1 year anniversary coming

[Anonymous]

My 1 year is coming up at the end of January. We have had rocky first year. I’m in a nanny share and these are MB’s first children. I am thinking about sending them an email addressing some of the issues we’ve had in the past, how to prevent these issues from occurring and what do we do if this happens. For example, being on time. I have this issue with one family and I just want to adress it- give me a heads up (not 5 minutes before my shift is over) and what happens when you’re late? I don’t get compensated for the time, so moving forward, should we add in a late fee or will I be able to leave or come in later another day (during that week) to get my time back- is this a fair question? Another example is, I’ve had convos with the parents separately about moving forward on certain situations and the Mom would say “if this happens, we can do this.” But I’m not sure if she has let the other Mom know that when XYZ happens this is the protocol, so I want to just say hey, MB 1 said will do this, in the event that this happens- does this work for you?

What do you think about sending an email? I cannot take another year of the many issues we’ve had. I mean I get this is new for them, but the same issues are reoccurring. I love my charges TO DEATH and that’s why I’m staying. I am hopefully going to do 1 (maybe 2) more years of being a nanny so I kind of don’t want to start with a new family. The pay is decent, I can take the children anywhere in the DM (literally) - I have so much freedom. I have a decent relationship with both moms and dads, I just want to be a little more organized in the new year. I would also let them know if they want to discuss further in person, I am up for it. The moms are on different work schedules so it seems impossible. Plus, I like all my stuff on PAPER!

[Anonymous]

Say that because of chronic tardiness you'll need to charge your hourly rate by the quarter hour as they're late.

[Anonymous]

MB here. I think you are right to be annoyed by the things you're describing, and I imagine that this is pretty typical aggravating stuff w/ nanny shares. That said, I also think how you approach this may determine whether or not you're successful. If you want to keep this job long-term then you want to be thoughtful in your wording and tone. My advice would be to email something like this:

"Dear Jane, Sarah, Dick and Bob, I wanted to send you all a quick note as we're nearing the one year anniversary of me being Jillie, Sue and Jack's nanny. I hope you know that I really love working with your kids - they are delightful, and I look forward to continuing to watch them grow and develop. I also want you all to know how much I appreciate the trust you've shown in allowing me to take the kids out, the overall working relationship I have with all of you, and so many other things about this position.

That said, I'm also struggling a bit with some of the challenges that are inherent with nanny share positions. One of those is figuring out how best to communicate most efficiently with both families when necessary (hence this group email.) I'd like to ask if we could have a once a month brief meeting just to touch base on any organizational or planning issues. We could do this whenever would work for you, and it would give us all a chance to quickly talk through or resolve any questions about schedules or plans or whatever.

My other request is to ask for some type of compensation when circumstances arise that have me staying late unexpectedly. I know there are multiple ways to do that (paying by quarter or half hour when staying late is required, giving comp time later that week in return for the extra time, etc...) and I'm open to any ideas you might have.

As I said, I love your kids and really enjoy working for all of you. I'd just like to see if we can improve on a couple of small items. I expect you may have similar things you'd like to talk with me about also.

So just let me know when a good time might be for us to meet. Thanks so much. "