How do you pay nanny when on vacation with family?

[Anonymous]

We took our nanny on vacation (cruise) with us to help look after the kids. We gave her 3 hours off every day and she napped with the kinds for 2-3 hours a day. The typical day went like this

Family breakfast7:30-9
Nanny off from 9-12
Family lunch 12:30
Nanny nap with kids from 2-4/5 (yep my kids love their sleep)
Nanny hangs around with family on family outings/swimming 4-7
Family dinner 8
Nanny to bed with kids-9:30-10

All family meals include nanny.

She hasn't submitted her time sheet yet but I just wondered what others do. This is our first time away with this nanny. We pay her for a 40 hour week when she is on her own vacation but not sure what to do when she is basically on our clock 24-7. Our last nanny said she had such a great time that she insisted on not charging overtime. Plus it was a different kind of vacation-Europe. In hindsight I should have discussed this before we went but didn't get around to it and I don't think it's fair to discuss it after the fact. Just want to know what to expect.

[Anonymous]

You know this, but still: in the future you should discuss this BEFORE the trip.

There's really no telling. She might want to be paid for the true hours -- especially considering she had to nap with the kids.

You didn't say what her hourly wage is.
You also didn't say how long the vacation was. A full week?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You know this, but still: in the future you should discuss this BEFORE the trip.

There's really no telling. She might want to be paid for the true hours -- especially considering she had to nap with the kids.

You didn't say what her hourly wage is.
You also didn't say how long the vacation was. A full week?

Yes a full week.

[Anonymous]

we go on vacation ourselves so no advice except to echo that it's always bad news to be trying to figure this out after the fact. Regardless of what you decide this trip, still discuss in advance with nanny before next trip.

[Anonymous]

Let's say (to make math easy) you pay her $10/hr.
When you say a week, I guess you mean 5 days?

On the very low end:
$375
This would mean not charging you when she was napping or sleeping. 7.5 hours a day, 5 days, at $10 per hour. I think for this example I made the naps on the longer side and bedtime on the earlier side.

On the highest end:
$1025
Charging you when she was awake with the kids, napping with the kids, and $100 for each of the four nights when she slept. 11 hours a day, 5 days, at $10 per hour. Overtime paid.

Remember, my examples were only at $10 per hour for easy math. I don't know how much you pay her hourly.

[Anonymous]

7:53 again. FWIW, I've never charged my true hours when I go on vacations with families. But I don't know your nanny, how well your children slept while away from home, if the rooms were comfortable, if a cruise was always something your nanny wanted to do but couldn't afford, etc. lots of factors.

[Anonymous]

It's a common misperceptiom that the nanny enjoyed her "vacation" with the family. It really depends how much she can do on her own, if she desires that. For most nannies that I know, the family vacation is more work than anything else.

[Anonymous]

I'd offer to pay her for all the hours she was awake, minus the three hours she actually had free. Regular rate plus OT for hours over 40. She should get paid for the naps and time the kids were asleep (evenings, up until her bed time.... not the kids) as she had to stay with them. I don't think it's neccesary to pay for her sleep time, as long as she was certain of having a full nights sleep.

[Anonymous]

PP.... Btw, since suggesting she be paid until /she/ goes to bed, at likely OT rate, she would likely make more than just getting a flat stipend for the kids sleeping time. But I think it's fairer to do it this was, as it directly acknowledges the hours she had to spend watching the kids.

[Anonymous]

Oh, sorry, one more thing. If she woke up with kids and helped get them ready in am, I'd restart paying from her wakeup time. If she just met you at breakfast, you could restart the clock then.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for the feedback. At this point, since we did not discuss before hand, I will pay her for whatever hours she puts on her timesheet. I was just curious to see what other people do.

It was a 10 day trip (cruise 7 days and disney 3 days). I know she may not have viewed this as a fun trip even though I tried to make sure she had a nice time. She was still working after all and for a 10 day stretch rather than the usual 5.

I am also wondering if she has the same questions since it's been a week since we returned and she still has not given me her time sheet - very unusual for her. Perhaps I will bring it up tonight.

Thanks again

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you so much for the feedback. At this point, since we did not discuss before hand, I will pay her for whatever hours she puts on her timesheet. I was just curious to see what other people do.

It was a 10 day trip (cruise 7 days and disney 3 days). I know she may not have viewed this as a fun trip even though I tried to make sure she had a nice time. She was still working after all and for a 10 day stretch rather than the usual 5.

I am also wondering if she has the same questions since it's been a week since we returned and she still has not given me her time sheet - very unusual for her. Perhaps I will bring it up tonight.

Thanks again

I think you are right to bring it up as a discussion. Mutual respect goes a long way and can benefit everyone, especially the children. GL to you, OP.

[nannydebsays]

If your nanny was sharing a room with your kids, you may want to be prepared for her to ask to be paid for all sleeping hours, since she wasn't given her own room.

And if she doesn't ask to be paid for sleeping hours even though she shared a room with the kids, offering her some extra for that time will go a LONG way in keeping your relationship positive.

[Anonymous]

What we do is pay our nanny her regular weekly wage, plus all of her expenses and food. We also give her $200 spending money for the trip. And she has her own room/bathroom.

[Anonymous]

It is nice of you, OP, to be concerned about this and willing to pay since you didn't discuss it in advance. If you think she isn't sure, I would go ahead and talk to her about it. At the very least, it should be her normal weekly rate, plus all of her expenses paid (every expense). I've been a nanny over 15 years, and if it were me, I would do it by the hours I was actually on duty, regardless of what we were doing. I would charge from when I started working in the morning (meaning when I had charge of the kids, even if I was getting ready for the day), minus the 3 hours off, to when I got them in bed asleep at night. I would not charge for sleeping during the night as long as they stayed asleep and I could actually sleep.