Negotiating PTO or vacation time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you may want to look at this from the financial angle and compare it against other job offers that you have/reasonably expect to find. Nannies and employers fail to realize that time off paid or not is just another form of compensation that has a monetary value. If the weekly gross for a job is even a little bit more than the amount of time off when comparing jobs, the higher weekly rate job ends up giving you more money and time off over a year. Psychologically, the job offering more standard PTO may seem more attractive (hence all the walk away posts from nannies) but if you're smart you should look at the numbers between your job offers.

Job A pays 550 a week for 50 weeks a year (i.e. out of 52 week 2 weeks are PTO, 2 weeks are unpaid) and no sick leave. This job would yield you 27,500 in one year and give you four weeks off.

Job B pays 500 a week for 52 weeks (includes 2 weeks/one of your choosing and one of theirs plus 3 sick/PTO days), this job would yield you 26,000 in one year and give you 2 weeks off plus 3 possible sick days.

Lets say you need to take 3 sick offs. This would not change the yield for Job B ($26,000) but it would change Job A to $27,200 to subtract 3 days of unpaid time. You would still yield $1200 more from Job A than Job B. You would have 4 weeks off for Job A rather than 2 weeks for Job B.

If you are comparing Job A (better rate, non-standard benefits) to Job B (lesser rate, standard benefits), Job A is much better with the caveat that you don't get to choose one of the weeks. You would need to decide if getting to choose the dates for one week of vacation is worth giving up $1200 and 2 extra weeks off.

+1

another +1. Also we needn't guess whether MB is paying low end. OP should know and can compare herself. Also OP, you might start by saying you would prefer NOT to have all that vacation but offer to come in while they are away to take care of stuff you normally don't have as much time for when you have the kids (like organizing the kids closets, books, toy area, etc). Should take all of 10-15 hrs during a week plus you can bring in the mail. This way they can get some value during the extra vacation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OP here. Thank you for this. At the current time I am not entertaining other offers for a nanny job. This job would require me to move out of state. The prospective employers are close friends with my current employers. If the offer is not lucrative enough I will politely decline. It needs to be worth it for me to move out of state. I have my current job until September and if this out of state job doesn't work out I will most likely give up nannying.

Aaaaah, don't do it OP!

[Anonymous]

OP don't take this job without PTO. MBs would love us all to believe that it all works out in the end but it rarely does. Say your typical rate is $15/hour for 1 kid. The MB who doesn't think she needs to offer PTO isn't suddenly going to value you at $17/hour for one kid and is going to pay the same $15/hour and expect you to take her extra vacation unpaid. She also probably wouldn't be flexible if you needed to take other days off throughout the year. I'll take my normal rate along with the freedom to schedule my own vacation and life as I see fit over a little more money. The MBs are assuming this job comes with a higher rate, but it very well may not. This MB also sounds very self-serving. Not a trait I want in a boss.

[Anonymous]

Wasn't the whole point of the math equation example all about the higher rate being the better deal?

If the job without great benefits ISN'T the one with a higher rate then it showed that you shouldn't take it. If it was the job with the higher rate then you should take it.

[Anonymous]

OP again. The other problem I'm having is knowing what a competitive salary is for the area. I know how much I would/could make in my area. I'm not familiar with the new area (south Florida, near Boca Raton and Boynton Beach.). According to Sittercity and care.com, people are offering anywhere between $10-20/hr. I will ask for what I want and see what happens. If they can't afford it then it 's not the right job for me.