Some parents..care.com ad... *facepalm*
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Anonymous
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I was just perusing the care.com childcare ads, and I came across this gem...
The pay rate is listed as $15-25/hr (which is already a bad sign; either put $15-20 or $20-25, no need for such a big range!) The first sentence of the job description says "we have posted several ads on care.com and are still trying to find the right nanny.." Hmm, okay, maybe there's a reason for that...do go on... "...the position is a nanny share for two infants, currently 5 mos and 9 mos old..." That age gap might not matter much in a year but it definitely will be very difficult for the next six months at least. Oh, I'm sorry, please continue... "...hosting will alternate between our homes, located within five miles of each other..." ....riiiight... "....we are looking for a professional, experienced nanny who has her own car to take the babies to music and library groups..." ....okay... "...the hours are M-F 8-5:30pm..." ...sounds good... "...the pay is $2600 per month." ...um... ... ... ...WTF!?! Can you not do the most basic of math? Do you not expect your "highly qualified" nanny to be able to do simple division?? My calculations showed 9.5 hours per day is 47.5 hours per week which is 190 hours per month, and 2600 divided by 190 is only $13.68/hr!!! For a share! A share with two infants that are 4 months apart, alternates location, requires a car....I don't even think it is possible to pay rent in this town and pay the expenses required to have a decent car and have enough money left over for health insurance or food on such little pay! And legally, 7.5 of those hours per week, or 30 hours per month must be paid at overtime (time and a half) rates, so by the time that's factored in the base hourly wage here is $12.68/hr! For an infant share!! NO WONDER you've been having trouble finding the "right" nanny; you don't deserve a nanny at all if that's all you are offering to pay her! Most nannies wouldn't even watch ONE baby for that little pay. Just put your kids in a daycare or quit your job and be a SAHM, or pony up and pay a fair wage if you can, but above all else, accept the fact that no qualified nanny would take this position for that pay!! These parents really should be ashamed of themselves. If you can't afford to pay a living wage then don't hire an employee whose livelihood depends on you! Ugh that really grinds my gears! |
Anonymous
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Thanks for taking the time to do the math on that one, I'm so miserable at math that I could never figure this all out. You are good.
Perhaps the parents are banking that many Nannies wouldn't have the skills or patience to figure all of that out themselves. !! I have noticed that many families tend to advertise monthly rates vs. hourly rates. I think it is because when you think of salary, if you show the monthly it looks better because a Nanny may think, "Wow...That sure is a lot of money mentioned....!" vs. when the hourly salary is looked at, it really isn't all that great on paper. |
Anonymous
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Actually the rate is even lower than that. I think you're only counting 4 weeks per month, but there's 52 weeks in a year, rather than 48.
So, $2600*12 = annual salary of $31,200 = weekly salary of$600. 9.5 hrs/day is 8 hrs regular, 1.5 of OT, so pay should cover 10.25 at the regular rate per day, or 51.25 hrs/week. So $600/51.25 = $11.71/hr base rate, $17.56 OT That is very low for any nanny job in this area. |
Anonymous
| I just read an ad for a live-in nanny. Free room and board in exchange for as much childcare as they need, no wage. Oh, and the nanny has to provide a safe, dependable car. |
Anonymous
So, this family is looking for a homeless person to watch their children? |
Anonymous
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Somewhat to defense of first time parents who hire through care.com : the site actually provides to you the "average hourly wage in your area". In Burke, VA it said something like $12.50/hr. . Since I hired nannies before, I knew that was too low, and offered rate much higher than that and have been happy with my nanny. However, had I not frequent DCUM, hired/fired nannies for like 8 years now, and had about 5 friends who are MBs, I would never know that.
So, if you are first time parent, and you are just hiring for the first time, why wouldn't you go with the care.com number? I frequently read care.com blogs and advice, and I can't remember reading anywhere there that said a share should be paid more, more kids you should pay more, etc... Just to set a budget, post it, and use the useless average rate... My work provides me these "guides to life", and we had one about hiring a nanny there. Again no mention that nanny's wage should increase with complexity of her job. Instead of being offended, maybe you should write to parents to say, hey, interesting position, but my rate is $X, so for these hours I'd like to be paid $Y per month, here are my qualifications. How else would the parents know that they are low balling the rate... And no, people don't do math "how would a person live in this area on $31k per year"... Or write to care.com to mention these things in their guides. I have no comment on the ad for a homeless person. That's not explainable 
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Anonymous
While well intentioned, this is bad advice. I've done what you suggest and parents are usually offended and report you and care.com is not in the business of sticking up for nannies. They don't really care if what they're offering is fair, just that they pay for their service. I do wish there was some way to educate parents before hiring a nanny. This is not the same as paying a daycare. If you hire someone for 50 hours per week, you're providing their sole income. Probably best not to be personal responsible for someone living below the poverty line. |
Anonymous
| *Personally |
Anonymous
Last sentence: best advice I've heard around here in years! |
Anonymous
I do live-in exclusively, and so I see tons of parents advertising for childcare in exchange for room and board, but the hours wouldn't let the nanny get another position. They seem to feel that because they only need three hours per day they shouldn't have to pay anything because 15 hours of childcare is reasonable in exchange for rent and food. But when the schedule changes every week, the nanny can't get another position. And when the family's main hours are the hour before school, the hours after school, from 6-7pm or noon-1pm on the weekends, how in the world is the nanny going to make any money? I worked a position like that for a year, with the understanding that it would only be a year and the family would give me a glowing rec. Of course they didn't, what they did was submit a W-2 to the IRS stating that I was paid $15k for the year (the amount they valued room and board at), so I had a headache figuring everything out with the IRS so that I wouldn't have to pay taxes on my supposed income. What really got me laughing was that the nanny has to provide a safe, dependable car. There's no way that the nanny would be able to keep it insured and licensed, and keep herself licensed, not without some form of monetary compensation. |
Anonymous
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I totally agree with 19:52's comment.
Care.com is totally pro-parents since they are ultimately the ones who fund the website. They can ruin a nanny's reputation simply by posting things as they see fit while the nanny has no rebuttal on how to clear her good name. The parents can say terrible things about said nanny and the nanny is defenseless on how to clear things up. I do not like Care.com. It's all a scam to me. Anyone who has computer/internet access can set up a free profile and label themselves a "professional" nanny, dog sitter, maid, etc. And the parents are the fools who are paying thinking this is a great alternative to an agency. But the joke is ultimately on them. They could easily find someone local on CL or their Pennysaver. |
Anonymous
| I don't get why people get all up in arms over these posts? Just don't take these jobs! |
Anonymous
The reason we get upset is because these are the positions that other families reference, and the people that take those crappy positions are the ones who drag the profession down. |
Anonymous
You wouldn't be pissed if you saw illegal predatory practices happening in your industry? On a daily basis? With most of society dismissing your job as unimportant and therefore not meriting the hassle of enforcing the law or protecting some of the most vulnerable workers in this country? I am fortunate enough to know better than to take a job like this, but it burns me up that so many people think this shit is okay. it infuriates me that our society looks the other way when foreign women of color are taken advantage of and abused, but the second it happens to a privileged middle class white girl someone will care. These job postings upset me because I know someone will likely take the job. If that doesn't upset you, it says much more about you than it does me. |
Anonymous
If you do your job well and have great qualifications no one can drag you down personally. I really like to think ads like these are put out by people who are A) unaware of market prices and/or B) are aware of market prices but are wishing for the moon because they are between a rock and hard place. No one is forced to take a job they don't want. |