Holiday bonus when nanny is already over contracted vacation/sick days

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Give her the bonus, and don't pay her for the days you aren't contracted to pay her for. That's what she's expecting.

Or, offer to let her go negative for PTO for next year so she doesn't lose money in her paycheck. Or does it not reset until March? We always accrued, and I would do this for a longtime nanny who was getting surgery.

OP here, so for even more detail (felt like I was already being too long-winded), we added a share family in January this year so we sort of reset her vacation days then per the new contract (15 total). FWIW, she had already used up her the 2017 days, even though it hadn't even been a year yet (March-December). So again, I feel like we've leaned towards being understanding/generous with these issues and she's not one of these nannies that never takes a day off. Also, she'll be staying with the other family, so not completely out of a job.
So while negative PTO is a good idea, but since we're not really going to make it another year, that basically just means she gets the extra days sort of, and it would be on the other family to account for those if she (inevitably given her track record) needs more.

She's a great nanny and we love her, but she does sometimes leave us in a lurch, as she has school-aged children who've gotten sick, had other school issues, she's gotten sick, and she's also taken pre-planned actual family vacation time too. So again, she's not a "never takes a day off" nanny.

Then she takes the days unpaid, and gets her regular bonus.

The proper response to a nanny who isn't reliable enough for you is to part ways, not to seethe silently every time she takes a day off. Some families are able to cover extra days off, others aren't. I am able to, so we gave our nanny more PTO in lieu of a raise one year: win/win. I have had a nanny who had far too many sick days, however, and it wasn't sustainable. But at the point you decided to live with it and not move on to someone else, you needed to come to a place of not minding.

The unpaid days off, to me, are how you make this ok: you're not out extra time or money, and she gets the time she needs. I'm sure she scheduled it at Xmas, despite her own children being home, because she figured the bonus would help cover it. If you are still feeling badly about it come March, give her a hefty "good-bye" bonus.

Totally agree w/ this approach and mindset.

[Anonymous]

If you have the money and it’s not a hardship for you, give her the bonus and the extra paid 5 days.

[Anonymous]

I don't see why this is so hard for people. At the end of the day, your nanny is not your friend, s/he is your employee. It needs to be very black and white. I never ask my nanny for extra favors or to do things out of the norm. That's why it's easy for me to tell her to take LWOP when she's used up all her vacation/sick days. She has no problem with that. Also, I pay her a very good wage/insurance stipend/reimburse all mileage, etc so I don't feel guilty for not giving her a huge christmas bonus. I give her 500 bucks and she's really happy with that. Been with us for 4 years now.

So anyway if you don't want to give her the bonus, then don't. If you want to give her the bonus then do. If I don't show up for work for whatever reason and take more days off than I'm supposed to, then guess what? I don't get paid.