My wife and I have a nanny that we really like. She's fantastic with the kids and we want to keep her. We pay her $25/hr in the west suburbs of Chicago, 40 hours per week, plus 5 sick days and 10 paid vacation days. We pay her above the table and everything works great. Before Christmas she asked us for a small advance to help cover the holidays, which she's since paid back (through working) and things have gone without a hitch. We do not give her guaranteed hours (nothing in the contract states that we do) but we do state that her average work week will be 40 hours.
We're planning a week long vacation without the nanny. We gave her 4 weeks of notice I've assumed that she would either go unpaid or would use her accumulated vacation time for the time off, but should have been explicit. My wife disagrees and thinks we should have her come to the house and do reorganization projects or house work. The truth is that there's not enough housework to keep her busy for a full week. She has enough accumulated vacation time to cover the time we're gone, but I'm wondering if it's reasonable to ask her to use that vacation time or not. We absolutely want to keep her, so need to plan this conversation. Based on context clues she has assumed that she will come in on the days we're gone to do projects here at our house, but we've never discussed it. This is our first family vacation since the nanny started, so I think it will set a precident for future vacations. At $25/hr that will add $200 to every day that we go on vacations in the future. Thoughts? |
This is tricky but ultimately I think you need to see her salary as a sunk expense you are paying to keep her as your employee and pay her while you’re gone.
A week without pay would likely be a huge hardship for her, which is not technically your problem but it does mean she’s at your mercy. Some families stipulate that all/most of the 10 leave dates MUST be taken on certain dates to coincide with their own. But you’d have to do this in advance so it’s too late for this case. |
She should not have to use her vacation time to cover your vacation time.
If you want to feel like you’re getting your moneys worth, which sounds like what you want, then have her do random house projects while you’re gone. Or, just pay her and she gets your vacation as well. |
This is a great way to lose a good nanny. |
You really need to pay her. Leave her a list of things to do and tell her she only needs to come M-W and she can have Th-F off or something like that. $1000 in the scheme of things to have a stable nanny you trust in an empty house and with your child is worth way more. |
You can also post in the nanny forums op, but I do not think this is typical at all. Just like when you pay for your child to be in daycare and you choose to go on a vacation, you still have to pay those costs while you are gone. it is just a sunk cost that we all pay! I've done it more times than I can possibly count. Your nanny shouldn't be forced to use the pretty minimal vacation time she gets the week that you choose it. What most people do I think is put in the contract say, 10 vacation days of your choosing and two weeks vacation of employers choosing. So usually the nanny is just off. I haven't ever heard of one coming and doing projects...
If you want to keep her, I would highly recommend against doing this. Can you imagine if your employer was like you HAVE to take your PTO this week because I decided to close, so therefore you won't be able to take PTO when you need to/want to for your family? Everyone needs their salary to continue during these times, same at daycares, same for nannies. |
Imagine your boss telling you that you have to take vacation when he/she does? |
Yes, you have to pay her. We always did. Its not adding cost to your vacation, its just a cost you have. |
Yes you pay her. You reserved her time and are choosing not to use it. |
This. You're taking half of her vacation days at a time of your choosing not hers |
She’s not a housekeeper, so I wouldn’t expect her to do house projects. Pay her if you want to keep her. You can’t expect her to use vacation time for your vacation. |
You absolutely have to pay her. My nanny contract states the nanny gets two weeks vacation — one week that matches ours and one week that she can choose. But you didn’t do that.
I would take this opportunity to have her do the organizational projects. And the rest of the hours you just have to pay anyway. Is part of the deal that she cooks? If you add shopping and prepping freezer meals, you would get close to 40 hours. |
We pay her when we're on vacation, but we don't pay for her sick days or her vacation days. Our nanny is part-time at $30/hour. We prefer this structure because we've been burned to often by other nannies, and it does incentivize her to line up her vacation with ours. She is of course allowed to take her own unpaid vacation, and when she does, I usually have to hire someone else to cover her time. |
I've never heard of anyone NOT paying a nanny while they go on vacation. Similar to daycare. |
I would expect to pay her, just like daycare or school , you still pay when you’re not there. I’ve also never heard of anyone having their nanny take their vacation days when they take their own, I’m surprised to hear people do this. I wouldn't expect a nanny to do that for me. |