Vacation of our choosing and guaranteed hours

[Anonymous]

Hi,. I'm sorry if this is a stupid question but we are trying to put together our package and trying to figure this out.

Regarding hours and vacations, we plan to offer 2 weeks her choosing, plus guaranteed hours. Aside from holidays, she will likely have a 3 or 4 day weekend once a month because of work schedules and grandparents. We also take 3 or 4 one week vacations. Since we do not plan to have nanny do anything during those vacations, that's covered under guaranteed hours right? Maybe I'm just overthinking something, but there doesn't seem to be a need to state "2 weeks your choosing, 1 week hours". Just want to double check

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi,. I'm sorry if this is a stupid question but we are trying to put together our package and trying to figure this out.

Regarding hours and vacations, we plan to offer 2 weeks her choosing, plus guaranteed hours. Aside from holidays, she will likely have a 3 or 4 day weekend once a month because of work schedules and grandparents. We also take 3 or 4 one week vacations. Since we do not plan to have nanny do anything during those vacations, that's covered under guaranteed hours right? Maybe I'm just overthinking something, but there doesn't seem to be a need to state "2 weeks your choosing, 1 week hours". Just want to double check

Sort of.

"Guaranteed hours" implies that she's available to work, but you just don't need her. So, if your trip to Grandma's is cancelled one weekend, she would be expected to come to work. "Vacation," whether her choice or yours, implies that she can make other plans and not be available to work no matter what happens to your plans.

So, it sounds like you are planning to provide guaranteed hours + 2 weeks vacation at her discretion + 1 week vacation at your discretion. That's a pretty generous benefit package for a first year, and will probably attract good applicants. Most people give 2 weeks total vacation + guaranteed hours, and not 3, though 3 isn't out of the range of ordinary, either.

Nannies (on this board especially) will argue that you "owe" it to your nanny to tell her about time off fairly far in advance, and that you can't make her come in if you cancel your plans at the last minute. My suggestion is to go over this in the hiring phase. My contract says the following about guaranteed hours, because I feel like I'm paying someone to stay available:

• Family agrees that Nanny will receive the guaranteed base pay 52 weeks per year, even if Family chooses not to utilize Nanny’s services for some or all of any given week such as for Family vacations and holidays. Guaranteed hours assume you are available to work, and that we have canceled. We have never had to cancel a vacation, but it could happen! In this case, your choices would be 1) come to work, 2) use paid time off, 3) take unpaid time off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi,. I'm sorry if this is a stupid question but we are trying to put together our package and trying to figure this out.

Regarding hours and vacations, we plan to offer 2 weeks her choosing, plus guaranteed hours. Aside from holidays, she will likely have a 3 or 4 day weekend once a month because of work schedules and grandparents. We also take 3 or 4 one week vacations. Since we do not plan to have nanny do anything during those vacations, that's covered under guaranteed hours right? Maybe I'm just overthinking something, but there doesn't seem to be a need to state "2 weeks your choosing, 1 week hours". Just want to double check

Sort of.

"Guaranteed hours" implies that she's available to work, but you just don't need her. So, if your trip to Grandma's is cancelled one weekend, she would be expected to come to work. "Vacation," whether her choice or yours, implies that she can make other plans and not be available to work no matter what happens to your plans.

So, it sounds like you are planning to provide guaranteed hours + 2 weeks vacation at her discretion + 1 week vacation at your discretion. That's a pretty generous benefit package for a first year, and will probably attract good applicants. Most people give 2 weeks total vacation + guaranteed hours, and not 3, though 3 isn't out of the range of ordinary, either.

Nannies (on this board especially) will argue that you "owe" it to your nanny to tell her about time off fairly far in advance, and that you can't make her come in if you cancel your plans at the last minute. My suggestion is to go over this in the hiring phase. My contract says the following about guaranteed hours, because I feel like I'm paying someone to stay available:

• Family agrees that Nanny will receive the guaranteed base pay 52 weeks per year, even if Family chooses not to utilize Nanny’s services for some or all of any given week such as for Family vacations and holidays. Guaranteed hours assume you are available to work, and that we have canceled. We have never had to cancel a vacation, but it could happen! In this case, your choices would be 1) come to work, 2) use paid time off, 3) take unpaid time off.

This is all correct except for the last paragraph. Guaranteed hours means the nanny also guarantees to be available to work those hours. I would never suggest it is ok to take unpaid time off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi,. I'm sorry if this is a stupid question but we are trying to put together our package and trying to figure this out.

Regarding hours and vacations, we plan to offer 2 weeks her choosing, plus guaranteed hours. Aside from holidays, she will likely have a 3 or 4 day weekend once a month because of work schedules and grandparents. We also take 3 or 4 one week vacations. Since we do not plan to have nanny do anything during those vacations, that's covered under guaranteed hours right? Maybe I'm just overthinking something, but there doesn't seem to be a need to state "2 weeks your choosing, 1 week hours". Just want to double check

Sort of.

