Time clock app? Anyone use anything like this?

[Anonymous]

Anyone know of or use an app for nanny to clock in/clock out or otherwise record hours worked? Our nanny is having a bit of selective memory on her hours; she remembers every second she's arrived early or stayed late, but tends to forget about the time she's asked to leave early. She's claiming she worked an extra 2 hours last week and I can't see how she's arriving at that number. This is not the first time her recollection of time worked has differed from ours. I'm looking for a way to track or otherwise record time so that at end of the pay period, we're not hearing her saying "but I worked more hours last week!" while looking at our calendars and puzzling over how she thinks that happened. (In advance of anyone asking: yes, we do guaranteed hours, meaning that if WE send her home early we will pay her through end of scheduled day; but when she says "I want to leave early for this event tonight" I do not believe we should be paying her.)

Thanks for any suggestions!

[Anonymous]

Log book for daily events, with start and end times initialed by nanny and whichever parent is present, with notes by the side if the time is more than 15-30 minutes early or late.

[Anonymous]

Are her hours variable week to week?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are her hours variable week to week?

No, her hours are not variable. Let's say it's 9-5 daily, and we guarantee 40 hrs/wk. Here's what she does, though, that drives me CRAZY:

Monday: 9-4:30, because we let her go home early. 7.5 hrs worked.
Tuesday: 9-5:15, because parent got stuck in traffic. 8.25 hours worked.
Wednesday & Thursday: 9-4:15. 7.25 hours/day worked.
Friday: 8:30-4:30. Early start time because parents needed to leave early; early end time because she wanted to go to an event. 8 hours worked.

Her thinking is as follows: she need to be paid overtime for the .25 hours past her end time on Tuesday and the .5 hours before her start time on Friday, because those were not part of her regularly scheduled hours. She should also be paid for the full 40 guaranteed hours between 9-5. She does not seem to acknowledge that her wanting to leave early on Friday is a wash for the request to arrive early on Friday morning. And she just shows no recognition that we let her leave early A LOT of the time (I'd say a significant majority of the time, though not every day). Sooooooo frustrating.

I want her to start noting when she actually worked so she is paying at least a little more attention to total hours she is working versus total hours she's paid for. In the example above, she worked 38.25 hours. She was paid for 40 hours. She wants to be paid 40 hours plus .75 hours OT.

I think she's not realizing that I am becoming VERY disinclined to send her home early if this is how she calculates her time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are her hours variable week to week?

No, her hours are not variable. Let's say it's 9-5 daily, and we guarantee 40 hrs/wk. Here's what she does, though, that drives me CRAZY:

Monday: 9-4:30, because we let her go home early. 7.5 hrs worked.
Tuesday: 9-5:15, because parent got stuck in traffic. 8.25 hours worked.
Wednesday & Thursday: 9-4:15. 7.25 hours/day worked.
Friday: 8:30-4:30. Early start time because parents needed to leave early; early end time because she wanted to go to an event. 8 hours worked.

Her thinking is as follows: she need to be paid overtime for the .25 hours past her end time on Tuesday and the .5 hours before her start time on Friday, because those were not part of her regularly scheduled hours. She should also be paid for the full 40 guaranteed hours between 9-5. She does not seem to acknowledge that her wanting to leave early on Friday is a wash for the request to arrive early on Friday morning. And she just shows no recognition that we let her leave early A LOT of the time (I'd say a significant majority of the time, though not every day). Sooooooo frustrating.

I want her to start noting when she actually worked so she is paying at least a little more attention to total hours she is working versus total hours she's paid for. In the example above, she worked 38.25 hours. She was paid for 40 hours. She wants to be paid 40 hours plus .75 hours OT.

I think she's not realizing that I am becoming VERY disinclined to send her home early if this is how she calculates her time.

Friday is a wash, you're right. However, the rest of the week is not. You sent her home early Monday, the extra time is on you. You were late on Tuesday, you are .25 over. Why did she leave early on Wed and Thurs? If you sent her home early, youpay for the time. If she asked to leave early either Wed or Thurs, she forfeits the right to guaranteed hours for those days.

