Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Covid-era Raise” should be more - not less. Nannies are in high demand right now. And the work is harder - not easier because you’re home.

Your reasoning is backward, OP. In short, you must give her a raise.

I would agree, but she’s already getting paid for 2-10 hours she isn’t working every week.

You are paying to reserve her time. If you don’t need that many hours hire someone part time. Good luck finding them!

I’m not OP. I’m someone who can’t see a huge raise when someone is getting paid EVERY WEEK for not working up to a quarter of their hours. In my experience, guaranteed hours are the normal hours per week, not the maximum. This family would be well within their rights to slash guaranteed down to what the new normal is and then give a $1-2 merit raise. They’d still come out ahead. But nobody would be happy.

But here’s the thing:

If they sometimes need those hours then she is still reserving her time. If they cut guaranteed hours below 40, then she may choose to continue working for them and find a side gig during that extra time, or if the hours don’t allow for that, or she just doesn’t want to juggle multiple jobs then she will quit. If you as an employer resent paying your nanny for time you don’t need then maybe look for someone who is willing to do extra chores like laundry or meal prep during those hours, but as anyone who has looked for PT nannies can tell you, they are hard to find and famously unreliable.

Your nanny’s job is much harder with no activities and you being home.

Yes, you still need to give her a raise. It would be different if she asked for the 2 to 10 hours a week free-but-paid. But she didn’t.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Covid-era Raise” should be more - not less. Nannies are in high demand right now. And the work is harder - not easier because you’re home.

Your reasoning is backward, OP. In short, you must give her a raise.

I would agree, but she’s already getting paid for 2-10 hours she isn’t working every week.

You are paying to reserve her time. If you don’t need that many hours hire someone part time. Good luck finding them!

I’m not OP. I’m someone who can’t see a huge raise when someone is getting paid EVERY WEEK for not working up to a quarter of their hours. In my experience, guaranteed hours are the normal hours per week, not the maximum. This family would be well within their rights to slash guaranteed down to what the new normal is and then give a $1-2 merit raise. They’d still come out ahead. But nobody would be happy.

It’s wrong to change the terms/hours of a contract. The nanny accepted the position based on her guaranteed hours. It’s not the employee’s decision or request to leave work early here.

At least $1 an hour raise is called for here. That’s not huge. It’s the right thing to do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Covid-era Raise” should be more - not less. Nannies are in high demand right now. And the work is harder - not easier because you’re home.

Your reasoning is backward, OP. In short, you must give her a raise.

I would agree, but she’s already getting paid for 2-10 hours she isn’t working every week.

You are paying to reserve her time. If you don’t need that many hours hire someone part time. Good luck finding them!

I’m not OP. I’m someone who can’t see a huge raise when someone is getting paid EVERY WEEK for not working up to a quarter of their hours. In my experience, guaranteed hours are the normal hours per week, not the maximum. This family would be well within their rights to slash guaranteed down to what the new normal is and then give a $1-2 merit raise. They’d still come out ahead. But nobody would be happy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Covid-era Raise” should be more - not less. Nannies are in high demand right now. And the work is harder - not easier because you’re home.

Your reasoning is backward, OP. In short, you must give her a raise.

I would agree, but she’s already getting paid for 2-10 hours she isn’t working every week.

You are paying to reserve her time. If you don’t need that many hours hire someone part time. Good luck finding them!

Anonymous wrote:“Covid-era Raise” should be more - not less. Nannies are in high demand right now. And the work is harder - not easier because you’re home.

Your reasoning is backward, OP. In short, you must give her a raise.

I would agree, but she’s already getting paid for 2-10 hours she isn’t working every week.

“Covid-era Raise” should be more - not less. Nannies are in high demand right now. And the work is harder - not easier because you’re home.

Your reasoning is backward, OP. In short, you must give her a raise.

If you want to keep her, make it worth her while!

Yes, without question, you should give her a raise.

We pay our nanny $21/hr (not in DC) and I will be giving her a $1/hr raise at the year mark, plus an additional raise since our second child is due at around the same time. While I'm mostly happy with her, we have some ongoing minor issues that I don't feel she deserves a much higher raise than that, and in non pandemic times I'd be looking for someone new. Plus our HHI is likely to be lower this year so we can't really afford a huge raise for her anyway, even if she were deserving.

It’s customary to give a col and merit based raise after the first year. (Col is cost of living). Your nanny will be unhappy if you do nothing. And everyone is looking for a nanny starting in September. I have two friends who’ve been searching for a month and can’t find a nanny at $25 an hour!

Further, it’s so much harder for nannies now with the parents home and without anything open! It’s harder now - not easier!

Anonymous wrote:What is a "col" raise?

Cost of living raise - just enough to offset inflation, not a true raise in real terms. Usually around 2-3%.

What is a "col" raise?

Most nannies find it harder to work while home.

At this point, I’d suggest just a small bonus (couple hundred in cash) and a col raise.

We pay our nanny $20/hr for our 1 year old, with a guarantee of 40 hrs/week. Since we started working from home in March, she's worked between 30-38 hrs/week, but we pay her for 40.

We're at the one year mark now. Should we give her a raise? If so, how much, considering we've already been overpaying her? Happily, but still.

I really love her and want to keep her long term, but we're already stretched as is and it pains me to pay even more considering how easy her job is (so few hours, one very easy child, all activities closed anyway so not much to do).

Help, please!