Nanny Holiday Bonus - Ordinary and Customary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Nannies will say they prefer cash but legally it should be one week’s pay with taxes deducted in the form of a check.

[Anonymous]

We submit it along with her payroll, so it is subject to taxes. She would prefer cash but I find that pretty annoying since we agreed she would be treated like a proper employee and be paid on the books, guaranteed hours, paid vacation and sick time, etc. We are very happy to do everything by the book, but don't then come to me and try to get me to break the law by handing you a cash bonus. No way.

[Anonymous]

How does one distinguish between a bonus and present? I like to do things by the book but I actually view a holiday gift as just that (even id it is a gift card)

[Anonymous]

We give a small wrapped gift ($25-50) and a bonus check in a card thanking her for all she did for the past year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does one distinguish between a bonus and present? I like to do things by the book but I actually view a holiday gift as just that (even id it is a gift card)

Exactly. C’mon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$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)

This is how you should be treating her. She is making your whole lifestyle possible. Think of how much you are putting in your kids college fund and your own retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$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)

This is how you should be treating her. She is making your whole lifestyle possible. Think of how much you are putting in your kids college fund and your own retirement.

Definitely keep up what you have done in past years. All nanny employers should try to match last year to keep up morale.

[Anonymous]

I think a lot of people on here, like me, are having thr first experience of having a nanny during the holiday season. But I'm totally laughing at thr "lifestyle" comment referring to LV bags!! I had to Google it to even know.

[Anonymous]

If you are going to give me a check instead of cash and I have to pay taxes on it then I would rather have a Gift Card.
Bonus should be a gift and non taxable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Seriously?!? That’s what you got out of the story?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are going to give me a check instead of cash and I have to pay taxes on it then I would rather have a Gift Card.
Bonus should be a gift and non taxable.

Welcome to the real world where bonuses are taxed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Gee, you sound super appreciative. I agree with the sentiment of do what you can, but that should be coupled with an attitude of appreciation and gratitude, not "take it or leave it, b#tch." Your nanny may have a hard time finding another super affluent family, but families who value her services abound.

[Anonymous]

I worked as a live-in nanny for a crazy family - think Mrs X from Nanny Diaries, during a dimmer in grad school, then continued to do afterschool work for them 3 nights a week through the fall. They gave me... a knitted cell phone holder. I thought perhaps there was money in it, but nope. I never went back. They were total trash.