How to pay nanny on days you stay home with your kid

[Anonymous]

Myself and the other family in our nanny share are first time parents trying to figure out the logistics of being employers. Is it customary to pay the full rate on days that she will not watch our kid, say when relatives are in town and want to keep him for the day? Or is it ok to pay her the difference of what she normally charges for watching one kid? She charges $22 for 2 kids and $16 for 1, so that would be paying her $5 an hour instead of $11. Or should we not pay her at all for those days?

Thoughts??

[Anonymous]

You should plan on paying her full rate for those days in which she is available to work, will still be coming in to work, but you choose to not send your kid. To do otherwise would be unfair to your nanny and your share partners.

[Anonymous]

Hopefully, your contract specifies whether you offer guaranteed hours or not. For a FT nanny, this is a standard benefit, so yes, you would pay her.

[Anonymous]

Most full time nannies receive guaranteed hours as part of their compensation package. That means you pay the full rate for any day she is scheduled and available to work but do not send your child. This is one of the most basic "benefits" given and most nannies will not accept a job without it.

[Anonymous]

You pay full rate when she's available to work but you choose not to have her work.

[Anonymous]

Just like a daycare, you pay for the availability.

[Anonymous]

Just like if you were an admin asst who is non-exempt and normally work 9-5, but at 3pm your boss says you can leave early. Then you still get paid for those two hours.

[Anonymous]

Yes, but does she make the one child rate or the two child rate?

[Anonymous]

Two child rate!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but does she make the one child rate or the two child rate?

If she would normally have 2 children, then she should be paid the two child rate. As a share nanny, my one child rate is for when one family uses more hours than the other. For example, if I work 8 hours per day for one family, and 10 hours for the other family, I would earn my two child rate for 8 hours and the one child rate for the remaining 2 hours. The one child rate is NOT, in my opinion, to be used in the case of absences or vacation. I need to be able to rely on my weekly paycheck, and I can't see a nanny sticking around for long with you messing with her pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but does she make the one child rate or the two child rate?

If she would normally have 2 children, then she should be paid the two child rate. As a share nanny, my one child rate is for when one family uses more hours than the other. For example, if I work 8 hours per day for one family, and 10 hours for the other family, I would earn my two child rate for 8 hours and the one child rate for the remaining 2 hours. The one child rate is NOT, in my opinion, to be used in the case of absences or vacation. I need to be able to rely on my weekly paycheck, and I can't see a nanny sticking around for long with you messing with her pay.

Agreed.

[nannydebsays]

Anonymous wrote:Myself and the other family in our nanny share are first time parents trying to figure out the logistics of being employers. Is it customary to pay the full rate on days that she will not watch our kid, say when relatives are in town and want to keep him for the day? Or is it ok to pay her the difference of what she normally charges for watching one kid? She charges $22 for 2 kids and $16 for 1, so that would be paying her $5 an hour instead of $11. Or should we not pay her at all for those days?

Thoughts??

You guarantee FULL pay 52 weeks per year. You offer her 15 days of PTO to use as she sees fit. If there is a specific week that you and the other family will be out of town, it wouldn't be out of line to designate that as 5 days of PTO for her.

If she uses up all her PTO, then you choose whether to be generous and offer her some leniency or whether to stick strictly to the contract if she needs more time off. (If she's performed her job admirably, and you can manage it, give her a little extra.)

If YOU choose not to use her services during a time she has reserved for you, then you pay her anyway. That means if relatives visit, if you take extra vacation time, if you just choose to not work one day and stay home with your kid, whatever.

If you go a different direction on this, you'll be cycling through nannies like tissues.

[Anonymous]

OP, how would you like it if you went in to work one day and your boss said "I've decided you only need to do half the work today, so I'm only going to pay you half your wage"?

Guaranteed hours (which you NEED to be giving your nanny) means guaranteed hours at the normal rate of pay. That should really be self explanatory.

[Anonymous]

15 days of PTO is on the high side, standard is 10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:15 days of PTO is on the high side, standard is 10.

PTO includes sick days. 5 sick days, 10 vacation days is standard.