Guaranteed hours are simple: Nanny agrees to be available every single minute that is guaranteed. In return, nanny is paid for every single minute that she is available to the family, whether they use that time or not, and they pay extra for extra time. Honestly, the log book is the best thing for this situation. Nanny logs start time in the morning and end time in the evening. Comments go beside both for any variance of 15 minutes or more from the norm, nanny and a parent both initial. That way there is no confusion at the end of the week, on either side. You can clearly see when nanny asked to leave early and you can clearly see when a parent asked for early start, set nanny home early or was late.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are her hours variable week to week?

No, her hours are not variable. Let's say it's 9-5 daily, and we guarantee 40 hrs/wk. Here's what she does, though, that drives me CRAZY:

Monday: 9-4:30, because we let her go home early. 7.5 hrs worked.
Tuesday: 9-5:15, because parent got stuck in traffic. 8.25 hours worked.
Wednesday & Thursday: 9-4:15. 7.25 hours/day worked.
Friday: 8:30-4:30. Early start time because parents needed to leave early; early end time because she wanted to go to an event. 8 hours worked.

Her thinking is as follows: she need to be paid overtime for the .25 hours past her end time on Tuesday and the .5 hours before her start time on Friday, because those were not part of her regularly scheduled hours. She should also be paid for the full 40 guaranteed hours between 9-5. She does not seem to acknowledge that her wanting to leave early on Friday is a wash for the request to arrive early on Friday morning. And she just shows no recognition that we let her leave early A LOT of the time (I'd say a significant majority of the time, though not every day). Sooooooo frustrating.

I want her to start noting when she actually worked so she is paying at least a little more attention to total hours she is working versus total hours she's paid for. In the example above, she worked 38.25 hours. She was paid for 40 hours. She wants to be paid 40 hours plus .75 hours OT.

I think she's not realizing that I am becoming VERY disinclined to send her home early if this is how she calculates her time.

Friday is a wash, you're right. However, the rest of the week is not. You sent her home early Monday, the extra time is on you. You were late on Tuesday, you are .25 over. Why did she leave early on Wed and Thurs? If you sent her home early, youpay for the time. If she asked to leave early either Wed or Thurs, she forfeits the right to guaranteed hours for those days.

Guaranteed hours are simple: Nanny agrees to be available every single minute that is guaranteed. In return, nanny is paid for every single minute that she is available to the family, whether they use that time or not, and they pay extra for extra time. Honestly, the log book is the best thing for this situation. Nanny logs start time in the morning and end time in the evening. Comments go beside both for any variance of 15 minutes or more from the norm, nanny and a parent both initial. That way there is no confusion at the end of the week, on either side. You can clearly see when nanny asked to leave early and you can clearly see when a parent asked for early start, set nanny home early or was late.

+1 although Friday might not be a wash if you didn't give her advanced notice that her hours would be moved up (as opposed to her getting paid extra). I think this could go either way, it depends on the nanny/family relationship and if you didn't give her a heads up that you would be paying her regular hours and just shifting the time you need to do so in the future

[Anonymous]

OP here. Okay then. Lesson learned. Never, ever let nanny go home early. Keep her until the exact end of her shift. No flexibility for her!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Okay then. Lesson learned. Never, ever let nanny go home early. Keep her until the exact end of her shift. No flexibility for her!

why would you say that? yes, you are paying her for that time and have every right to keep her - I'm not arguing that. but to keep her there unnecessarily just so you get your money's worth seems a bit immature to me. my NF lets me go home about half an hour early once every couple of weeks. it's nothing planned, just when they happen to have the opportunity to leave work early. I really appreciate it and as a result I'm more flexible when they walk in a few minutes late every now and then. it's a give and take. if they purposely kept me until my end time just so they could get their money's worth I wouldn't accept them coming home late and would expect to be paid extra, even if it is just 5 minutes. there's no need for you to be vengeful, that doesn't set up a good relationship

[Anonymous]

Good morning OP,
This is a tricky situation. You are required to pay for hours worked in addition to her regularly scheduled time. You are NOT required to pay overtime when actual hours worked do not exceed 40. Do you have a contract? Her requesting to leve early is just that, a request. You can set it up that the time she leaves early come out of her vacation time. That can be allowed hourly, half day, etc. I would not make things too difficult and tense, but I would certainly make it clear that her requests to leave early will be coming from her vacation time.

