Nannies at 40k gross/year

[Anonymous]

The idea of nannies making that much doesn't bother me in principle. I must say, though, that it's an employers market and when I was interviewing for a nanny a year and a half ago, I found many qualified candidates willing to make substantially less (for 40 hours/week, 1 child). The few candidates at the higher end of the salary demands I was considering happened to be the least qualified in my view.

[Anonymous]

230:11 - You are correct. The nannies demanding more money often have no where else to go! You are very wise. I would not want someone who is at the jaded end, demanding more. I would prefer a nanny who is only doing it for a short time (and consequently demanding less money).

[Anonymous]

Really if the moms refuse to pay, then the matter is decided!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, this makes me wonder if I am paying too much. We pay our nanny about 50K (50 hrs a week at $16/hr with $24/hr for the time over 40 hours), + 2/3 of health insurance) and I posted on here when we were hiring and people acted like I was paying too little. This is for 2 kids (4 month old and 2 yr old), but it's A LOT of money for us, and we scrimp on everything else because of it. She has 20 yrs experience, is legal, and drives, so it seemed fair to me based on what I was reading here (I was even patting myself on the shoulder for just paying$16/hr). I'd love people's thoughts on if I am "being taken for a ride" as a previous poster said, or if this is me "getting a deal," as people posted when I first hired her.

I would say this depends on where you live and IF she is really excellent. I pay 17.50 an hour for two kids, and one is in preschool until 12:30 five days a week. Close-in NOVA burb. My nanny only works 40 hours per week (I work 32), but if she worked 50, I could probably pay a bit less per hour.
When she started, both kids were home with her because they were 2.5 and 6 months.
She is worth every penny: she drives, provides her own car (I pay gas and supplemental insurance), is loving, reliable, and caring. She has NEVER called in sick in 2.5 years. She gets 5 weeks of paid vacation per year at our choosing (we take two weeks in july, one week for each set of grandparents to visit, and a week at christmas) and she is still entitled to a sixth paid week at her choosing but has never taken it, even though we remind her that she can. She picks up groceries I forget. She picks up little presents and treats for the kids and will not accept money. She makes dinner many nights that I fail to leave something. She makes the older son's lunch evey morning for his back-pack. She keeps track of playdates, activities, does all laundry and keeps the house spotless. She loves them and is gentle and caring and puts up with my occasionally grumpy husband and a frequently flustered mom. She reminds me if they have been eating the same thing too often, if it's time to switch out the seasonal clothes, she organizes the toys. I am keeping her next year when my youngest starts preschool (five days a week, half days) despite the after care available -- she is that good. Without her, my life would fall apart. So 40k a year seems too low, frankly!

[Anonymous]

20:27 - she is a rarity. I think PP's are mentioning those who say they are worth it and turn out not to be. I have seen moms steal nannies, promise the nanny the moon, and the nanny ends up returning to the original family because the kind of mom who would steal is an absolute nightmare to work for. It truly takes all types.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, this makes me wonder if I am paying too much. We pay our nanny about 50K (50 hrs a week at $16/hr with $24/hr for the time over 40 hours), + 2/3 of health insurance) and I posted on here when we were hiring and people acted like I was paying too little. This is for 2 kids (4 month old and 2 yr old), but it's A LOT of money for us, and we scrimp on everything else because of it. She has 20 yrs experience, is legal, and drives, so it seemed fair to me based on what I was reading here (I was even patting myself on the shoulder for just paying$16/hr). I'd love people's thoughts on if I am "being taken for a ride" as a previous poster said, or if this is me "getting a deal," as people posted when I first hired her.

I would say this depends on where you live and IF she is really excellent.

Agree w/ the PP replying. It also depends on when you hired her (rates being higher a few years ago than you can get a new nanny for now) and whether you want to keep her. You can't downgrade her salary now. But I agree that it's a high amt for 50 hrs a week. Lots of the responses on this board focus on hourly rates for 40 hrs but since those 10 hrs of OT can skew the final rate so high, you really need to work from the lower end of a range if you're needing 50 hrs. Anyway - this is beside the point if you love her and want to keep her. And it may well be that in the yr/time you hired her, this was what you had to pay to get such a great nanny. I don't think that's the case now, but I also know I wouldn't want to ditch my nanny in favor of a new one even if she were cheaper.

