Honest Opinion - nanny pay

[Anonymous]

$4300/month is $51600/year. So about $970/week gross for 55 hours (50 plus OT) is about $18/hour.

Yeah, I think you are fine and your nanny is well paid.

[Anonymous]

You are already paying at the high end of the market for one child OP. I don't pay anywhere near what you're offering.

If the nanny has been with you for more than a year without any kind of raise then you could look at that (I always try to give a $1/hr raise annually.)

But if you had to go hire right now you would have tons of qualified, experienced candidates at that compensation level. Tons. And your nanny would struggle to find another position at that level. (I just went through this and know that our former nanny is having an astonishingly hard time finding decent compensation.)

[Anonymous]

I was the earlier poster who calculated the $15 rate. That is why gross figures not net is what is important! Your rate is very good - same as mine ($18) but more hours.

We did not give a raise this year - we are paying on the high end for our neighborhood ( most of the nannies in shares in our area make 19-20 with a lot more work). Instead we switched from 2 week vacation and 5 sick days to 3 weeks paid time off 5 days our choice) and will give her a bigger bonus at Christmas. We also have several upcoming trips so she is looking at 2 extra weeks of paid time off.

I also agree with the PP... My list serve is filled with families moving/school age kids now that have available nannies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hmm, let's do it weekly so it's more comparable to most nanny employers. $3k net/month is about $750/week (using 4 weeks/month). You say that's net. I am going to assume when you say you cover all taxes you are just talking fica? (If you are also withholding fed and state taxes you need to talk gross numbers since those are so variable). So grossed up is $812/week. Since 10 hours are OT - you are paying less than $15/hr.

We have a very easy 16 month old (takes long naps still) and pay $18/hr for 40 hours which I KNOW is on the high side.. so my nanny makes $30 less a week but works 10 hours less as well. You really need to do the gross hourly rate to do accurate comparisons.

This poster is right. OP, you seem to be paying under $15/hr and that is LOW for the DC area (my impression is $16-20/hr is standard for one child, gross). If she's been with you over a year and hasn't gotten a raise, that is an issue also. Since you're talking about the overall package you're offering, I find it curious that you make no mention of guaranteed hours, paid vacation, paid sick days, etc. Do you offer those benefits? The standard is two weeks paid vacation (one week of family's choosing, other of nanny's choosing), plus 3-5 paid sick days per year. Since many nanny employers in the area are government employees or contractors though, nannies often end up with lots of additional paid time off for federal holidays and so forth; I've heard it is fairly common for nannies to end up with 4-6 weeks of paid time off each year. If she is comparing her compensation package with her nanny friends' and she doesn't get as much paid time off as they do that might be frustrating her as well.

I want to live in your universe where nannies get paid time of 4-6 weeks off per year. That's a month off paid. Right. Nannies get that. In DC. NOT.

Hmm how is that normal? 2 weeks vacation plus 1 week sick plus 10 federal holidays = 5 weeks of paid leave. Seems pretty standard to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hmm, let's do it weekly so it's more comparable to most nanny employers. $3k net/month is about $750/week (using 4 weeks/month). You say that's net. I am going to assume when you say you cover all taxes you are just talking fica? (If you are also withholding fed and state taxes you need to talk gross numbers since those are so variable). So grossed up is $812/week. Since 10 hours are OT - you are paying less than $15/hr.

We have a very easy 16 month old (takes long naps still) and pay $18/hr for 40 hours which I KNOW is on the high side.. so my nanny makes $30 less a week but works 10 hours less as well. You really need to do the gross hourly rate to do accurate comparisons.

This poster is right. OP, you seem to be paying under $15/hr and that is LOW for the DC area (my impression is $16-20/hr is standard for one child, gross). If she's been with you over a year and hasn't gotten a raise, that is an issue also. Since you're talking about the overall package you're offering, I find it curious that you make no mention of guaranteed hours, paid vacation, paid sick days, etc. Do you offer those benefits? The standard is two weeks paid vacation (one week of family's choosing, other of nanny's choosing), plus 3-5 paid sick days per year. Since many nanny employers in the area are government employees or contractors though, nannies often end up with lots of additional paid time off for federal holidays and so forth; I've heard it is fairly common for nannies to end up with 4-6 weeks of paid time off each year. If she is comparing her compensation package with her nanny friends' and she doesn't get as much paid time off as they do that might be frustrating her as well.

I want to live in your universe where nannies get paid time of 4-6 weeks off per year. That's a month off paid. Right. Nannies get that. In DC. NOT.

