Nanny asking to leave early because she arrived early

[Anonymous]

What is “flexible?”

Flexible is you granting the nanny’s request to arrive late/leave early to accommodate an appointment.

Flexible is not agreeing to your nanny’s request to start working her 8 hours whenever her train arrives. If you need childcare from 8:30-5, the schedule allows you to schedule meetings, etc. that correspond with that coverage.

Flexible isn’t equivalent to being a doormat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Starting work on time sometimes means arriving early.
I don't know why some people cannot understand this.

Whether you yourself are working for pay, or not, is not the issue, since you could have something planned at any time and you need to be able to to rely on her providing childcare.

Like a poster suggested, say that it's fine if it's cleared in advance, because you need to check whether you have anything planned. Explain that you hired her to work at set hours, and she's not expected to work if she arrives early.

One of my friends is a nanny and she's the type to arrive early to make sure traffic does not make her late, and to leave right on time. This means that her employers get free minutes in the morning, but that's fine, since it's part of most job descriptions to arrive on time... which means sometimes arriving early.

I don't understand why she can't have a coffee as previously suggested, or read a book or tend to her emails or knitting, or something if she gets there early? Why would she start working?

Oh come on. The nature of the job means she’s going to walk in the door and the kids will automatically go “HI NANNY!!!” And some version of Look at me! Play with me! It would be really weird for the nanny to show up early and expect to ignore the kids.

Come on. You cannot be this dense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don't need to let her go early, but if you keep her you do need to pay her for the extra half hour.

I disagree. She wasn’t asked to work the extra half hour, it’s her own transportation issue. OP you could tell her that sometimes she can go early but she shouldn’t plan on it because sometimes you need her until X time as planned.

[Anonymous]

Don't take advantage of the free extra half hour? So this person takes public transport, and may get to your house within 30 minutes of start time, and you're not needing coverage to get home from work/meetings etc.

Why can't you be flexible to a degree? Say "I'll be flexible within a 30 minute time frame but no more". People are human. Getting and keeping good employees requires treating them with some semblance of humanity. If she was driving there and got there early I would get it, but public transport is what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP if you have the ability to be flexible, and it sounds like you might if you're not working, then you should do it. Not just because it's the "nice" thing to do, but because being in your nanny's good graces is worth it's weight in gold. There might be a time when you need her to be flexible for some reason and she's not going to be inclined if there's no reciprocity. Flexibility is a two way street.

+1 If you absolutely needed to be working until X time, I can understand not being flexible, but if you can accommodate I would. If you treat workers well, they are a lot more willing to accommodate you when you need them. And, as you know from this board, a nanny that doesn't show up late is worth a lot!

This is true. But it’s also true that someone who starts asking for little favors on the first day will get progressively worse with time. I’ve always tried to be nice about things like this and some people really take advantage. Pretty soon leaving early will be her norm and she’ll be annoyed about working her full hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s unprofessional enough that I would have real concerns about her judgment. My 14 year old (who is not known for her professionalism!) would definitely know better than to do this.

It's not unprofessional to ask. I would absolutely try to accommodate an employee who asked for a minor schedule accommodation. I moved my office to core hours, which work well for the org and make employees happy which means they are more flexible and work harder.

It’s highly unprofessional to as to do this retroactively starting the first day! It would be different to walk around the block or whatever the first day then ask if in the future if she arrives early could she…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She voluntarily showed up early so that half hour is on her. Her day, based on your day, ends at X time so she needs to be there until that time. She works set hours, not X hours.

It’s not like an office where she could wait in a lobby out of the snow and rain. She takes public transportation and that gets her there at a time she can’t control too much. Then she might be walking into a neighborhood where there isn’t anywhere but the house of her employer to sit for 30 min.

I’d be flexible if it were me and if I wasn’t working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP if you have the ability to be flexible, and it sounds like you might if you're not working, then you should do it. Not just because it's the "nice" thing to do, but because being in your nanny's good graces is worth it's weight in gold. There might be a time when you need her to be flexible for some reason and she's not going to be inclined if there's no reciprocity. Flexibility is a two way street.

+1 If you absolutely needed to be working until X time, I can understand not being flexible, but if you can accommodate I would. If you treat workers well, they are a lot more willing to accommodate you when you need them. And, as you know from this board, a nanny that doesn't show up late is worth a lot!

This is true. But it’s also true that someone who starts asking for little favors on the first day will get progressively worse with time. I’ve always tried to be nice about things like this and some people really take advantage. Pretty soon leaving early will be her norm and she’ll be annoyed about working her full hours.

I agree with this. What happens when you have a meeting that ends at 5:30 and that is one of the days she happened to arrive early so she takes off at 5.
Even if she stays, in all fairness you would have to pay her for what is now the "extra" 30 min b/c she started early. And if she doesn't stay, what do you do if it is an important meeting and your kids need something during it.

Tell her set hours with two way flexibility. Sometimes she may be able to leave early and sometimes you may need her to stay longer. And do tell her you appreciate her diligence in arriving early to ensure she is not late.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Today it’s fine, but moving forward, I need coverage for the set hours.

That’s not what you indicated in your original post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She voluntarily showed up early so that half hour is on her. Her day, based on your day, ends at X time so she needs to be there until that time. She works set hours, not X hours.

