Nanny Holiday Bonus - Ordinary and Customary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did 3 weeks last year. But this year we had a new nanny start in September. If you’ve only had a nanny for part of the year what is the protocol there? Still 1-2 weeks? Or is 1 week ok if they’ve only been working a few months?

Prorate the bonus so 1/3 of 3 weeks or 1 week is correct.

Oh can others confirm agreement with this?

I have a new nanny who also started in September, but she's very experienced, so I feel like she will have expectations from working with other families previously - but I'm not sure what those expectations would be. I have been debating between 1 or 2 weeks based on being new.

To be honest, all of this is a big financial stretch for us (daycare was the pre-covid plan), but I want to be in line with what's expected.

Do what you can, don't worry about expectations. Our nanny had a previous long term job with a very affluent family. We're paying what's feasible for us, she agreed to it. Her expectations from working with millionaires before us are just that - her expectations. She could not find a position that pays the same (claims she was making $2500/week). I don't care if they gave her 6 month bonus - we can't. There was another family she was with for a few months before us - they just cut her off once covid hit. So there are clearly worse arrangements than ours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nanny again- I won’t cut back on anything extra I’m doing for the kids (I’m also doing alllll the distance learning) but I will cut back on the things I do just for the parents. If I’m not getting paid extra or given a bonus, I’m done folding your underpants!

If I had someone cooking me dinner and folding my underpants I’d give them a month’s salary extra.

[Anonymous]

We give her the equivalent of a week's pay as as bonus. I submit it in her payroll so it is taxed. My bonus is taxed so I don't understand why it would be different for our nanny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two weeks pay for a great nanny. If you give her a one week bonus she’ll think she did not perform well.

Our great nanny is very happy with the one week bonus we have given her the past two years.[i][u]

Uh huh... keep telling yourself that PP.

I don’t have to...she’s written us lovely thank you notes telling us. 😊

These responses anyways crack me up. No one is going to tell you your gift sucks.

Gifts, dear. She also gets personal gifts on top of bonus.

Right. No one wants any more photos of your kids or crappy cookies they make plus the regifted crap you don't want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two weeks pay for a great nanny. If you give her a one week bonus she’ll think she did not perform well.

Our great nanny is very happy with the one week bonus we have given her the past two years.[i][u]

Uh huh... keep telling yourself that PP.

I don’t have to...she’s written us lovely thank you notes telling us. 😊

These responses anyways crack me up. No one is going to tell you your gift sucks.

Gifts, dear. She also gets personal gifts on top of bonus.

Right. No one wants any more photos of your kids or crappy cookies they make plus the regifted crap you don't want.

I completely agree and would never give her that.

[Anonymous]

My mom was a nanny for the same family for 20 years. She took care of all 4 kids, cooked, cleaned, did the laundry, took care of extended family when they came over. She also drove them to activities, played with them when little and would shovel snow and rake leaves for the first 10 years or so. When I was able to support her an retire her, she got a bonus for all her years of service of $500. My mom loves the kids, every year she always got them gifts for birthdays/Christmas. thank you all for recognizing the important and vital work that nannies do for the family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom was a nanny for the same family for 20 years. She took care of all 4 kids, cooked, cleaned, did the laundry, took care of extended family when they came over. She also drove them to activities, played with them when little and would shovel snow and rake leaves for the first 10 years or so. When I was able to support her an retire her, she got a bonus for all her years of service of $500. My mom loves the kids, every year she always got them gifts for birthdays/Christmas. thank you all for recognizing the important and vital work that nannies do for the family.

Wow, good thing she had you.

[Anonymous]

We will be paying two bonuses:

1) The nanny who we had from March - November will get one week's pay even though we no longer employ her
2) The nanny who we had in January and February, and now November through some distant point in the future will also get one week's pay

We usually do two weeks' pay for a full year of employment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom was a nanny for the same family for 20 years. She took care of all 4 kids, cooked, cleaned, did the laundry, took care of extended family when they came over. She also drove them to activities, played with them when little and would shovel snow and rake leaves for the first 10 years or so. When I was able to support her an retire her, she got a bonus for all her years of service of $500. My mom loves the kids, every year she always got them gifts for birthdays/Christmas. thank you all for recognizing the important and vital work that nannies do for the family.

