Interested in opinions/suggestions on leave options

[Anonymous]

I'm interested in your advice (nannies and employers) on two different approaches to offering leave. Here is what we currently offer our nanny (I'll call this Option A): 2 weeks of vacation, one week of sick leave, 10 federal holidays, and generally 6-10 additional days off during the year when we're away or off work ourselves.

What we're considering (Option B) is changing her 2 weeks of vacation and 1 week of sick leave, to 3 weeks of personal time that she may use however she sees fit. (And all other leave - holidays, etc... staying the same.) So, not changing the total amount of time off we're giving her, just giving her some more flexibility in how she uses it, including the ability to use any leave she has to cover any time she needs/wants to be off - whether it's for medical or vacation reasons.

I have the A version in my job, and my husband has the B version in his job. So we're split on this (and we will discuss this with our nanny before making any changes.)

I can see some advantages and disadvantages to both approaches but I'm interested in hearing from any of you who have experience with this.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I definitely like version B better.
I never get sick so I never use sick days.
I travel a lot so I would appreciate more time off for my trips

[Anonymous]

MB here. I give Option B. I don't want someone to have to tell me "I'm burned out and need to go to the beach to contemplate life" - I don't want them to feel they have to lie about being sick or anything. If you need a day off, it's none of my business why. Just take it and come back healthy and fresh as a daisy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I definitely like version B better.
I never get sick so I never use sick days.
I travel a lot so I would appreciate more time off for my trips

+1
I don't see any downsides to option B at all from a nanny's perspective

[Anonymous]

I think B is best. I often feel like I'm wasting sick leave because I never use it. I wish I could us it for a mental health day but I'm sure my employers would be furious.

[Anonymous]

I do option B, but I only give 12 days altogether, but that's just because we can't cover a third full week at this point. If we went with three full weeks, it would be "one her choice, one our choice."

So, from my perspective, option B is very generous and should be a great recruitment/retention tool as well.

[Anonymous]

The only disadvantage I see is that the nanny could use all her PTO as time off earlier in the year and then not have any sick leave later on when she gets sick. Then you would be in the position of deciding whether she should come to work sick or stay home and lose pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do option B, but I only give 12 days altogether, but that's just because we can't cover a third full week at this point. If we went with three full weeks, it would be "one her choice, one our choice."

So, from my perspective, option B is very generous and should be a great recruitment/retention tool as well.

Me again. I would make sure she's clear, however, that you've made a change and all time off will come out of this "pot" whether it's a last-minute emergency or a planned vacation. You also need to decide what you're going to do if she plans three weeks of vacation well in advance, and then gets sick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think B is best. I often feel like I'm wasting sick leave because I never use it. I wish I could us it for a mental health day but I'm sure my employers would be furious.

I wouldn't be furious if my nanny came to me and asked to use a sick leave day as a mental health day. We all could use one here and there.

[Anonymous]

We've offered option B for years but also have a stipulation that states if she plans to use more than a week at a time, she must give 2.5 months notice unless it is an emergent situation. It's easy for us to get coverage for a week, a bit more difficult for longer periods. DS' nanny has always been more than accommodating with this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only disadvantage I see is that the nanny could use all her PTO as time off earlier in the year and then not have any sick leave later on when she gets sick. Then you would be in the position of deciding whether she should come to work sick or stay home and lose pay.

MB here. Our nanny earns one PTO day per month. So it's not possible to use "up" all PTO time. It's not as if come January 1st, she is given 12 days to use however she wants, whenever she wants.

[Anonymous]

We offer Option B to our nanny. This is the same setup we have at work, and I really like the flexibility.

Our nanny has never run out of PTO and saves a few days in case she gets sick.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks for all the feedback. Much appreciated.

[Anonymous]

I don't like merged vacation and sick days. I've found it leads to people coming to work sick so they don't lose "vacation" days. That's a huge problem at my office, and we've seen the same with nannies. I prefer to keep separate.

[Anonymous]

It's really difficult to deal with someone calling off sick a lot with option B. If you're fine with 15 unplanned days a year go with option B.