"Guaranteed hours" implies that she's available to work, but you just don't need her. So, if your trip to Grandma's is cancelled one weekend, she would be expected to come to work. "Vacation," whether her choice or yours, implies that she can make other plans and not be available to work no matter what happens to your plans.

So, it sounds like you are planning to provide guaranteed hours + 2 weeks vacation at her discretion + 1 week vacation at your discretion. That's a pretty generous benefit package for a first year, and will probably attract good applicants. Most people give 2 weeks total vacation + guaranteed hours, and not 3, though 3 isn't out of the range of ordinary, either.

Nannies (on this board especially) will argue that you "owe" it to your nanny to tell her about time off fairly far in advance, and that you can't make her come in if you cancel your plans at the last minute. My suggestion is to go over this in the hiring phase. My contract says the following about guaranteed hours, because I feel like I'm paying someone to stay available:

• Family agrees that Nanny will receive the guaranteed base pay 52 weeks per year, even if Family chooses not to utilize Nanny’s services for some or all of any given week such as for Family vacations and holidays. Guaranteed hours assume you are available to work, and that we have canceled. We have never had to cancel a vacation, but it could happen! In this case, your choices would be 1) come to work, 2) use paid time off, 3) take unpaid time off.

This is all correct except for the last paragraph. Guaranteed hours means the nanny also guarantees to be available to work those hours. I would never suggest it is ok to take unpaid time off.

I added that because I can easily cover very occasional additional days off, and I really did not want a sullen/resentful nanny who had bought tickets to an all-day concert or something even though she was supposed to be available to work. So, I agree with you, but this is my contract for my family, and I was fine with adding that option.

What I wasn't fine with was paying for additional PTO days beyond what was in our contract when I needed someone to do child care.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you. This all makes sense. I think we will go with 2 weeks her choosing and 1 week ours. Plus laying out fed holidays as we don't get them all off. She will have at least 6 weeks notice for times she will be off. For long weekends, probably 1 months notice. Between our work and grandparents, we can generally cover the "uh oh plans changed and she was already given the time off" pretty well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi,. I'm sorry if this is a stupid question but we are trying to put together our package and trying to figure this out.

Regarding hours and vacations, we plan to offer 2 weeks her choosing, plus guaranteed hours. Aside from holidays, she will likely have a 3 or 4 day weekend once a month because of work schedules and grandparents. We also take 3 or 4 one week vacations. Since we do not plan to have nanny do anything during those vacations, that's covered under guaranteed hours right? Maybe I'm just overthinking something, but there doesn't seem to be a need to state "2 weeks your choosing, 1 week hours". Just want to double check

Are you planning to take 2 of your "3 or 4 one week vacations" during the nanny's two weeks of her choosing? If so, is it okay if she chooses two consecutive weeks? How much advance notice would you require to make your plans to matche hers? If she gets the 2 of her choosing plus 1 of your choosing PLUS 3-4 additional weeks, I think it's far too much. But I assume you are coordinating to take your vacation time when she does.

[Anonymous]

I agree that you should think through any constraints on the weeks of her choosing, such as making sure they are not consecutive (if that matters to you), requiring X weeks advance notice, etc.

[Anonymous]

So in total she will have 2 weeks vacation paid and 3-4 weeks vacation but will those be unpaid or paid?

Also for the 3-4 day weekends, do you plan to pay those days?

Personally, I would not take this position unless you paid for all the weeks you were gone and the long weekends. My contact states I have 2 weeks vacation paid of my choosing and I am paid whenever the family goes on vacation which never usually falls when I take my vacation

[Anonymous]

OP here. Yes, she will have guaranteed hours. So any time we don't need her, she will be paid. I assumed that was what guaranteed hours was?

In the contract we are stating that 8 week notice is needed if she plans to take both weeks at the same time. Otherwise we can be flexible. Depending on the advanced notice, we will try to schedule a vacation during hers.

I do think we are going to go in the direction of 2 weeks her choosing and 1 week hours. And then the additional time off will just be something nice but not expected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So in total she will have 2 weeks vacation paid and 3-4 weeks vacation but will those be unpaid or paid?

Also for the 3-4 day weekends, do you plan to pay those days?

Personally, I would not take this position unless you paid for all the weeks you were gone and the long weekends. My contact states I have 2 weeks vacation paid of my choosing and I am paid whenever the family goes on vacation which never usually falls when I take my vacation

Can you not read? OP clearly states she's offering guaranteed hours

[Anonymous]

If you are planning on taking that much vacation, you may want to switch it to 2 weeks if your choosing and one of hers. For my last two positions I have received 3 weeks, one had Two of mine and one two of theirs. I obviously like my choosing better, but happily agreed to both positions and add vacation days annually to my contract.

I also agree about putting in notice times as well as caveats if your plans change.