Our nanny recently asked for a few things including an 11% pay increase. She had to change her hours and arrive over an hour late 1 day a week which severely inconveniences is because of our jobs and meetings at that time but we’re willing to make it work. She will also be 5-15 min late another day. She also brings her son now because of the pandemic so we have 3 kids every day.
She’s been with us for exactly a year and asked for an 11% pay increase. We were quite put off by it considering we’ve been more than flexible with her. How are others handling raises during the pandemic? Are you giving raises or delaying until things become more stable again and hopefully return to normal? We’ve thought about telling her we are happy to revisit this when we go back to our original agreed upon arrangement. Frankly I’m just happy we still have jobs and are able to keep her employed right now. |
I’m a nanny and I think her request under the circumstances is both unfair and ridiculous. Unless her current hourly is very low, 11% is too much in light of her bringing her child and changing schedule. |
Sit down with her look at current COL raises and explain it to her (it ain't 11%). As far as bringing her child doesn't sound like she has much of choice. After all she can't afford a nanny can she? |
It's difficult to give advice without knowing more information.
-where are you located? -how many hours does she work? -what is her current pay? -what benefits do you offer - PTO, health insurance, etc? -does she work on the books or under the table? |
That's an atypical raise above the national average. So I would point out she's now late two days a week plus bringing her own child and then ask why she thinks she deserves a raise so much higher than the average? In what ways does she think she's going above and beyond? |
-How old are your kids and her son? -How well do they play together? -What was her childcare situation prior to covid? -Are you requiring her to limit interactions and possible exposure? -Did she do dl in the spring? Will she do it again when school starts? |
Try posting in ONE place!
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/nanny-forum/posts/list/363184.page |
She shouldn’t be asking for a raise now that she is bringing her son. That is a huge perk for her as well as an inconvenience for you. |
That is why I hire only older nannies with grown children or childfree nannies—their childcare emergencies become your problem. We had a nanny who was fine with her compensation until her free babysitting (MIL) went away and then she wanted a big raise to cover her daycare fees. |
OMG nannies need childcare? Why???? Because they work and have children?? The nerve! |
Nanny here. On the one hand, it sounds like you are being flexible and allowing her the perks of adjusting to meet her schedule and allowing her to bring her child. On the other hand, a great nanny is in high demand right now and a lot of families would be happy to have a built-in playmate who is part of the same quarantine bubble.
My guess is that she is probably looking at the nanny market and seeing how much people are offering for a nanny right now and looking at all the extra work nannies are doing right now being flexible with DL/schedule changes for schools and employers WAH and having to entertain kids mostly at home or outside in all weather. Before playing hardball here, maybe put out some feelers for what others are offering for a nanny right now. My friends who don’t have a nanny yet for the fall are freaking out trying to figure out what they are going to do because any decent nanny gets a ton of job offers and it’s hard to compete unless you are prepared to offer a ton of money or great working conditions or some other outstanding perk. I would ask for a sit-down to discuss. Tell her how much you value her and appreciate the extra work covid concerns put on her plate. Show her the COL guidelines for raises and explain that her request was surprisingly high and that you are happy to hear her out. Be prepared to offer a compromise. One other thing to consider: if she was able to revert to your preferred schedule tomorrow and magically found child care for her son, would you then feel 11% was appropriate? If not then focus on whatever the actual issue is. |
The nerve is expecting your employer to cover your childcare needs. |
+1. It’s one thing to help any employee with childcare and another thing to ask for an 11% raise on top of it. |
Thanks Everyone. Appreciate the feedback. It's a nanny share. There is a 17 month old and a 15 month old and her son is 4 years old. Before we hired her, we were very clear that two babies were a handful and her son would not be able to come. Once covid happened, we of course let her bring him and he is a sweet kid. We are also taking on some risk because she does not have full custody and his father was not willing to speak to us about how he is taking precautions even though we tried multiple times.
We are going to put out some feelers and see what others are offering in our area. We do like her, but given the circumstances that high of a raise seemed unreasonable right now. |
Tell her no. That is a huge raise and she is bringing her son. |