It’s not like an office where she could wait in a lobby out of the snow and rain. She takes public transportation and that gets her there at a time she can’t control too much. Then she might be walking into a neighborhood where there isn’t anywhere but the house of her employer to sit for 30 min.

I’d be flexible if it were me and if I wasn’t working.

First, lots of jobs don’t have a lobby and people deal. Also it would be ok to ask if going forward that would work. It’s really entitled to do it like this on the first day and I would honestly start looking for a new nanny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP if you have the ability to be flexible, and it sounds like you might if you're not working, then you should do it. Not just because it's the "nice" thing to do, but because being in your nanny's good graces is worth it's weight in gold. There might be a time when you need her to be flexible for some reason and she's not going to be inclined if there's no reciprocity. Flexibility is a two way street.

+1 If you absolutely needed to be working until X time, I can understand not being flexible, but if you can accommodate I would. If you treat workers well, they are a lot more willing to accommodate you when you need them. And, as you know from this board, a nanny that doesn't show up late is worth a lot!

This is true. But it’s also true that someone who starts asking for little favors on the first day will get progressively worse with time. I’ve always tried to be nice about things like this and some people really take advantage. Pretty soon leaving early will be her norm and she’ll be annoyed about working her full hours.

I agree with this. What happens when you have a meeting that ends at 5:30 and that is one of the days she happened to arrive early so she takes off at 5.
Even if she stays, in all fairness you would have to pay her for what is now the "extra" 30 min b/c she started early. And if she doesn't stay, what do you do if it is an important meeting and your kids need something during it.

Tell her set hours with two way flexibility. Sometimes she may be able to leave early and sometimes you may need her to stay longer. And do tell her you appreciate her diligence in arriving early to ensure she is not late.

Yes, agree. I had a very nice, experienced nanny that I thought was a dream and then she asked for a slight raise. I thought, ok, reasonable, but then she asked for another, and another. Slippery slope. Always remember you are the employer and preferably get things in writing.

[Anonymous]

Let her leave early today but she needs to figure out transportation to arrive closer to her set starting time. If possible, that is. If you live in the boonies and transportation is infrequent, you may have to change her hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Starting work on time sometimes means arriving early.
I don't know why some people cannot understand this.

Whether you yourself are working for pay, or not, is not the issue, since you could have something planned at any time and you need to be able to to rely on her providing childcare.

Like a poster suggested, say that it's fine if it's cleared in advance, because you need to check whether you have anything planned. Explain that you hired her to work at set hours, and she's not expected to work if she arrives early.

One of my friends is a nanny and she's the type to arrive early to make sure traffic does not make her late, and to leave right on time. This means that her employers get free minutes in the morning, but that's fine, since it's part of most job descriptions to arrive on time... which means sometimes arriving early.

I don't understand why she can't have a coffee as previously suggested, or read a book or tend to her emails or knitting, or something if she gets there early? Why would she start working?

Because it's not relaxing to hang out in your employer's home, the kids may not understand that you aren't on the clock, and she has stuff to do when she isn't working.

So the nanny can spend that half hour in Starbucks and show up at OP's when she's scheduled to show up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't take advantage of the free extra half hour? So this person takes public transport, and may get to your house within 30 minutes of start time, and you're not needing coverage to get home from work/meetings etc.

Why can't you be flexible to a degree? Say "I'll be flexible within a 30 minute time frame but no more". People are human. Getting and keeping good employees requires treating them with some semblance of humanity. If she was driving there and got there early I would get it, but public transport is what it is.

Ita.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP if you have the ability to be flexible, and it sounds like you might if you're not working, then you should do it. Not just because it's the "nice" thing to do, but because being in your nanny's good graces is worth it's weight in gold. There might be a time when you need her to be flexible for some reason and she's not going to be inclined if there's no reciprocity. Flexibility is a two way street.

+1 If you absolutely needed to be working until X time, I can understand not being flexible, but if you can accommodate I would. If you treat workers well, they are a lot more willing to accommodate you when you need them. And, as you know from this board, a nanny that doesn't show up late is worth a lot!

This is true. But it’s also true that someone who starts asking for little favors on the first day will get progressively worse with time. I’ve always tried to be nice about things like this and some people really take advantage. Pretty soon leaving early will be her norm and she’ll be annoyed about working her full hours.

I agree with this. What happens when you have a meeting that ends at 5:30 and that is one of the days she happened to arrive early so she takes off at 5.
Even if she stays, in all fairness you would have to pay her for what is now the "extra" 30 min b/c she started early. And if she doesn't stay, what do you do if it is an important meeting and your kids need something during it.

Tell her set hours with two way flexibility. Sometimes she may be able to leave early and sometimes you may need her to stay longer. And do tell her you appreciate her diligence in arriving early to ensure she is not late.

What happened to me is that I said sure to being flexible. Why not, right? She was great with my kids, then I started noticing increasing signs of laziness and pushing boundaries. For example, not cleaning up after herself, being lax about rules, etc. I also wasn’t working so I was flexible about leaving early. Then one day when I was nursing my infant and my toddler was having a tantrum downstairs when she called out “Goodbye Larla! I’m heading out!” Abd I heard the door close. I looked at my phone and it was 30 minutes before she was scheduled to leave. To say I was livid is an understatement. I started looking for a new nanny that same day. You cannot give an inch without taking a mile. I decided I did not want to deal with an employee who is constantly pushing boundaries and asking for more and more and more favors. It’s okay to decide that professionalism is a job requirement.