What to do when nanny misses a lot of days?

[Anonymous]

We are first time parents and don't know what to do. We see in the first month and out nanny had missed 5 days. The first two were for the flu, the second strep throat, and this time she has a ovarian cyst rupture. 3 out if the 5 times she notified and gave the option of coming in. We told her to stay home. The other two ( yesterday and strep) she elected to stay home and go to the hospital. I work from home so there hasn't been too much issues with her calling out except for once. We are trying our best to sympathize because we know everyone gets sick. Two of these days are unpaid and we know she isn't faking it.

She has been a really great nanny. Our DS loves her a lot and she has been helpful with staying late and doing extra around the house during naps. Thw first time we interviewed we clicked and after the amazing first week, I had the " it feels right" feeling. She sent a text this morning apologizing for the inconveniences and reassured us she hit a bad luck streak but is commited to this job. She has flowing references and they all spoke on her high reliability and never calling out sick ( we specifically asked). We are trying to figure out if we should replace her or chalk it up to the "bad streak" and keep her. If it is a bad streak we would hate to lose her but if it isn't, we can't keep excusing absences. Right now is kind of a gamble and we are on the fence with which way to go.

[Anonymous]

yeah, I hate when my nanny's ovarian cysts rupture!


...seriously? these were all health issues and unexpected. ovarian cysts don't rupture constantly, and generally nobody in childcare gets numerous bouts of the flu and strep. her references said that's not a common occurrence and she even offered to come in. she went to the hospital for pete's sake! give her a break

[Anonymous]

You can't hold the days that she offered to come in against her. Also, I'd trust that this is just a bad luck streak given what her references say and that this is cold/flu season. I've missed more work in the past two months than I have the whole year - there's a lot of stuff going around.

Also, if you've laid out a certain number of sick days in your contract, then she'd probably running up against the end of that soon. So, with cold season wrapping up and your nanny being low on leave, I'd guess that it won't be a problem for much longer.

[Anonymous]

Do you wonder if "working from home" = easy out back up plan, no big deal?

Hopefully this pattern ends soon. Did her references mention frequent sickness or use of days off? They typically say something about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you wonder if "working from home" = easy out back up plan, no big deal?

Hopefully this pattern ends soon. Did her references mention frequent sickness or use of days off? They typically say something about it.

I don't believe so. I do work from home but I'm routinely running errands or off to meetings. She is always timely and flexible to stay late when she is here.

We specifically asked those questions. Her previous employer wrote an amazing recommendation letter. She missed two days after getting a stomach bug. She was with them for seven months until they moved. The same thing with others. The position before that was a year and she didnt miss any. In fact she worked with a bug the child gave her but still took care of him while they were both sick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can't hold the days that she offered to come in against her. Also, I'd trust that this is just a bad luck streak given what her references say and that this is cold/flu season. I've missed more work in the past two months than I have the whole year - there's a lot of stuff going around.

Also, if you've laid out a certain number of sick days in your contract, then she'd probably running up against the end of that soon. So, with cold season wrapping up and your nanny being low on leave, I'd guess that it won't be a problem for much longer.

How much work have you missed? You weren't fired? Why can't I hold the days against her? She has 3 sick days and already used them up. This is her fourth week with us.

[Anonymous]

Don't slam the OP. Assuming her nanny works a 5 day week, with a one month tenure she has missed 25% of her work days.

That's pretty major.

Maybe it will prove to be anomalous (I hope so OP) but OP has every right to be alarmed and concerned. It's perfectly reasonable to assume the nanny's job is in jeopardy at this point and if OP chooses to wait a little longer to see if this works out then the nanny has really gotten lucky.

[Anonymous]

OP, I would give this another month.

I'm not a nanny but I started a new job not too long ago -- the next month, I had to have an emergency surgery. And one month after that, I had to have a second, completely unrelated emergency surgery. Now, it seems like such a streak of bad luck that it's almost comical, but at the time I was sick at the idea of having to miss so much time when my boss had literally JUST hired me. Luckily, she and I had known one another for many years so she had some frame of reference for my work ethic.

Anyway, long story short: sometimes, horrible streaks of bad luck happen and there is some truth to the old "when it rains, it pours." I'd give this another month to see how it all shakes out.

[Anonymous]

Wow that is really bad luck. I would give it 2-4 more weeks. She shouldn't miss anymore days. If in the next 2 weeks she gets sick again and misses a few days I would start looking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can't hold the days that she offered to come in against her. Also, I'd trust that this is just a bad luck streak given what her references say and that this is cold/flu season. I've missed more work in the past two months than I have the whole year - there's a lot of stuff going around.

Also, if you've laid out a certain number of sick days in your contract, then she'd probably running up against the end of that soon. So, with cold season wrapping up and your nanny being low on leave, I'd guess that it won't be a problem for much longer.

How much work have you missed? You weren't fired? Why can't I hold the days against her? She has 3 sick days and already used them up. This is her fourth week with us.

? No, I'm not fired for missing a couple days of work during cold/flu season. I haven't even maxed out my leave.

You shouldn't hold the days she offered to come in against her because you were the one who told her to stay home. She was willing, but explained the situation, and you made a call. Why would you blame her for your decision? You can, but you shouldn't. I was a lot more sympathetic until this response.

[Anonymous]

I would be concerned because it sounds too suspicious or she may be in bad health and you should look to replace her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can't hold the days that she offered to come in against her. Also, I'd trust that this is just a bad luck streak given what her references say and that this is cold/flu season. I've missed more work in the past two months than I have the whole year - there's a lot of stuff going around.

Also, if you've laid out a certain number of sick days in your contract, then she'd probably running up against the end of that soon. So, with cold season wrapping up and your nanny being low on leave, I'd guess that it won't be a problem for much longer.

How much work have you missed? You weren't fired? Why can't I hold the days against her? She has 3 sick days and already used them up. This is her fourth week with us.

? No, I'm not fired for missing a couple days of work during cold/flu season. I haven't even maxed out my leave.

You shouldn't hold the days she offered to come in against her because you were the one who told her to stay home. She was willing, but explained the situation, and you made a call. Why would you blame her for your decision? You can, but you shouldn't. I was a lot more sympathetic until this response.

So I shouldn't fire?

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't fire her yet, OP, it doesn't sound like it's warranted. You could either decide to take a watch-and-see approach or could initiate a probationary period. Hopefully this is just bad luck but it is substantial and you wouldn't want it to continue more than another month I think.

[Anonymous]

Give her a break. It's only been a month. If this proves to be a pattern and you suspect that she isn't being truthful, then reconsider. Otherwise, be thankful that she's great with your child. Believe this…if your baby was in daycare, you would have missed five days of work already, because your child would be sick all the time.

[Anonymous]

It's been a bad year for colds and flu for many of us. I would stick it out form. While and see what happens.