Employer and vacations

[Anonymous]

I personally think if a family chooses to vacation, then the Nanny should absolutely not have to use her vacation days or paid time off.

That would be outrageous!

However if she is getting full salary as a benefit w/out actually having to work then I think it is okay to ask her to check the mail, water plants, receive packages, etc.

Just do not ask her to do any housecleaning, laundry, organizing or buying groceries.

These are not Nanny duties & should not be expected just because she is getting paid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We put in our nanny's contract that they get two weeks of paid vacation per year - one week at their choosing (that they need to let us know at least one month in advance) and one week at our choosing.

Often times when we are on vacation and our nanny technically isn't, we ask them to go to our house to get mail, water plants, etc. Sometimes we have repair work done when we're not there so we want the nanny to meet those people, etc.

Nanny here - i don’t get the outrage at this comment... one week of nanny’s choosing and one of the family’s is pretty standard. Asking for some small tasks when she’s not on the week of her choosing (even non-child-related) is pretty much like every job I’ve ever had and I don’t know many nannies that have guaranteed hours that don’t water plants and fetch mail on occasion... we just consider ourselves lucky to have paid vacation at all.

You’re either a nanny being taken advantage of or the employer that posted that. It’s not standard at all for a nanny’s vacation or pto to be used when she still will be coming over and doing things for the employer or doing nothing at all because they are gone. I had one Mb that tried that with me when I was young and just transitioning to nannying from working in preschool and once I was hired through a reputable agency NO family has ever even thought of my time off being lined up with their own. That means the nanny really only gets one week of vacation. If that’s the case and all the family wants to offer they just need to call a spade a spade and hopefully the nanny will negotiate to have 2 actual weeks of vacation going forward. Being on PTO or vacation means you are free to do as you please. I don’t mind helping when my family travels and doesn’t require me for childcare but they certainly will be paying me my normal salary and not taking it from my vacation days. The vacation time is up the the nanny.

It was my understanding that this isn’t her vacation time or PTO - it’s additional vacation time the family is taking. They’ve already taken their week of choice and now they’ve chosen to take a second, and they’re asking her to do some household tasks since she has ALREADY RECEIVED her week of the family’s choice. Sorry if I’m mistaken. But none of this seems outlandish to ask of someone presumably being paid their usual 40+ hour/wk rate to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We put in our nanny's contract that they get two weeks of paid vacation per year - one week at their choosing (that they need to let us know at least one month in advance) and one week at our choosing.

Often times when we are on vacation and our nanny technically isn't, we ask them to go to our house to get mail, water plants, etc. Sometimes we have repair work done when we're not there so we want the nanny to meet those people, etc.

Nanny here - i don’t get the outrage at this comment... one week of nanny’s choosing and one of the family’s is pretty standard. Asking for some small tasks when she’s not on the week of her choosing (even non-child-related) is pretty much like every job I’ve ever had and I don’t know many nannies that have guaranteed hours that don’t water plants and fetch mail on occasion... we just consider ourselves lucky to have paid vacation at all.

Me! All my employers have respected my profession and time. This totally unacceptable. That’s an example of nickeling and dimining—an example of “my money’s worth. It’s very disrespectful and I wouldn’t work with people like that. I very much expect to either to provided services of childcare or paid for my guaranteed time to be available when they arrive back. Some of you blow my mind!!

[Anonymous]

Employers would you be ok if your nanny said to you "I will not be available to work the week of .....You don't have to pay me". Not checked with you first or tried to work out an agreeable time for you both but just said I'm out. How would you feel about that?

[Anonymous]

We pay our nanny as normal for the days we are on vacation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Employers would you be ok if your nanny said to you "I will not be available to work the week of .....You don't have to pay me". Not checked with you first or tried to work out an agreeable time for you both but just said I'm out. How would you feel about that?

Depends on the amount of notice, but I definitely would not be thrilled. If she said this 6 months in advance, I wish she could’ve said it a bit more professionally, but we’ll make do. If it’s less than a months notice for anything shy of a funeral, I could be lookin for a new nanny (depending on her usual attitude, how long she’s been with us, etc obviously). That’s not an appropriate way to ask off whether you’re planning to take it paid or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Employers would you be ok if your nanny said to you "I will not be available to work the week of .....You don't have to pay me". Not checked with you first or tried to work out an agreeable time for you both but just said I'm out. How would you feel about that?

Not acceptable. I'd use the time the nanny was gone to find a different nanny.

[Anonymous]

My contracts always read that anytime kids are away and I’m not needed, I have paid vacation. Sometimes it means extra three day weekends, with one family, it meant 7 weeks of vacation. With all my other perks, works for me.

[Anonymous]

*snort* All the constant braying from some of you about how certain little tasks are NOT MY JOB!!11

Good luck getting any other job at all, really, and trying to constantly firmly hold the line that you won't do this and this and this. That's...not how it works in the real world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:*snort* All the constant braying from some of you about how certain little tasks are NOT MY JOB!!11

Good luck getting any other job at all, really, and trying to constantly firmly hold the line that you won't do this and this and this. That's...not how it works in the real world.

Yes, it is how it works in the real world, PP. I am an older nanny who had a retired from a corporate field after 25 years and all persons in all fields do the job they were hired to do. My former assistant didn’t wash my car; my boss didn’t clean the break room; my coworkers never did my job.

As a nanny, I am employed to care for and teach my charges. I am paid to do anything and everything for the child in the course of the day. I am not employed to pick up your dirty underwear or clean your house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:*snort* All the constant braying from some of you about how certain little tasks are NOT MY JOB!!11

Good luck getting any other job at all, really, and trying to constantly firmly hold the line that you won't do this and this and this. That's...not how it works in the real world.

Yes, it is how it works in the real world, PP. I am an older nanny who had a retired from a corporate field after 25 years and all persons in all fields do the job they were hired to do. My former assistant didn’t wash my car; my boss didn’t clean the break room; my coworkers never did my job.

As a nanny, I am employed to care for and teach my charges. I am paid to do anything and everything for the child in the course of the day. I am not employed to pick up your dirty underwear or clean your house.

+2. Division of labor and adherence to your assigned duties is exactly how it works in the “real world”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:*snort* All the constant braying from some of you about how certain little tasks are NOT MY JOB!!11

Good luck getting any other job at all, really, and trying to constantly firmly hold the line that you won't do this and this and this. That's...not how it works in the real world.

Do you clean the bathrooms at your office, wash your boss's gym clothes, pick up mail when boss is on vacation? Hell no, you don't and a nanny should not be asked, or expected, to do these things just because you are on vacation.