Nanny taking too much time off

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I take 8 weeks vacation per year. Only 3 are paid and the rest are unpaid. I'm European and you guys don't value family time and leave. My boss uses agencies and has temps fill in. It's not hard. I've been with my family 5 years. I know this isn't the norm and I'm grateful because Americans are unreasonable about vacation time.

right, because American companies are "unreasonable" about vacation, giving employees only 2-4 weeks.
A nanny's job is to serve the family- hence 2-4 weeks vacation.
This is how America works.

[b]

You sound like you need a vacation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I take 8 weeks vacation per year. Only 3 are paid and the rest are unpaid. I'm European and you guys don't value family time and leave. My boss uses agencies and has temps fill in. It's not hard. I've been with my family 5 years. I know this isn't the norm and I'm grateful because Americans are unreasonable about vacation time.

It's great that your bosses are so flexible, but eight weeks is NOT the norm in most European countries, I would say a more typical number in the countries I'm familiar with is four weeks.

Back to the OP's issue - it is very common, but not universal for foreign-born nannies to take extended vacations of three weeks or more to their home country, but I've never heard of anyone doing so more than once a year without extenuating circumstances (e.g., death in family). I'm an MB and I probably wouldn't agree to an extended trip requiring unpaid leave more than biannually only because we've had mixed success with temps. If my kid were older, I would be more accommodating.[/b]


Europe is minimum 4 weeks, usually 6.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why you allowed 7 weeks.

What is in the contract, if you have one?

I would replace her with someone who doesn't expect that much time off.

[Anonymous]

If it doesn’t work for you find a new nanny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it doesn’t work for you find a new nanny.

Agree. You need a more consistently available nanny. The nanny wants a more flexible job then you’re able to offer. It is not a good match so it’s time for everyone to move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Agree. You need a more consistently available nanny. The nanny wants a more flexible job then you’re able to offer. It is not a good match so it’s time for everyone to move on.

*than

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My nanny has taken a total of 7 weeks off in 2017/2018 to visit her home country. The first time was 4 weeks and this time it's 3 weeks. It's a major inconvenience for us since we have to shuffle our schedules around and find backup care. This is our first time using a nanny so I was wondering if this was typical for nannies with family in another country? 7 weeks just seems like a lot.

We're going to talk to her when she gets back about her vacation schedule for next year and if she needs to take another 7 weeks off, I don't think we can continue employing her.

This is an abnormal about of time for a home country visit and in aggregate.

You all need to sit down and go back over the job spec. If this is her scheme, find a replacement asap. Not normal. A 2-weeker with significant advance request and approval can sometimes be manageable but not twice or longer plus your various vacation weeks (which she should really try to overlap with and not add to).

Nanny childcare is supposed to be reliable and serve two important needs: (1) Care and safety for the child(ren), (2) Reliable and allow parents to do their jobs and careers well without worry or hassle.

If either of those two things are missing you do not have good childcare. Nanny needs to work with the parents and work with the children well.

[Anonymous]

I am not usually doing this type of job even though I've had extensive experience in looking after and babysitting children of all ages. That has been the case all of my life and I just begun a new live-in position with a family as I had posted an open ad saying various jobs I would take. I was moving from a temporary stay with a lady friend of mine and it was just time to leave Therefore, when this lady contacted me saying she was interested to talk about a live-in nanny position we determined this may work for the both of us, even though I did mention temporary. Long story with all of this,but my question is since I have not been a nanny before;when should I be allowed to leave to do something for myself or take an afternoon once in a while without feeling that she may call me at any point to say when are you coming back? She runs out the door at anytime. That's fine. I have specific things I need to take care of due to moving and some other personal errands of mine. She has not asked me if I need to go out and take care of anything as if I am suppose to never leave. I don't really get it. I think I should be able to take a couple of hours here or there as I'm not asking for 2-3 days away or anything like that. Is that too much to ask? I just feel like she should know I probably have a thing or two I may need to do,but no.

[Anonymous]

My all-American nanny took about 6 weeks off for various reasons I couldn't refuse.

For us it ultimately was a symptom of the fact that she did not want to work hard at her job and that root cause made us find an alternative child care.

Let's leave cultural background out of this. That is too much leave, period. If it does not work for you, find someone else. If you are otherwise happy and feel she gives extra energy at her job to make up for the leave, then keep her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not usually doing this type of job even though I've had extensive experience in looking after and babysitting children of all ages. That has been the case all of my life and I just begun a new live-in position with a family as I had posted an open ad saying various jobs I would take. I was moving from a temporary stay with a lady friend of mine and it was just time to leave Therefore, when this lady contacted me saying she was interested to talk about a live-in nanny position we determined this may work for the both of us, even though I did mention temporary. Long story with all of this,but my question is since I have not been a nanny before;when should I be allowed to leave to do something for myself or take an afternoon once in a while without feeling that she may call me at any point to say when are you coming back? She runs out the door at anytime. That's fine. I have specific things I need to take care of due to moving and some other personal errands of mine. She has not asked me if I need to go out and take care of anything as if I am suppose to never leave. I don't really get it. I think I should be able to take a couple of hours here or there as I'm not asking for 2-3 days away or anything like that. Is that too much to ask? I just feel like she should know I probably have a thing or two I may need to do,but no.

Are you paid to be available 24/7? If not, what does your contract state for hours? If you don’t have a contract, let your employer know that you need something in writing telling you what your hours, days and rate are.