How to handle hourly pay when child is at school?

[Anonymous]

Quick crowdsourcing question:

New nanny is starting this week, I have one 7 yo DD, easy kid. On days I work nanny would drop child off and pick child up, then be home with her for an hour or two until I get home. During day I consider her to be "on" as I have a job I can't leave save a dire emergency. I don't expect her to clean beyond tidying up, so my daughter's school time is nanny's to do with as she wishes. It's been suggested that I adjust the hourly pay rate while my DD is at school, but I feel that'll be complicated and not appropriate, as she needs to be avail via her cell. I'd like to pay the same hourly rate regardless ($20/hr). Thanks for thoughts.

[Anonymous]

Change the hourly rate and I guarantee you will lose this nanny. Try it. Let us know how long before she quits.

[Anonymous]

You’re paying for her availability so of course you pay her hourly wage.

Just curious - who the hell told you to adjust her hourly wage?

[Anonymous]

Ummmm no you don’t get to adjust the hourly rate and you probably should have discussed this before you hired the nanny!! Guaranteed nanny will leave if you adjust pay. Do you want nanny on call? Then you need to pay for that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You’re paying for her availability so of course you pay her hourly wage.

Just curious - who the hell told you to adjust her hourly wage?

Seriously, who suggested you could change her rate?!

[Anonymous]

You can’t change the rate after you’ve already agreed on a rate with the nanny. It will seem like a bait and switch and she will most definitely quit. You could have maybe advertised a lower rate at the outset, though, and probably still have gotten takers. IMO though, your kid doesn’t really need a professional nanny as it’s very few real hours... this sounds like something you could pay a SAHM for, especially one with a kid at your daughter’s school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can’t change the rate after you’ve already agreed on a rate with the nanny. It will seem like a bait and switch and she will most definitely quit. You could have maybe advertised a lower rate at the outset, though, and probably still have gotten takers. IMO though, your kid doesn’t really need a professional nanny as it’s very few real hours... this sounds like something you could pay a SAHM for, especially one with a kid at your daughter’s school.

You can’t change your pay rate based on the activity of the hour regardless. Do you pay more when the sitter is helping with homework or driving in traffic? What about chopping vegetables - pay more for chopping the hard vegetables vs the soft ones? What about when the child has a play date over? Do you pay double or half? What if the child is home sick - more or less? What if the child falls asleep?

This is a truly absurd thread and question.

YOU PAY THE SAME RATE.

[Anonymous]

I agree you can’t bait & switch the nanny, but I don’t understand how it’s remotely sustainable for a family to pay a nanny to sit around twiddling her thumbs. How would resentment not build??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can’t change the rate after you’ve already agreed on a rate with the nanny. It will seem like a bait and switch and she will most definitely quit. You could have maybe advertised a lower rate at the outset, though, and probably still have gotten takers. IMO though, your kid doesn’t really need a professional nanny as it’s very few real hours... this sounds like something you could pay a SAHM for, especially one with a kid at your daughter’s school.

You can’t change your pay rate based on the activity of the hour regardless. Do you pay more when the sitter is helping with homework or driving in traffic? What about chopping vegetables - pay more for chopping the hard vegetables vs the soft ones? What about when the child has a play date over? Do you pay double or half? What if the child is home sick - more or less? What if the child falls asleep?

This is a truly absurd thread and question.

YOU PAY THE SAME RATE.

I’m not suggesting paying different rates at different times or different activities for the same family. What I mean is that nannies will generally want a higher rate for a really tough job (like 3 kids under 3, uncoordinated naps + all kid chores) versus an easier job like one older kid in school most of the day with few chores (so you are on call but could, for example, get some personal errands done most days when the child does not have an emergency and needs to leave school).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree you can’t bait & switch the nanny, but I don’t understand how it’s remotely sustainable for a family to pay a nanny to sit around twiddling her thumbs. How would resentment not build??

You are paying for her availability. Why would there be resentment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can’t change the rate after you’ve already agreed on a rate with the nanny. It will seem like a bait and switch and she will most definitely quit. You could have maybe advertised a lower rate at the outset, though, and probably still have gotten takers. IMO though, your kid doesn’t really need a professional nanny as it’s very few real hours... this sounds like something you could pay a SAHM for, especially one with a kid at your daughter’s school.

You can’t change your pay rate based on the activity of the hour regardless. Do you pay more when the sitter is helping with homework or driving in traffic? What about chopping vegetables - pay more for chopping the hard vegetables vs the soft ones? What about when the child has a play date over? Do you pay double or half? What if the child is home sick - more or less? What if the child falls asleep?

This is a truly absurd thread and question.

YOU PAY THE SAME RATE.

I’m not suggesting paying different rates at different times or different activities for the same family. What I mean is that nannies will generally want a higher rate for a really tough job (like 3 kids under 3, uncoordinated naps + all kid chores) versus an easier job like one older kid in school most of the day with few chores (so you are on call but could, for example, get some personal errands done most days when the child does not have an emergency and needs to leave school).

You pay the same rate, obviously. Should you suddenly have two more children, you would pay more.

How many hours are you talking about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree you can’t bait & switch the nanny, but I don’t understand how it’s remotely sustainable for a family to pay a nanny to sit around twiddling her thumbs. How would resentment not build??

Do you resent paying your nanny when the child is sleeping? You are paying for emergency care and guaranteed availability. Yeah, you pay her quoted hourly rate.

If you think you’ll resent that, find other childcare options. Aftercare, for example. And a temp agency for sick days. Someone in your family will have to leave work for emergencies but at least you won’t resent anyone.

[Anonymous]

We've had the same nanny since our oldest was four months old. When the kids were both in full time school we asked the nanny to stay on - for vacations, sick days, school breaks, summer, all that.

The nanny takes a couple of online college classes during the day. Hangs at our house keeping the dog company and doing schoolwork. Then picks up the kids. We pay the same rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree you can’t bait & switch the nanny, but I don’t understand how it’s remotely sustainable for a family to pay a nanny to sit around twiddling her thumbs. How would resentment not build??

Do you resent paying your nanny when the child is sleeping? You are paying for emergency care and guaranteed availability. Yeah, you pay her quoted hourly rate.

If you think you’ll resent that, find other childcare options. Aftercare, for example. And a temp agency for sick days. Someone in your family will have to leave work for emergencies but at least you won’t resent anyone.

Well since I’m obviously not OP, this isn’t my childcare situation and in fact I do not pay for the gap. But if I did this is why I would want a housekeeper/babysitter and not a professional nanny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree you can’t bait & switch the nanny, but I don’t understand how it’s remotely sustainable for a family to pay a nanny to sit around twiddling her thumbs. How would resentment not build??

You've been told Ms y times:. YOU Pay FOR HER AVAILABITY! What is it that you cannot comprehend about this? You already are resentful and you will be looking for a new nanny soon but if you think you can lower her hourly rate when child is in school, you will look for a long time to replace her.