Taking nanny on vacation
![[Post New]](/nanny-forum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| We are planning a week long trip next summer and want to ask our nanny to come along. We wouldn't want her to work her normal 9 hour days but maybe 4 or 5 hours a day. How would that work with compensation? Would we pay her normal hourly rate for just those hours or pay her for a full-time week? We would cover her hotel room but would we get all her meals too? Just trying to figure out a budget for the trip. TIA. |
Anonymous
| You would pay her more than her normal rate as incentive so that she even entertain going. And please forget about only giving her 4h of pay cause that's not worth it. You want to have the luxury of a nanny on vacation, pay her fairly. |
Anonymous
|
Why would anyone agree to a pay reduction? If my employer suggested that for any reason whatsoever, I'd be getting another job with a more reliable income.
Maybe you believe she doesn't depend on her pay? |
Anonymous
|
There's a lot of variables that determine a travel rate. Will she have her own room? Will she provide care during the night? Evening babysitting in addition to day hours? In general, usually a flat rate of higher than hourly is expected in addition to all expenses paid. If you go to a theme park, you will pay for lunch and admission, but she would pay for souvenirs. You can't just look at it as hourly, since she is away from her home and family or routine or whatever. You will need to compensate for that time.
It's great you're planning now. Time to budget and draw up an addendum to your contract before hand. Enjoy your trip! |
Anonymous
| We recently did this. She worked half as much as usual but received same pay as normal. We were at an all inclusive but we did give her an extra $300 for the week if she wanted to do other things. Oh and we also got her a room away from us so that she wasn't stuck being around us 24/7 |
Anonymous
|
If the nanny shares a room with a child, even a teen, she's working every hour that she's in the room with the child, and that gets expensive.
Does your contract guarantee hours? If so, you might as well use the normal hours, because you're going to pay for them anyway, but you could elect to do 4-5 hour days. Talk to your nanny if you want to change the way the hours are scheduled through the week versus while at home. Most nannies who travel with their NF will start setting up a schedule for working and free hours asap and researching the local events, especially things to do with the kids, so the sooner you figure out which hours you want her to work, the better it will be. If I'm working while traveling, I don't cover my own food. My reasoning is that I wouldn't be going if I wasn't working, and I can't get food at the same costs that I would when I am home. Other nannies differ on this, but all of us agree that minimum cost for food is anything consumed or ordered during working hours. If you have the nanny work at all, she doesn't pay for travel or housing costs. Overall, most families don't realize how expensive it is to bring along the nanny. It's cheaper to give the nanny the week off and arrange a babysitter while you are on vacation, but you don't know the babysitter, and neither do the kids. I wish you luck, OP, and I hope everyone has fun! |
Anonymous
|
Give her normal pay but work less. Also a separate room is always good. Then she won't feel overworked either.
|
Anonymous
|
MB here: after you run your budget, consider whether it might make more sense to hire someone at the location through an agency. The hotel might even have someone to recommend. You have plenty of time to do due diligence.
You'll be paying your regular nanny's guaranteed hours plus the on-site nanny, but the whole question of accommodations, airfare, time off during "fun" hours, overtime, meals, etc. is off the table. We did this on a recent beach trip. The woman who worked for us every morning was terrific, and the total came to less than we would have had to spend to bring our nanny. I also didn't worry about the person we hired, who lived there, missing out on a chance to enjoy the local area. |
Anonymous
| I go on a vacation once a year with my employers. I'm paid my normal rate for the week and all my expenses are paid. We work out a schedule for when I'm expected to be in charge of the kids (usually 1 full day, a couple evenings and a couple other 4-5 hour blocks) and my days off are specified. We trade off days for getting up with the kids. I have a great relationship with the family so I enjoy vacationing with them. Other nannies would rather have a week off and stay home. It depends on your nanny. |
Anonymous
| I vacation with my nanny. I pay her normal wages/rate. She (almost always) gets her own room, for which I pay. I pay all her meals. We usually drive but if we flew I would pay that too. |
Anonymous
She is working and you pay for absolutely everything. This is not a vacation for her, cheapskate. |
Anonymous
|
I wouldn't agree to go on vacation for the same rate.
Theres no incentive |
Anonymous
My salary is guaranteed, and taking care of kids while traveling is a reasonable request. So, yes, I can refuse, but then I would be foregoing my check that week, and I'm not about to do that. With that said, there is an incentive for me. Either I have tons of time to explore, which is an incentive, or I'm working lots of extra hours for extra overtime, which is also an incentive. |
Anonymous
| If she is live-in, you should pay her full rate, plus seperate hotel room, meals/meal allowance, and any travel related expenses. If she is live-out, you have to consider how this affects her to be away from her own home and obligations that she may have to her family. |
Anonymous
|
OP please ignore the rude comments here, many of those that come to this page do hope to help you with your question
As a nanny that has been on vacation with families many times in the past 20 years it can be a perk but it can also burn out even the best nanny. Please do consider giving your nanny her normal pay regardless if the arrangement may look like less working hours. Extra compensation should be added if your nanny is sharing a room and if the hours exceed normal work time. Remember you are on vacation but your nanny is not so you should sit down and negotiate all arrangements including work time, off time and accommodations, put it on paper and both sign this agreement. Do be prepared for your nanny to say no and if you have a contract then you need to follow that and not get worked up if travel was not part of the contract. Because of past positions I have seen Israel, Paris and several, Islands, something that would have never happened on my own, so I feel super lucky, was hard work but great memories 
|