Why are nannies treated like both hourly and salaried employees?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are not just any employees, these are the women who are watching your most precious treasures. Treat them with kindness and humanity. The distain some of you have for these ladies is very disconcerting. If you don't want to pay them, fine, but they will go somewhere where they are treated better.

Blah, blah, blah.

[Anonymous]

I would offer the option of flex time for snow days. She can choose to come in or make up the hours over the next month by staying late or coming in early.

[Anonymous]

Nanny here. This is why it is so important to have a detailed contract that gets both of you on the same page around this stuff!

My contract says that if a snow day is anticipated, I need to be at work or use PTO or take the day without pay. I only get paid for a snow day if my bosses and I agree the night before that it doesn’t look like it will be a big deal and then we get a surprise 6” or something unexpected overnight. It’s fine with me because we talked through all these permutations at the beginning of my employment, negotiated and I got bigger things that mattered more to me than paid snow days.

The biggest reason nannies are hourly employees (aside from “it’s the law”) is that there are already major boundary issues with the nanny/family relationship that aren’t present with most hourly employees and the room for massively overworking nannies functioning as a salaried worker are just too high. The reason nannies get benefits that most hourly employees don’t is because most hourly employees are basically interchangeable with any other cog in their particular machine. One checkout clerk is just as acceptable to the employer as another, so if they need a day off or need to call in sick, they can do so without throwing things off. But you don’t just want any warm body who can pass a criminal background check to sub in for your nanny. Additionally, the tasks many hourly workers have don’t rely on them to be emotionally adept. So the benefits of PTO are there 1) to avoid burnout so that your nanny can continue to be patient and loving and attentive and 2) because offering PTO allows you to build a mutually-beneficial arrangement where you have control over the circumstances under which your nanny takes time off (such as needing X weeks notice).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nanny here. This is why it is so important to have a detailed contract that gets both of you on the same page around this stuff!

My contract says that if a snow day is anticipated, I need to be at work or use PTO or take the day without pay. I only get paid for a snow day if my bosses and I agree the night before that it doesn’t look like it will be a big deal and then we get a surprise 6” or something unexpected overnight. It’s fine with me because we talked through all these permutations at the beginning of my employment, negotiated and I got bigger things that mattered more to me than paid snow days.

The biggest reason nannies are hourly employees (aside from “it’s the law”) is that there are already major boundary issues with the nanny/family relationship that aren’t present with most hourly employees and the room for massively overworking nannies functioning as a salaried worker are just too high. The reason nannies get benefits that most hourly employees don’t is because most hourly employees are basically interchangeable with any other cog in their particular machine. One checkout clerk is just as acceptable to the employer as another, so if they need a day off or need to call in sick, they can do so without throwing things off. But you don’t just want any warm body who can pass a criminal background check to sub in for your nanny. Additionally, the tasks many hourly workers have don’t rely on them to be emotionally adept. So the benefits of PTO are there 1) to avoid burnout so that your nanny can continue to be patient and loving and attentive and 2) because offering PTO allows you to build a mutually-beneficial arrangement where you have control over the circumstances under which your nanny takes time off (such as needing X weeks notice).

Wow! Did you really just write that? Do you have any idea the breadth of jobs that are paid hourly?

I agree that a nanny contract is really important. I disagree with most of your other nonsense. Nannies are human beings with a tough job, and they should be compensated fairly and humanely. But so are other hourly workers. Yeesh!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nanny here. This is why it is so important to have a detailed contract that gets both of you on the same page around this stuff!

My contract says that if a snow day is anticipated, I need to be at work or use PTO or take the day without pay. I only get paid for a snow day if my bosses and I agree the night before that it doesn’t look like it will be a big deal and then we get a surprise 6” or something unexpected overnight. It’s fine with me because we talked through all these permutations at the beginning of my employment, negotiated and I got bigger things that mattered more to me than paid snow days.

The biggest reason nannies are hourly employees (aside from “it’s the law”) is that there are already major boundary issues with the nanny/family relationship that aren’t present with most hourly employees and the room for massively overworking nannies functioning as a salaried worker are just too high. The reason nannies get benefits that most hourly employees don’t is because most hourly employees are basically interchangeable with any other cog in their particular machine. One checkout clerk is just as acceptable to the employer as another, so if they need a day off or need to call in sick, they can do so without throwing things off. But you don’t just want any warm body who can pass a criminal background check to sub in for your nanny. Additionally, the tasks many hourly workers have don’t rely on them to be emotionally adept. So the benefits of PTO are there 1) to avoid burnout so that your nanny can continue to be patient and loving and attentive and 2) because offering PTO allows you to build a mutually-beneficial arrangement where you have control over the circumstances under which your nanny takes time off (such as needing X weeks notice).

OK no. Most hourly employees are not just cogs. Many are skilled tradesmen- electricians, welders, plumbers.

