Occasional Mondays or Fridays off

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting, my AP just asked for a long weekend for a trip. She usually do split shift and it seems like initially she wanted the whole Friday off (she has no vacation day left) I asked her to do the morning shift before she travel but I was supprised she expected the whole day off. So I was wondering if she want the whole day off shouldn’t that be a vacation day? Btw I had to change my usual schedule to accommodate her request.

I would assume it’s a vacation day - maybe she does too?

She has no vacation day left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We do frequently BUT it is because my husband works from home on Fridays.

It should NOT be an expectation of Au Pairs. A few of my friends with Au Pairs never allow it because they work away from home 5 days per week.
For most people, it is not easy to just leave work early on a Friday for no reason.

Please do not lead your AP to believe it's no big deal and make other APs feel like they should expect the same.

APs should not "expect" extra time off; their host families may not be able to accommodate this because of their own jobs. Even if they can, who knows whether the AP has already had extra weeks off or other privileges. I believe this may have come up a few times in our 12 years of hosting, but in all cases, one of the HP's had to take PTO, so it's a fairly big deal when you might otherwise need that PTO for family visits, sick time, vacation. It's better not to judge other HFs.

[Anonymous]

My work is super stingy with PTO, there's no way I'd take a day off so my AP could travel. It was a day that worked ok for me for some other reason, like it was a Monday holiday and I'd be home, then sure, we're usually happy to give her the day off. But not a regular work day of her choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm just wondering for the other host families out there....how many of you will allow your AP to do an occasional "long weekend"? Our AP would like to go to Las Vegas for a weekend so wanted to take a Friday off after kids get on the bus which would just mean we'd need to be home a bit early from work on a Friday. She's struggling to find a friend whose host family will agree to this which I find astounding. How many of you would allow this (if it isn't a major problem to leave work at 2 on a Friday?) Obviously for families with kids at home full time this might be more difficult but with a great (or even a good) AP, we'd like to keep her happy and afford this small amount of flexibility!!

One of our perks is that if one of us WFH on a Friday AP only has to help get them off to school (DH and I work out in the AM) we can accommodate the full day off if requested, AP does not burn a vacation day either. Kids are school aged. Its NBD for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My work is super stingy with PTO, there's no way I'd take a day off so my AP could travel. It was a day that worked ok for me for some other reason, like it was a Monday holiday and I'd be home, then sure, we're usually happy to give her the day off. But not a regular work day of her choice.

What would you do if she was sick and couldn't work for a day ?
You'd find a solution. So why not find it so she can have a day off and travel?
I'd agree to it as an exception of course.