How much bonus would you give?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I give 4 weeks bonus to my nanny. No wonder she always tells me I’m too generous Totally worth it though.

That’s what I got as a nanny, PLUS two first-class airline tickets to Europe. I was loyal to them for as long as I was needed.

Most parents have no clue how vital continuity-of-care is during the early years of development. Every change of a primary caregiver is a traumatic experience, yet the revolving nanny door seems to be the norm in most American families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I give 4 weeks bonus to my nanny. No wonder she always tells me I’m too generous Totally worth it though.

That’s what I got as a nanny, PLUS two first-class airline tickets to Europe. I was loyal to them for as long as I was needed.

Most parents have no clue how vital continuity-of-care is during the early years of development. Every change of a primary caregiver is a traumatic experience, yet the revolving nanny door seems to be the norm in most American families.

That’s a very biased statement. Nannies have lives, too, and that means they leave to get married, have children, move closer to family, further their education, or otherwise move ahead personally and professionally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These bonuses are ridiculous. I have never gotten this kind of a bonus for my regular attorney job. DCUM is out of their mind as usual. I've posted it before and I'll post it again. I see your nannies out on the hill every day and they are not worth bonuses. On their phones, ignoring your kids or snapping at them half the time. If they've convinced you they are indispensable, cool but odds are they aren't that great.

20.21 again.

Special needs, 24/7, PoA, parent out of state weeks to over a month at a time (and unreachable for 12+ hours at a time), etc. Sure, paint every nanny as the same. My employers value who I am and what I do.

Hope you are being paid overtime for all those hours! Wow.

I’m salary, with a child in full day school who sleeps through the night. I make plenty

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These bonuses are ridiculous. I have never gotten this kind of a bonus for my regular attorney job. DCUM is out of their mind as usual. I've posted it before and I'll post it again. I see your nannies out on the hill every day and they are not worth bonuses. On their phones, ignoring your kids or snapping at them half the time. If they've convinced you they are indispensable, cool but odds are they aren't that great.

20.21 again.

Special needs, 24/7, PoA, parent out of state weeks to over a month at a time (and unreachable for 12+ hours at a time), etc. Sure, paint every nanny as the same. My employers value who I am and what I do.

Hope you are being paid overtime for all those hours! Wow.

I’m salary, with a child in full day school who sleeps through the night. I make plenty

Glad to hear it but nannies should be paid overtime for anything in excess of 40 hours per week, not salaried.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These bonuses are ridiculous. I have never gotten this kind of a bonus for my regular attorney job. DCUM is out of their mind as usual. I've posted it before and I'll post it again. I see your nannies out on the hill every day and they are not worth bonuses. On their phones, ignoring your kids or snapping at them half the time. If they've convinced you they are indispensable, cool but odds are they aren't that great.

20.21 again.

Special needs, 24/7, PoA, parent out of state weeks to over a month at a time (and unreachable for 12+ hours at a time), etc. Sure, paint every nanny as the same. My employers value who I am and what I do.

Hope you are being paid overtime for all those hours! Wow.

I’m salary, with a child in full day school who sleeps through the night. I make plenty

Glad to hear it but nannies should be paid overtime for anything in excess of 40 hours per week, not salaried.

I’m going to guess you aren’t aware of all of the differences between live-in and live-out. I’ll spell out what I do, and some is applicable to other live-in nannies.

First, the federal requirement for overtime doesn’t apply to live-in domestic help. Some locations (CA, MD, others) do require overtime, but it’s not usually at 40 hours (MD is over 44). I have never lived in a location that required overtime, nor would I want to track my hours so that I knew how much overtime I would get.

Second, many live-in nannies prefer to negotiate salary, that way we don’t have to count hours. We negotiate from an availability perspective… I’m paid for 24/7, even though my charge sleeps through the night (awake twice in the last three months, once sick, once with a nightmare) and is in school full time (but I’m available in case there’s no school or my charge can’t attend). I prefer knowing precisely how much will be in my bank account every Thursday or Friday, rather than missing extra money if my employer doesn’t want as many hours as I expected.

Third, by paying for 24/7, my employer has a right to dictate what level of covid exposure they are comfortable with me having during my off time (visitation with other parent, yet I’m still paid). I’m actually more risk averse than they are, but by paying 24/7, they have a right to know where I am at all times.

Fourth, because I am 24/7 and the child is already exposed to me, I don’t take a sick day unless I actually need it. If I can supervise from the couch, I do so. I only use sick days for fever over 101.5 which won’t come down with meds, vomiting and diarrhea; I arrange alternate transportation for my charge if meds won’t allow driving, but I’m otherwise capable of taking care of the child. That means that I negotiate to either have combined sick/PTO/vacation, unlimited sick leave or be paid out for unused sick leave, all of which benefit both my employer and me.

Fifth, my charge has special needs. They don’t have the social skills to understand that a paid employee on their own time might want a break, and my employer realizes that. I’m paid 24/7 so that I can gently help teach those social skills without feeling that it’s job creep.

Sixth, I look for positions that need me due to my skill set, flexibility, and experience. I negotiate from a very secure position, dictating practically all the terms. If they want me, they only ask me to compromise on the areas that I’ve already indicated to are flexible. I get precisely what I want for my package, and I get a family who needs me and values me.

I agree that live-out nannies shouldn’t have to remind their employers that they’re entitled to overtime pay. But please stop trying to apply laws to live-in nannies which not only don’t apply, they would also hurt our negotiation for our packages.