[Anonymous]

It's a TOTAL RACKET, OP. Anecdotally and in my experience with my own nanny, I think a lot of nannies in our area are way too empowered and that over time, they do less and expect more. Over it. Can't wait to age out of the nanny years.

(Cue all the outrage, snark and name calling that will surely come from all the moms on here who let their nannies steam roll them because they don't want to actually parent their own kids.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If being a nanny is such a great thing, your husband should do it instead of his job that you are complaining about.

Please respond to this, OP. - new poster

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the record we pay our nanny very well and do all these things. I just get frustrated when at times (like the huge snow storm where nanny can’t make it in and then refuses to come in again the next day despite being offered safe transportation here) that I’m always supposed to pay her no matter what but also supposed to pay for every minute over our schedule on a given day.

Hourly employees generally have the benefit of overtime pay and being paid for every minute worked. The drawback is they don’t get a lot of paid vacation, generally don’t get paid for time they don’t work, and can be subject to schedule changes.

Salaried employees get the benefit of paid vacation and paid holidays. They get paid whether or not they’re able to show up and do their job. The drawback is they don’t get paid extra for every minute they work over their regular schedule in a given day.

My husbands job is one and mine is the other. It feels like nannies get both. And yes I’m partially just frustrated at the moment that dh wasn’t able to do his job and therefore wasn’t paid bc our nanny wouldn’t come in with provided transportation or stay overnight to prevent this problem (she doesn’t have kids or pets) but we still have to pay her. I in no way think nannies should be poorly paid or paid off the books or nickled and dimed, but I also don’t think they have some special status that elevates things above literally all over workers at regular companies.

You are legally required to pay her for all Horus worked. You are not legally obligated to pay her if she does not come in due to a snowstorm. As other posted mentioned, this is dictated by the market. When I worked at the GAP I wouldn't get paid if I didn't snow up due to a snowstorm but the manager had less incentive to keep employees on longer term so wouldn't have cared if I quit. Most nanny employers value continuity of care so they will treat their employees well and pay them on these situations because if they don't, other employers will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nannies are hourly employees. The IRS has been very clear on this point, and any attempt to salary or 1099 them is illegal (which doesn't stop people from doing it).

You are not required to provide a nanny with paid vacation days, but that may make you a less attractive employer if others are doing that. Depending on the state, you may be required to provide a nanny with paid sick leave (in California it's required).

This is not quite true. You can give a nanny a salary. But if you were to break the salary down into an hourly rate, the nanny must be making at least minimum wage. When determining that you are paying at least minimum wage, you also have to calculate the rate over 40 hours at 1.5 times the hourly rate. We used to pay our nanny a $50K salary for a 50 hour work week. This meant that she was guaranteed to be paid for 50 hours of a work every week (whether she worked that much or not). If she actually worked more than 50 hours, we would pay for each additional hour. There were many weeks she was paid for 50 hours but only worked 30-35. She also received 2 weeks paid vacation, 1 week of paid sick leave, and was paid anytime we were off or on vacation. In total, she easily had 6 weeks of paid leave every year. She definitely made more from the salary than she would have if I just paid her by actual hours worked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nanny here. This is why it is so important to have a detailed contract that gets both of you on the same page around this stuff!

My contract says that if a snow day is anticipated, I need to be at work or use PTO or take the day without pay. I only get paid for a snow day if my bosses and I agree the night before that it doesn’t look like it will be a big deal and then we get a surprise 6” or something unexpected overnight. It’s fine with me because we talked through all these permutations at the beginning of my employment, negotiated and I got bigger things that mattered more to me than paid snow days.

The biggest reason nannies are hourly employees (aside from “it’s the law”) is that there are already major boundary issues with the nanny/family relationship that aren’t present with most hourly employees and the room for massively overworking nannies functioning as a salaried worker are just too high. The reason nannies get benefits that most hourly employees don’t is because most hourly employees are basically interchangeable with any other cog in their particular machine. One checkout clerk is just as acceptable to the employer as another, so if they need a day off or need to call in sick, they can do so without throwing things off. But you don’t just want any warm body who can pass a criminal background check to sub in for your nanny. Additionally, the tasks many hourly workers have don’t rely on them to be emotionally adept. So the benefits of PTO are there 1) to avoid burnout so that your nanny can continue to be patient and loving and attentive and 2) because offering PTO allows you to build a mutually-beneficial arrangement where you have control over the circumstances under which your nanny takes time off (such as needing X weeks notice).

OK no. Most hourly employees are not just cogs. Many are skilled tradesmen- electricians, welders, plumbers.

But your examples all prove my point. You don’t need YOUR plumber, you just need A plumber. They are effectively interchangeable so if you run a plumbing company and Susan wants Friday off but Ronald can cover her shift with no issues. If your nanny wants to take a day off, you can hire another sitter but even if they are excellent they don’t know your kids, your house, your routine, etc. It’s a deeply personal job. So if you want to avoid burnout AND you want some control over when your nanny takes time off, offering PTO with strings attached is the way to do that, contractually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nanny here. This is why it is so important to have a detailed contract that gets both of you on the same page around this stuff!