[Anonymous]

I haven't read this entire thread, but I pay my nanny $17/hour for 47 hours/week and she makes more than I did when I was a 24 year old journalist with an ivy league degree. But she also works very hard, is proactive, takes her job seriously and is worth every penny. She had several other offers even in this economy (there were actually moms at Turtle Park fighting over her) and we offered her a competitive package. She runs our household, takes care of our two kids and is generally amazing. If I could afford to pay her $100K a year I would do it in a heartbeat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I have a grad degree and just recently worked at a think tank, in an IT position, for $38K/yr.

That's life, I guess.

Oh, btw - did you know that garbage collectors make an average of $75k/year? I don't think they need a grad degree to work as such, but again, that is top level wage and they won't make much more than that ever. You are just starting.

I've heard this myth before- not true. Avg. salaries of garbage collectors in the US according to US Labor Bureau stats is in the high $20s, in this area in the high $30s...so unionized municipal workers are making wages around the average of these high-paid nannies...

[Anonymous]

It was $12 an hour when my high school freshman was 1 in 1995. Sorry but $18 an hour is reasonable to me.

[Anonymous]

I meant 1997!

[Anonymous]

I think a lot of folks to a disservice by overpaying domestic employees. After you hit certain wage brackets you build up obligations relative to your earnings assuming you'll match them...Many of these nannies will re-enter the job market with the bitter reality that these high wages are not easy to come by and will now have obligations they can't sustain. I know this, in part, because it happened to my nanny...

The reality is that this $40-50k+ earning bracket for nannies is small. Reality is most earn in the $25-30k range. Also, your earning potential for this type of work doesn't continue to increase just by accumulating years, after 5 or so years experience, the marginal benefit of additional years to child-care effectiveness really doesn't matter.

[Anonymous]

We pay our live-in nanny about $40k plus health insurance, 3 weeks of paid vacation and 2 weeks of sick leave. When she started working for us over 3 years ago, her compensation package was smaller. But she has been doing a terrific job and fully deserves the pay raises.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think a lot of folks to a disservice by overpaying domestic employees. After you hit certain wage brackets you build up obligations relative to your earnings assuming you'll match them...Many of these nannies will re-enter the job market with the bitter reality that these high wages are not easy to come by and will now have obligations they can't sustain. I know this, in part, because it happened to my nanny...

The reality is that this $40-50k+ earning bracket for nannies is small. Reality is most earn in the $25-30k range. Also, your earning potential for this type of work doesn't continue to increase just by accumulating years, after 5 or so years experience, the marginal benefit of additional years to child-care effectiveness really doesn't matter.

I fully understand my set of skills and how valuable they are outside of the nanny market. There is a ceiling, just like with other jobs. There is also no room for advancement and everyone eventually outgrows their need for a nanny. If there's a nanny that does not know these things, she's an idiot. I have worked quite hard to gain all of my nanny and special needs experience. $40K is hardly a starting salary and I wouldn't call my 10 years of working with children "easy to come by".

I'm sorry your nanny did what half of America has done over the last several years: over extend their credit. It is hardly a problem unique to domestic workers.

[Anonymous]

A good nanny is worth every penny. So is a good teacher. If men had most of these jobs, no one would question paying 40k/year for nannies or much more for teachers.

[Anonymous]

$40-$50k sounds about right for a nanny who's got 7-8+ years experience, their own transportation, is an excellent English speaker, is handling multiple kids and does well with them, and is a US citizen (i.e. less likely to just up and disappear). Essentially she is running a daycare/preschool with 2-4 students.

18:08, are you another poor soul struggling to get by on $250k a year?

19:35, what you say might work for toddlers on up, especially for preschoolers. But picking a random college student for infant care?

23:12, so paying your domestics less is really helping them ... right.