Wow, she deserved more than $500. We are giving that to our soon-departing nanny of only 6 months!

I wonder if the family employed her as long as they did out of a sense of duty...even though they no longer needed someone full-time.

[Anonymous]

We employed live-in nannies for 12 years (only four during that time, so I think we did some things right) and always paid 2 weeks as a bonus, adding to that if they'd had an especially good year. Also gave cash and other gifts on their birthdays. Do what you can, but I do think the most loyal employees get a nice bonus during the holidays (and preferably early in the month of December so they can buy their own families and friends gifts, which is what they tended to do with it).

[Anonymous]

$2500 cash and a couple of gifts. We've had her for years and she keeps a running list of things she's interested in. We use it for bday, holidays, or just a small gift of appreciation. Last year was a LV bag. This year it's a Switch with a couple of games and some trail cameras (she's surrounded by woods and always finding interesting paw prints)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nanny again- I won’t cut back on anything extra I’m doing for the kids (I’m also doing alllll the distance learning) but I will cut back on the things I do just for the parents. If I’m not getting paid extra or given a bonus, I’m done folding your underpants!

1 week is fine, OP.

Sorry you don’t think folding the parents underwear deserves a bonus? All the job creep for nannies right now is unreal and we are in demand. It’s easy to find a new job right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nanny here-

I’ll be super sad and disappointed if I don’t receive a good bonus this year. I’ve been working all through the pandemic and took on A LOT of extra work now that the housekeeper doesn’t come anymore. Now I’m a chef for the parents and the kids, do all the laundry, clean kitchen dishes constantly etc. I work really hard and spend hours researching recipes now that apparently it’s my job to feed the parents. If I don’t get a bonus, then I’ll be making tacos and pasta from now on. I’m not spending hours chopping onions and marinating and making sauces if my effort isn’t recognized. I took on a lot of extra unpaid work and I won’t continue doing it if I don’t receive a bonus.

How did you go from making simple meals and snacka for the kids to being a chef for the family AND doing all the laundry? Did you offer or did the parents specifically tell you to add on duties?

The parents have been asking and piling it on. I’m also doing distance learning for 3 kids. They’re saving a lot now that the housekeeper doesn’t come anymore, so if I don’t receive an above average bonus I will either stop doing all the extras, as for a raise, or quit. It’s too much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nanny here-

I’ll be super sad and disappointed if I don’t receive a good bonus this year. I’ve been working all through the pandemic and took on A LOT of extra work now that the housekeeper doesn’t come anymore. Now I’m a chef for the parents and the kids, do all the laundry, clean kitchen dishes constantly etc. I work really hard and spend hours researching recipes now that apparently it’s my job to feed the parents. If I don’t get a bonus, then I’ll be making tacos and pasta from now on. I’m not spending hours chopping onions and marinating and making sauces if my effort isn’t recognized. I took on a lot of extra unpaid work and I won’t continue doing it if I don’t receive a bonus.

How did you go from making simple meals and snacka for the kids to being a chef for the family AND doing all the laundry? Did you offer or did the parents specifically tell you to add on duties?

The parents have been asking and piling it on. I’m also doing distance learning for 3 kids. They’re saving a lot now that the housekeeper doesn’t come anymore, so if I don’t receive an above average bonus I will either stop doing all the extras, as for a raise, or quit. It’s too much.

That’s taking advantage, sorry pp. I would be doubling your bonus and showering you with gifts if you were my nanny.

[Anonymous]

So its sounding like one week is common... is it about one week of what they take home after taxes? Do you give it as cash, check, visa gift card? Do you pay taxes on it?

So my question is: how much and what mechanism.