Paid vs. unpaid leave

[Anonymous]

I am having a disagreement with the other Mom in our nanny share about paid vs. unpaid leave. I feel like unpaid leave should be avoided if at all remotely possible as the nanny deserves a regular wage. The other (new) Mom feels like it is acceptable for her to give 2 weeks unpaid leave.

I guarantee our nanny's hours and she is receiving a week of paid leave this summer. She will also receive 1 week unpaid leave since that was discussed with the nanny before we hired her and is something she agreed to and knew about months in advance but that was with the understanding of NO OTHER unpaid leave. I honestly will probably increase her annual leave later in the year as long as I can get coverage for a week just because she's great and I want her to be happy.

I have strongly encouraged the other Mom to pay for at least 1 week as I said we couldn't leave the nanny hanging as that was NOT agreed to so someone will have to pay the nanny for the extra week off.

Well...guess what? I'm paying for the extra week now and she said that she'll 'make it up somehow' to the nanny later in the year'. She also feels like it is totally fair because the nanny earns 40 hours paid sick leave a year.

I don't live in Northern VA and the Mom's I've spoken to act like I pay an obscene amount of money and give ridiculous benefits (just sick leave, annual leave, paid holidays, and properly paid taxes) but compared to Northern VA, this is nothing! I try to be as generous as I'm able to but trying to find another family to work with who want to be even remotely as generous is ridiculously hard!

I think I'm going to end up paying more than just for 1 week....I'm going to keep looking for another family to join in the share and we'll take on this family for now as a little extra income for the nanny doesn't hurt and little less pay from me is nice too but there's a better family out there.....

[Anonymous]

A brand new nanny working for me gets 12 days of paid time off to use for vacation, sick leave, whatever. She gets 8 holiday days, and guaranteed hours (we pay her even when we don't need her). I also pay a health stipend, which currently pays 100% of my young nanny's Gold Obamacare plan.

I think more standard is guaranteed hours and two weeks of paid vacation, one her choice, one employer's choice, and some paid federal holidays.

[Anonymous]

OP here:

I give 40 hours sick leave, 6 days (though honestly, I will probably increase it to 10 days) paid annual leave, 12 days paid holiday leave, plus bonuses and a raise if possible.

In my area, apparently it is customary to not guarantee hours or pay any sort of paid leave except maybe one or two holidays a year which is crazy so trying to get another family on board to do a nanny-share and have it be equitable is proving to be a significant challenge!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here:

I give 40 hours sick leave, 6 days (though honestly, I will probably increase it to 10 days) paid annual leave, 12 days paid holiday leave, plus bonuses and a raise if possible.

In my area, apparently it is customary to not guarantee hours or pay any sort of paid leave except maybe one or two holidays a year which is crazy so trying to get another family on board to do a nanny-share and have it be equitable is proving to be a significant challenge!

I think I may have misunderstood your original post. This is about putting together a nanny share?

You may have to bend on some of this. I would not agree to a share where I had to pay for 12 holiday days, for example, on top of essentially 15 days of leave for a brand new nanny.

The customs in your area are going to drive these negotiations somewhat. And for a better-than-average rate, the nanny may not care if a week is unpaid if she's a decent budgeter. You need to look at the whole package and come up with something that makes sense to both of you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here:

I give 40 hours sick leave, 6 days (though honestly, I will probably increase it to 10 days) paid annual leave, 12 days paid holiday leave, plus bonuses and a raise if possible.

In my area, apparently it is customary to not guarantee hours or pay any sort of paid leave except maybe one or two holidays a year which is crazy so trying to get another family on board to do a nanny-share and have it be equitable is proving to be a significant challenge!

I think I may have misunderstood your original post. This is about putting together a nanny share?

You may have to bend on some of this. I would not agree to a share where I had to pay for 12 holiday days, for example, on top of essentially 15 days of leave for a brand new nanny.

The customs in your area are going to drive these negotiations somewhat. And for a better-than-average rate, the nanny may not care if a week is unpaid if she's a decent budgeter. You need to look at the whole package and come up with something that makes sense to both of you.

Or, you need to let the nanny negotiate with each of you separately, and you do what you think is right.

[Anonymous]

Drop the other family and find a new one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here:

I give 40 hours sick leave, 6 days (though honestly, I will probably increase it to 10 days) paid annual leave, 12 days paid holiday leave, plus bonuses and a raise if possible.

In my area, apparently it is customary to not guarantee hours or pay any sort of paid leave except maybe one or two holidays a year which is crazy so trying to get another family on board to do a nanny-share and have it be equitable is proving to be a significant challenge!

I think I may have misunderstood your original post. This is about putting together a nanny share?

You may have to bend on some of this. I would not agree to a share where I had to pay for 12 holiday days, for example, on top of essentially 15 days of leave for a brand new nanny.

The customs in your area are going to drive these negotiations somewhat. And for a better-than-average rate, the nanny may not care if a week is unpaid if she's a decent budgeter. You need to look at the whole package and come up with something that makes sense to both of you.

Or, you need to let the nanny negotiate with each of you separately, and you do what you think is right.

If the nanny is ok with it, let the other family pay less leave. By trying to be 100 fair on pay and leave terms you could be ignoring intangibles. Maybe nanny likes the other family's charge better because the kid is easier, or the family is easier to work with. Look at the big picture. If you bring in a new family that will pay exactly as you do, but their kid turns out ti be more difficult to care for, have you inproved your nanny's life? Basically, look at the bigger picture, consider all the intangibles, and go with the flow. You have good intentions but can't guarantee your nanny improved situation.