My contract says that if a snow day is anticipated, I need to be at work or use PTO or take the day without pay. I only get paid for a snow day if my bosses and I agree the night before that it doesn’t look like it will be a big deal and then we get a surprise 6” or something unexpected overnight. It’s fine with me because we talked through all these permutations at the beginning of my employment, negotiated and I got bigger things that mattered more to me than paid snow days.

The biggest reason nannies are hourly employees (aside from “it’s the law”) is that there are already major boundary issues with the nanny/family relationship that aren’t present with most hourly employees and the room for massively overworking nannies functioning as a salaried worker are just too high. The reason nannies get benefits that most hourly employees don’t is because most hourly employees are basically interchangeable with any other cog in their particular machine. One checkout clerk is just as acceptable to the employer as another, so if they need a day off or need to call in sick, they can do so without throwing things off. But you don’t just want any warm body who can pass a criminal background check to sub in for your nanny. Additionally, the tasks many hourly workers have don’t rely on them to be emotionally adept. So the benefits of PTO are there 1) to avoid burnout so that your nanny can continue to be patient and loving and attentive and 2) because offering PTO allows you to build a mutually-beneficial arrangement where you have control over the circumstances under which your nanny takes time off (such as needing X weeks notice).

Wow! Did you really just write that? Do you have any idea the breadth of jobs that are paid hourly?

I agree that a nanny contract is really important. I disagree with most of your other nonsense. Nannies are human beings with a tough job, and they should be compensated fairly and humanely. But so are other hourly workers. Yeesh!

I replied to someone else downthread, but to clarify, no, I didn’t mean (and shouldn’t have flippantly implied) that hourly workers are all mindless drones. My point was simply that in most hourly positions, the assumption is that anyone who is qualified to be in that position is acceptable to fill any given shift. But even if you are an amazing nanny, you can’t just walk in to a random family and immediately jump in and do everything perfectly. There will always be major training involved and it takes time to connect with kids, especially at young ages. So in the category of time off and finding a replacement to fill a shift, nannies have more in common with salaried workers (who typically have a job that they have unique knowledge about outside of general professional skills) than hourly workers (who typically have a professional skillset as a baseline but differences between individuals don’t dramatically alter the quality of the work).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would offer the option of flex time for snow days. She can choose to come in or make up the hours over the next month by staying late or coming in early.

I would not agree to that, but if you send an SUV to drive me to your house, I’ll agree to that. My modest car is small and not equipped for snow.

[Anonymous]

This thread has really made me feel good about my decision to take a few years off when my DD was born. Employing a professional nanny, who works in your home and cares fir your children, is just an extremely fraught situation. Very few people have the temperament for it. And a lot of people stretch for the nanny instead of daycare (especially during Covid) but then want to nickel and dime the arrangement.

I fully agree with the long post from the nanny up thread and I think it’s funny how many of you are disagreeing. This is just the situation. If you don’t like it, your options are daycare or a SAHP, both of which come with their own drawbacks. People who whine about stuff like this are so entitled— sorry you can’t treat your nanny like Home Depot treats it’s cashiers? Sorry you e arranged your life to be 100% reliant in this person and she expects to be compensated accordingly?

This is very much a situation where you have paid someone else to make your bed and now you have to lie in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a TOTAL RACKET, OP. Anecdotally and in my experience with my own nanny, I think a lot of nannies in our area are way too empowered and that over time, they do less and expect more. Over it. Can't wait to age out of the nanny years.

(Cue all the outrage, snark and name calling that will surely come from all the moms on here who let their nannies steam roll them because they don't want to actually parent their own kids.)

I think you’re confused, ma’am...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread has really made me feel good about my decision to take a few years off when my DD was born. Employing a professional nanny, who works in your home and cares fir your children, is just an extremely fraught situation. Very few people have the temperament for it. And a lot of people stretch for the nanny instead of daycare (especially during Covid) but then want to nickel and dime the arrangement.

I fully agree with the long post from the nanny up thread and I think it’s funny how many of you are disagreeing. This is just the situation. If you don’t like it, your options are daycare or a SAHP, both of which come with their own drawbacks. People who whine about stuff like this are so entitled— sorry you can’t treat your nanny like Home Depot treats it’s cashiers? Sorry you e arranged your life to be 100% reliant in this person and she expects to be compensated accordingly?

This is very much a situation where you have paid someone else to make your bed and now you have to lie in it.

I’m an emergency room physician who is hourly - you’re the ridiculous one to just think hourly = cashier. I get paid for the hours I work, and don’t get paid for hours I don’t work by choice (eg refusing to come in when a safe way has been provided). I much prefer to be hourly so I can keep fix the hours I agree to work vs be worked to the bone like some salaried people. But no I would never expect to be paid for my time if I declined to for in and help care for your mom with covid