Phasing down hours

[Anonymous]

Our children are older now so we started a search in December for a full time housekeeper. We couldn’t find any experienced candidates we liked so we hired the best one we found but she’s only available part time as she has another job in the mornings. She only comes to us late am through early afternoon, which is not enough hours, but then she often doesn’t come in and keep the schedule we had agreed to because she does something else. She also doesn’t let us know she’s not coming so she’s a bit flaky. She has young kids, two jobs etc so we’ve tried to be flexible but it’s not ideal for us. But she works weekends and we like that.

We realized that we really need full time, especially going into the summer months so we interviewed and this week we have someone doing a trial. The lady is excellent and she also wants to work full time but also to babysit in the evenings and to do as many hours as possible, so this is perfect for us.

This week we told the part time HK we’d pay her for the week but we didn’t want her to come as we’re doing a trial for another person to work in our home. We often have a second person for afternoons etc so she was fine with this. Now that we’re going to hire the new lady, we’d still like the first one to work weekends, and also to take care of our house this summer when we’re away.

What’s the best way to handle the transition period. How many weeks of pay would you give the PT lady who’s worked for us for six months and will hopefully stay on for weekends and the summer?

[Anonymous]

I’d only pay her for a week. Especially if she was flaky and only part time.

[Anonymous]

I would pay her two weeks but don't be surprised if she doesn't stay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our children are older now so we started a search in December for a full time housekeeper. We couldn’t find any experienced candidates we liked so we hired the best one we found but she’s only available part time as she has another job in the mornings. She only comes to us late am through early afternoon, which is not enough hours, but then she often doesn’t come in and keep the schedule we had agreed to because she does something else. She also doesn’t let us know she’s not coming so she’s a bit flaky. She has young kids, two jobs etc so we’ve tried to be flexible but it’s not ideal for us. But she works weekends and we like that.

We realized that we really need full time, especially going into the summer months so we interviewed and this week we have someone doing a trial. The lady is excellent and she also wants to work full time but also to babysit in the evenings and to do as many hours as possible, so this is perfect for us.

This week we told the part time HK we’d pay her for the week but we didn’t want her to come as we’re doing a trial for another person to work in our home. We often have a second person for afternoons etc so she was fine with this. Now that we’re going to hire the new lady, we’d still like the first one to work weekends, and also to take care of our house this summer when we’re away.

What’s the best way to handle the transition period. How many weeks of pay would you give the PT lady who’s worked for us for six months and will hopefully stay on for weekends and the summer?

You give her decent notice of two weeks pay and if you want her to be available for other times, give her a month's notice. Being cheap is a character flaw.

[Anonymous]

Just get rid of the current flaky person. I don't want to deal with that. I hate flaky people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our children are older now so we started a search in December for a full time housekeeper. We couldn’t find any experienced candidates we liked so we hired the best one we found but she’s only available part time as she has another job in the mornings. She only comes to us late am through early afternoon, which is not enough hours, but then she often doesn’t come in and keep the schedule we had agreed to because she does something else. She also doesn’t let us know she’s not coming so she’s a bit flaky. She has young kids, two jobs etc so we’ve tried to be flexible but it’s not ideal for us. But she works weekends and we like that.

We realized that we really need full time, especially going into the summer months so we interviewed and this week we have someone doing a trial. The lady is excellent and she also wants to work full time but also to babysit in the evenings and to do as many hours as possible, so this is perfect for us.

This week we told the part time HK we’d pay her for the week but we didn’t want her to come as we’re doing a trial for another person to work in our home. We often have a second person for afternoons etc so she was fine with this. Now that we’re going to hire the new lady, we’d still like the first one to work weekends, and also to take care of our house this summer when we’re away.

What’s the best way to handle the transition period. How many weeks of pay would you give the PT lady who’s worked for us for six months and will hopefully stay on for weekends and the summer?

You give her decent notice of two weeks pay and if you want her to be available for other times, give her a month's notice. Being cheap is a character flaw.

Being flaky as a professional is hardly a desirable trait

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d only pay her for a week. Especially if she was flaky and only part time.

She's also only worked for us for six months and we gave her a full week of PTO this week

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to imagine what is going on in your life that you need so much housekeeping help! You need one person during the week +additional babysitting hours, AND a person on the weekends?

Will your new full time lady be going away with your for the summer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d only pay her for a week. Especially if she was flaky and only part time.

She's also only worked for us for six months and we gave her a full week of PTO this week

Doesn’t the new person want those extra hours this summer and while you are away? Why keep the flaky employee at all once you decide on the new one?