Part Time Nanny...are we being unreasonable

[Anonymous]

We have a part time nanny who our daughter really likes, but she is not that great of a worker. She leaves the lunch on the high chair until well after lunch and often doesn't bring the stroller safely back inside. She also is 50-50 on whether or not she actually picks up the play area.

When we hired her we specified the only housework we needed completed was cleaning up after lunch and picking up the play area. My husband and I are both working from home so we also have been incredibly flexible with her if she has an appointment or needs to flex time and we provide lunch daily which I think most people do, but I am not sure.

We are paying her above board with a payroll system. She is a college student and living at home in D.C. while she completes school remotely. We pay her for hours worked, so there is not a PTO or sick leave policy.

Lately she has become increasingly unreliable, within the past month or so. We cannot decide if we need to let her go, or if we should stick with what we have. She frequently will text the night before or early morning letting us know she can't make it for one reason or another. We realize we have a rare set up with a part time nanny that we only have to pay for hours worked...and not provide leave, but I cannot help but wonder if there are more reliable college students out there who would love to work 5-6 hours a day making well over minimum wage.

[Anonymous]

How is she part-time when you have her working 5-6 hour days?

[Anonymous]

Let her know you need her to be more reliable and to clean up after lunch and play and if she can't do that, you'll need to find someone who can.

[Anonymous]

Either she’s not happy with what you’re paying her, or she really doesn’t need a job. Ask her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Either she’s not happy with what you’re paying her, or she really doesn’t need a job. Ask her.

I don't know that this is necessarily true. As a college student she may not realize that her flakiness affects OP the way it does. She needs to be told that if she isn't more reliable, she's out.

[Anonymous]

OP chose a flaky college student because they knew they couldn't get away with no benefits, overtime, or PTO in a pandemic with anyone else.

You get what you pay for.

[Anonymous]

She’s an entitled college student, and you aren’t paying her enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP chose a flaky college student because they knew they couldn't get away with no benefits, overtime, or PTO in a pandemic with anyone else.

You get what you pay for.

This. Sorry, but it’s the truth. No other professional would agree to this. You have a default schedule, you pay for those hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP chose a flaky college student because they knew they couldn't get away with no benefits, overtime, or PTO in a pandemic with anyone else.

You get what you pay for.

Or they couldn't find a professional nanny willing to do part-time. We spent months looking for a PT nanny ($20/hr and PTO, plus a healthcare stipend every month -- no overtime because we only need 20 hours a week anyway) and the only people who were interested were college kids or recent graduates. Nannies are in really high demand right now and can easily find a FT gig. The only people I know with experienced PT nannies right now are people who have had their nannies for a long time. Trying to hire one during the pandemic has been really hard.

I do think that if you are working with a PT nanny who is not experienced (and are thus probably not paying her the usual rate), you have to accept that she's not going to be the most professional person in the world. If you are paying bare minimum with no benefits, you can expect her to put in the bare minimum as well, which in this case is: your DD is taken care of for the appointed time each day. Beyond that, you have to shrug it off. A lot of people don't have childcare at all right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a part time nanny who our daughter really likes, but she is not that great of a worker. She leaves the lunch on the high chair until well after lunch and often doesn't bring the stroller safely back inside. She also is 50-50 on whether or not she actually picks up the play area.

When we hired her we specified the only housework we needed completed was cleaning up after lunch and picking up the play area. My husband and I are both working from home so we also have been incredibly flexible with her if she has an appointment or needs to flex time and we provide lunch daily which I think most people do, but I am not sure.

We are paying her above board with a payroll system. She is a college student and living at home in D.C. while she completes school remotely. We pay her for hours worked, so there is not a PTO or sick leave policy.

Lately she has become increasingly unreliable, within the past month or so. We cannot decide if we need to let her go, or if we should stick with what we have. She frequently will text the night before or early morning letting us know she can't make it for one reason or another. We realize we have a rare set up with a part time nanny that we only have to pay for hours worked...and not provide leave, but I cannot help but wonder if there are more reliable college students out there who would love to work 5-6 hours a day making well over minimum wage.

I'm curious what you are actually paying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a part time nanny who our daughter really likes, but she is not that great of a worker. She leaves the lunch on the high chair until well after lunch and often doesn't bring the stroller safely back inside. She also is 50-50 on whether or not she actually picks up the play area.

When we hired her we specified the only housework we needed completed was cleaning up after lunch and picking up the play area. My husband and I are both working from home so we also have been incredibly flexible with her if she has an appointment or needs to flex time and we provide lunch daily which I think most people do, but I am not sure.

We are paying her above board with a payroll system. She is a college student and living at home in D.C. while she completes school remotely. We pay her for hours worked, so there is not a PTO or sick leave policy.

Lately she has become increasingly unreliable, within the past month or so. We cannot decide if we need to let her go, or if we should stick with what we have. She frequently will text the night before or early morning letting us know she can't make it for one reason or another. We realize we have a rare set up with a part time nanny that we only have to pay for hours worked...and not provide leave, but I cannot help but wonder if there are more reliable college students out there who would love to work 5-6 hours a day making well over minimum wage.

I'm curious what you are actually paying.

This. Minimum wage in many parts of the country and Virginia is $7.25. In Maryland its $10 an hour.

The going rate for an actual professional nanny in this area is $20-$25/hr. So if she's not cleaning up your daughter's plates and calling out - there's your reason why.

[Anonymous]

I’m the OP and yes we only needed about 25 hours a week and honestly didn’t want to have a share due to space. We are paying her a competitive rate for one toddler. We definitely talked to professional nannies but they all understandably needed full time.
We also thought it would only need her last fall, but sadly no daycare spots have opened for us and she is available. It’s only frustrating because as far as a part time job goes we ask her to take our daughter out when the weather is nice, feed her lunch and provide general care and pick up toys.
Agree though that it may be time to just have a conversation.

I also think she doesn’t really need the job, and the money she makes is just for fun since it’s not like she has rent/mortgage or healthcare at her age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP chose a flaky college student because they knew they couldn't get away with no benefits, overtime, or PTO in a pandemic with anyone else.

You get what you pay for.

Simple and plain truth!

[Anonymous]

We are paying her $21 an hour.

[Anonymous]

I'd fire her - I would put up an ad today for a new nanny and as soon as one could start I'd fire the current one - she sounds awful. And no, it's not normal that employers provide lunch.