Hmm how is that normal? 2 weeks vacation plus 1 week sick plus 10 federal holidays = 5 weeks of paid leave. Seems pretty standard to me.

2 weeks of vacation plus 1 week of sick leave is not standard. Two weeks of paid leave is.

However, 2 weeks of paid leave is standard for those professional nannies who get properly taxed and have a contract. A ton of nannies have no contract. A ton of nannies get paid under the table.

Just because MB gets 10 federal holidays off doesn't mean she doesn't want a day to go to grocery shop or do the million things that mothers need to do. Hence, 10 federal holidays do not get translated into 10 federal holidays for nannies. Christmas, Thanksgiving and major holidays, yes. President's day? Usually no. If you have no contract, you are usually screwed for the non-major holidays. If you have a contract, rarely do you get all Federal holidays.

If you really do get 5 weeks of paid leave off, good for you. Don't make it sound like it is the usual fare.

[Anonymous]

You are responding to a MB not a nanny! All the nannies I interviewed wanted 2 week vacation, 5 days sick plus fed holidays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here $4300 gross. All benefits included - vacation, sick, holidays and two $2k bonuses a year.

This seems on the high side!!!!!!! 3000 net is very good. Try getting a similar job with no college degree.

[Anonymous]

So, $50K/year = an average of $961/week. For 50 hours a week, that's an hourly wage of just over $17/hour. (40x +10(1.5x) = 961) So OP seems to be paying in the range of the market rate for one child. Your compensation package seems normal for the area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are responding to a MB not a nanny! All the nannies I interviewed wanted 2 week vacation, 5 days sick plus fed holidays.

Wow. Where do you get your people? Some high end agency?

I've interviewed more than a dozen people in person and corresponded through about 50+ in the last 7 years or so. NO ONE has ever asked for that much vacation.

Either that or you are a nanny trying to pump up expectations on this board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are responding to a MB not a nanny! All the nannies I interviewed wanted 2 week vacation, 5 days sick plus fed holidays.

Wow. Where do you get your people? Some high end agency?

I've interviewed more than a dozen people in person and corresponded through about 50+ in the last 7 years or so. NO ONE has ever asked for that much vacation.

Either that or you are a nanny trying to pump up expectations on this board.

NP here, just interested in reading these responses. I was a nanny and worked through a respected but not necessarily high end agency. This was standard for us, although the two vacation weeks were a choice split between the family and the nanny (each picked one). (However, the nannies these family employ now (I've moved into another field but still babysit) do get two weeks of their choice.) I wonder if, as so often happens on this board, it comes down to a different type of nanny (foreign-raised, older, college-educated, just started out of HS, etc.) having a different set of expectations? There's no one overseeing nanny benefits and telling employers (and nannies) what they deserve based on their experience.

[Anonymous]

I'm an MB. I have employed 2 nannies thus far. We offered both 2 wks vacation, 10 paid federal holidays, one week of sick leave, and occasional bonus days off per year.

When we hired the second nanny we made one week of vacation our choice, but otherwise it's the same package.

I think that is a pretty standard (and fair, professional) set of benefits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an MB. I have employed 2 nannies thus far. We offered both 2 wks vacation, 10 paid federal holidays, one week of sick leave, and occasional bonus days off per year.

When we hired the second nanny we made one week of vacation our choice, but otherwise it's the same package.

I think that is a pretty standard (and fair, professional) set of benefits.

Also (for the person who constantly harps on this) both of those nannies were foreign born, highly experienced, and terrific professionals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an MB. I have employed 2 nannies thus far. We offered both 2 wks vacation, 10 paid federal holidays, one week of sick leave, and occasional bonus days off per year.

When we hired the second nanny we made one week of vacation our choice, but otherwise it's the same package.

I think that is a pretty standard (and fair, professional) set of benefits.

Also (for the person who constantly harps on this) both of those nannies were foreign born, highly experienced, and terrific professionals.

I really made a point not to make any judgments on quality of care provided, which can vary as much as anything. But the fact is that an 18yo right out of school is looking for something different than a 45yo immigrant is looking for something different than a grad student who needs to work, etc. I wasn't harping on anything (?) so much as wondering if some employers' experience in not encountering these expectations as they're interviewing primarily younger nannies, say. Sorry if that offended anyone.

[Anonymous]

*is not as

[Anonymous]

after 40 hours its time and a half many parents dont know this or play dumb???