grad school nanny curious about PTO

[Anonymous]

I will be starting a part time 2 days/week nanny position. The MB is teacher. There are a few weeks in December and throughout the school year when I know the MB will not work. My question is, should the family pay my full rate even if I am not working, or a partial rate? I am a graduate student and haven't had PTO before and don't know what the norm is. My budget is undoubtedly tight and I will be counting on a certain level of income. I don't think it will work to take off 3-4 weeks in Dec/ Jan. I don't actually know if that is ''standard'', but it seems reasonable to me that my pay be consistent from week to week. I was also thinking about suggesting a partial payment for the month on for the long school break? It would be so nice if I could visit my family as well during winter break. Any grad school nannies who work with professors/ teachers? Thanks

[Anonymous]

Well what does your contract say?

[Anonymous]

We haven't created one yet. The job won't start until August.

[Anonymous]

It isn't unreasonable but it isn't exactly standard either. Negotiate this now, before you start working, and be prepared to walk away if MB's proposal isn't one that will work for you.

I'm a college nanny myself, and I always make sure to negotiate guaranteed hours with a contract in place, regardless of how pt my hours are. MBs are generally very impresses at my professionalism and attention to detail, which I've gathered is pretty unusual from their other pt college age nannies.

[Anonymous]

It isn't standard for part-time nannies but PT Employers pay PTO so make sure you ask and see what they say. If they agree then you can either accept it or move on but again it's not 'standard', more of a perk/bonus.

[Anonymous]

First of all, it is entirely possible that the MB will want you to work as usual even though she is not working at her job. Especially with your two day per week schedule, she may need some kid-free time to take care of personal business, errands, or house projects.

Beyond that, this is something that must be negotiated when you negotiate your hourly rate. Otherwise, assume that no work = no pay.

It is absolutely reasonable to want steady weekly pay, but the family may want to lower your hourly rate to offset the cost to them of providing that perk. That is reasonable too, because most families have an annual budget that must cover all their childcare needs. Also, keep in mind that very few two day a week jobs provide PTO or guaranteed hours.

[Anonymous]

I would go into the position looking for guaranteed hours since its part time and financially you cannot afford to not work. I don't think MB should have an issue with paying you for a few days here and there if she really loves you and wants you to work for them.

[Anonymous]

OP I would suggest that you go into these discussions understanding that this is not a benefit traditionally given to PT nannies (at least not the number of hours you're talking about) BUT that if this woman wants to hire you, you can certainly let her know if this is important to you. Ask her what her intentions are for her school holidays and if she isn't planning on having you work tell her that having the same number of hours each week is important to you and would you be able to figure something out, maybe where you work some of your hours on a weekend or evening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will be starting a part time 2 days/week nanny position. The MB is teacher. There are a few weeks in December and throughout the school year when I know the MB will not work. My question is, should the family pay my full rate even if I am not working, or a partial rate? I am a graduate student and haven't had PTO before and don't know what the norm is. My budget is undoubtedly tight and I will be counting on a certain level of income. I don't think it will work to take off 3-4 weeks in Dec/ Jan. I don't actually know if that is ''standard'', but it seems reasonable to me that my pay be consistent from week to week. I was also thinking about suggesting a partial payment for the month on for the long school break? It would be so nice if I could visit my family as well during winter break. Any grad school nannies who work with professors/ teachers? Thanks

That sort of stuff needs to be negotiated. Generally speaking, there are no benefits to a very PT position like you are speaking of. I do this type of work and I negotiate what I need. I ask for guaranteed hours, but I am willing to be flexible and do a weekend night of babysitting instead of my normal hours if they don't need me one day. I have usually been told that I get Christmas week off (however many days that I normally work each week with that particular position), and this past year, the family that included that also kind of threw in NYE/NYD as they were still out of town (I did a short 3 hours one weekend for that, instead of my usual 10 hours). Federal holidays that the kids aren't in school and one of the parents was home (and didn't want help with me taking the kids the kids out for a bit), either were paid and no work or paid with a make-up babysitting day (I "worked" about half and got the other half off totally - all paid). Sick days we assumed I wasn't paid, the ONLY time I was sick for one day, I asked if I could get paid and make up the hours which they were very willing to do for me.

You can try to get them to pay you for the days they don't need you, but some won't be willing to do that. Guaranteed hours can usually be done in the way that if you normally work 2 5 hour days (10 hours total), that they ALLOW you to work at least 10 hours a week. So if one day they didn't need you, then making it available for you to work the other 5 hours for them on another day (so you don't lose out on the chance to earn that money). Again, most won't pay for all federal holidays and Christmas/Spring break etc without you doing some kind of work. I did a few "basic housekeeping" days, when they were going to be out and I just vacuumed and dusted and cleaned the kitchen and bathroom floors (like 2 hours of work instead of 5 hours), but I enjoyed being with the kids and so opted for babysitting on weekends more often.

[Anonymous]

PP here, that should have been Christmas "week" was PAID with no required other work to make up for it. It was the only week that was guaranteed this way in my contract, the rest was them deciding if they wanted me to do a babysitting night to make up hours or to just give it to me paid no work needed.

[Anonymous]

OP here. MB is actually a professor so her semester breaks are really long. I know that I can't afford to take 4 weeks off and then spring break would be another week off.

[Anonymous]

Then don't take the job, OP.

[Anonymous]

So talk to her and negotiate this OP. If it doesn't work for you then look for another job.

You don't even know yet what she's proposing.

[Anonymous]

If you worked two days a week for me I would probably not give you benefits. Maybe this simply isn't a good fit for you, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you worked two days a week for me I would probably not give you benefits. Maybe this simply isn't a good fit for you, OP.

OP isn't asking for benefits. She is asking for steady income which is completely reasonable and she should definitely try to negotiate it, especially since your MB is a professor and will have some very long breaks. You should also ask for paid holidays that fall on your usual work days. If you haven't negotiated pay yet, go in higher than you need. When she balks, lower your rate to something reasonable but ask for guaranteed hoursor some kind of MUTUAL swapping arrangement (ie. she doesn't need you, you make up hours, or you get sick and can make up hours) and holidays that fall during your work days.