Personally, I am very flexible with my employers. I do not charge extra if they need me in early and my rare requests to leave early are not deducted from my vacation. If their requests for additional time were regular, which based on your example seem to be, I would expect to be paid for that in addition to my guaranteed hours.

Best of luck to you. It seems that you are both taking advantage and you need to sit down and adjust the expectations. This can be handled respectfully so that your relationship is mutually beneficial.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Okay then. Lesson learned. Never, ever let nanny go home early. Keep her until the exact end of her shift. No flexibility for her!

why would you say that? yes, you are paying her for that time and have every right to keep her - I'm not arguing that. but to keep her there unnecessarily just so you get your money's worth seems a bit immature to me. my NF lets me go home about half an hour early once every couple of weeks. it's nothing planned, just when they happen to have the opportunity to leave work early. I really appreciate it and as a result I'm more flexible when they walk in a few minutes late every now and then. it's a give and take. if they purposely kept me until my end time just so they could get their money's worth I wouldn't accept them coming home late and would expect to be paid extra, even if it is just 5 minutes. there's no need for you to be vengeful, that doesn't set up a good relationship

Well, you see it as a give and take. Our nanny sees it only as take, never give. She leaves early most days of the week (anywhere from 15 min to an hour or more), but has her hand out at the end of the week if we were 15 minutes late even once.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good morning OP,
This is a tricky situation. You are required to pay for hours worked in addition to her regularly scheduled time. You are NOT required to pay overtime when actual hours worked do not exceed 40. Do you have a contract? Her requesting to leve early is just that, a request. You can set it up that the time she leaves early come out of her vacation time. That can be allowed hourly, half day, etc. I would not make things too difficult and tense, but I would certainly make it clear that her requests to leave early will be coming from her vacation time.

Personally, I am very flexible with my employers. I do not charge extra if they need me in early and my rare requests to leave early are not deducted from my vacation. If their requests for additional time were regular, which based on your example seem to be, I would expect to be paid for that in addition to my guaranteed hours.

Best of luck to you. It seems that you are both taking advantage and you need to sit down and adjust the expectations. This can be handled respectfully so that your relationship is mutually beneficial.

OP here. To clarify, we really don't ask her to come early or stay late often. It has happened more over the past two weeks for school related events that happen twice a year. Being 15 min late night happen once every few weeks.

I really am perfectly willing to pay her for 40 hrs/week even if she only works 35 because I sent her home early. It's when she doesn't deduct for time she has ASKED to leave early that is getting me ticked off. She is just so used to getting paid to not work that it apparently doesn't occur to her that she's not entitled to be paid for when she chooses to be off. The guaranteed hours concept is to make sure her income predictability is not out of her control (e.g., based on parents' whims). It's not a guarantee that she gets paid for choosing not to work. That's where I am frustrated. She is not netting out the time she chooses not to work, but is keeping a VERY close eye on working 30 seconds more than the original schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good morning OP,
This is a tricky situation. You are required to pay for hours worked in addition to her regularly scheduled time. You are NOT required to pay overtime when actual hours worked do not exceed 40. Do you have a contract? Her requesting to leve early is just that, a request. You can set it up that the time she leaves early come out of her vacation time. That can be allowed hourly, half day, etc. I would not make things too difficult and tense, but I would certainly make it clear that her requests to leave early will be coming from her vacation time.

Personally, I am very flexible with my employers. I do not charge extra if they need me in early and my rare requests to leave early are not deducted from my vacation. If their requests for additional time were regular, which based on your example seem to be, I would expect to be paid for that in addition to my guaranteed hours.

Best of luck to you. It seems that you are both taking advantage and you need to sit down and adjust the expectations. This can be handled respectfully so that your relationship is mutually beneficial.

OP here. To clarify, we really don't ask her to come early or stay late often. It has happened more over the past two weeks for school related events that happen twice a year. Being 15 min late night happen once every few weeks.

