leave my house 20 mins early regularly and 30 mins early in winter. With my 1 hour drive, that has always been enough cushion to accommodate traffic, accidents, weather, street lights out, railroad arms stuck down, etc etc. On the flip side my bosses are very rarely late getting home and if they are, it's never been more than 10 minutes which I really appreciate. |
Anonymous
Are you prepared to pay for her to be one to two minutes early? This is 20-30 minutes a month. Also, you need to be home one to two minutes early so she can leave at her contracted quitting time. Works both ways. |