I really am perfectly willing to pay her for 40 hrs/week even if she only works 35 because I sent her home early. It's when she doesn't deduct for time she has ASKED to leave early that is getting me ticked off. She is just so used to getting paid to not work that it apparently doesn't occur to her that she's not entitled to be paid for when she chooses to be off. The guaranteed hours concept is to make sure her income predictability is not out of her control (e.g., based on parents' whims). It's not a guarantee that she gets paid for choosing not to work. That's where I am frustrated. She is not netting out the time she chooses not to work, but is keeping a VERY close eye on working 30 seconds more than the original schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good morning OP,
This is a tricky situation. You are required to pay for hours worked in addition to her regularly scheduled time. You are NOT required to pay overtime when actual hours worked do not exceed 40. Do you have a contract? Her requesting to leve early is just that, a request. You can set it up that the time she leaves early come out of her vacation time. That can be allowed hourly, half day, etc. I would not make things too difficult and tense, but I would certainly make it clear that her requests to leave early will be coming from her vacation time.

Personally, I am very flexible with my employers. I do not charge extra if they need me in early and my rare requests to leave early are not deducted from my vacation. If their requests for additional time were regular, which based on your example seem to be, I would expect to be paid for that in addition to my guaranteed hours.

Best of luck to you. It seems that you are both taking advantage and you need to sit down and adjust the expectations. This can be handled respectfully so that your relationship is mutually beneficial.

OP here. To clarify, we really don't ask her to come early or stay late often. It has happened more over the past two weeks for school related events that happen twice a year. Being 15 min late night happen once every few weeks.

I really am perfectly willing to pay her for 40 hrs/week even if she only works 35 because I sent her home early. It's when she doesn't deduct for time she has ASKED to leave early that is getting me ticked off. She is just so used to getting paid to not work that it apparently doesn't occur to her that she's not entitled to be paid for when she chooses to be off. The guaranteed hours concept is to make sure her income predictability is not out of her control (e.g., based on parents' whims). It's not a guarantee that she gets paid for choosing not to work. That's where I am frustrated. She is not netting out the time she chooses not to work, but is keeping a VERY close eye on working 30 seconds more than the original schedule.

Do you have a contract? How much PTO does she get? If you are up for keeping track of the hours she requests off, handle it through PTO. Some employers require PTO to be used in half day intervals. Don't get mad and hold grudges, simply adjust to make it fair for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good morning OP,
This is a tricky situation. You are required to pay for hours worked in addition to her regularly scheduled time. You are NOT required to pay overtime when actual hours worked do not exceed 40. Do you have a contract? Her requesting to leve early is just that, a request. You can set it up that the time she leaves early come out of her vacation time. That can be allowed hourly, half day, etc. I would not make things too difficult and tense, but I would certainly make it clear that her requests to leave early will be coming from her vacation time.

Personally, I am very flexible with my employers. I do not charge extra if they need me in early and my rare requests to leave early are not deducted from my vacation. If their requests for additional time were regular, which based on your example seem to be, I would expect to be paid for that in addition to my guaranteed hours.

Best of luck to you. It seems that you are both taking advantage and you need to sit down and adjust the expectations. This can be handled respectfully so that your relationship is mutually beneficial.

OP here. To clarify, we really don't ask her to come early or stay late often. It has happened more over the past two weeks for school related events that happen twice a year. Being 15 min late night happen once every few weeks.

I really am perfectly willing to pay her for 40 hrs/week even if she only works 35 because I sent her home early. It's when she doesn't deduct for time she has ASKED to leave early that is getting me ticked off. She is just so used to getting paid to not work that it apparently doesn't occur to her that she's not entitled to be paid for when she chooses to be off. The guaranteed hours concept is to make sure her income predictability is not out of her control (e.g., based on parents' whims). It's not a guarantee that she gets paid for choosing not to work. That's where I am frustrated. She is not netting out the time she chooses not to work, but is keeping a VERY close eye on working 30 seconds more than the original schedule.

I think you just need to tell her his.
"Susan, just so we're clear, if you request to leave early then we pay you only until the time you need to leave. When we ask you or need you to stay late or when we let you go early because we're home, etc., that's on us. Got it?"

[Anonymous]

If you are a good employer OP and sounds you are, IDK why minutes are a big problem with your nanny. My work supposed to end at 6, but my employers comes between 6-7 pm and I don't have a problem with that, unless I have certain appointments ( i have to remind them to come on time). I don't nitpick on minutes and if they remember to pay, thanks, otherwise its alright. My one cent, you two needs to talk about this or part ways.