Is this normal? Nanny manager

[Anonymous]

I have 3 kids, 2 are in full time school (k and pre-K) and a 6 week old. I’m on maternity leave for 4 months, and I hired a nanny manager at $30/hr not in DC but in a large metro area a few weeks ago to help with household chores, cooking and kid pickup primarily while on maternity leave as my husband has a long commute, as well as to give me a bit of a break or let me get out of house for an hour or two at times. She is good with the kids. Cooking was a clear priority to me in the interview process but there isn’t a great way to test for that. However, I am finding her to be…sort of strange. I haven’t given her a lot to do- mostly she cleans up the kitchen, folds laundry, tidies up rooms, makes dinner and picks up one kid. I’ve made it clear dinner s the priority. She is on the phone a LOT talking to people, very forgetful and has burned bread multiple times in the oven, etc. but the main thing I’m wondering if is normal is this — I will send her to get a grocery pickup order which is 5 min away and she will be gone for over an hour. She I guess will take that as her lunch and then get groceries when done. This has happened 2-3x in the four week period she’s worked for me. Is that normal?! She is not on baby duty so I guess she thinks she can get everything else I’ve asked her to do done. I’m honestly not confident it will. Her time management is poor.

I’m about ready to look for another candidate, but want to understand if this is normal or if my expectations are too high. She’s being paid $1200 a week right now to do very little so I’m fairly annoyed.

[Anonymous]

You should be extremely annoyed and should be looking for a replacement asap

[Anonymous]

Well she is entitled to lunch, right? Do you have a contract with this woman. If you feel like you aren't getting much work out of her, give her a more detailed schedule (just be sure it consists of things you put in the contract). Also, why don't you ask her to help with the baby while the other kids are in school?

[Anonymous]

It sounds like you'd benefit from a contract.

-Lay out hours each day
-Lay out job expectations

[Anonymous]

Don’t ask her to bake bread.
I think being gone an hour at the grocery store seems a lot but isn’t terrible. She’s probably not living being at home at the same time as you. I would try talking to her.

[Anonymous]

Just have the groceries delivered to your house - she can put them away.

But tell her "Please stop baking bread since it's burned each time."

Lay out for her what her hours are and when she gets breaks.

[Anonymous]

Not trying to be snarky here OP - but…..$30/HR is pretty low, if she is helping you care for three kids that young.

Especially since you live in a large, metro part of the country.
Childcare, along w/cooking, household chores + errands IS a lot.

Perhaps offer a higher hourly rate or if that is not an option >> lessen the amount of chores that are required.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

The issue here is that she’s underpaid. I’m a house manager(2 kids in school, 2 at home) and I get $37.75 hourly(40 hours guaranteed and 7 OT hours at 1.5x) It’s a lot of work and $30 is not going to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have 3 kids, 2 are in full time school (k and pre-K) and a 6 week old. I’m on maternity leave for 4 months, and I hired a nanny manager at $30/hr not in DC but in a large metro area a few weeks ago to help with household chores, cooking and kid pickup primarily while on maternity leave as my husband has a long commute, as well as to give me a bit of a break or let me get out of house for an hour or two at times. She is good with the kids. Cooking was a clear priority to me in the interview process but there isn’t a great way to test for that. However, I am finding her to be…sort of strange. I haven’t given her a lot to do- mostly she cleans up the kitchen, folds laundry, tidies up rooms, makes dinner and picks up one kid. I’ve made it clear dinner s the priority. She is on the phone a LOT talking to people, very forgetful and has burned bread multiple times in the oven, etc. but the main thing I’m wondering if is normal is this — I will send her to get a grocery pickup order which is 5 min away and she will be gone for over an hour. She I guess will take that as her lunch and then get groceries when done. This has happened 2-3x in the four week period she’s worked for me. Is that normal?! She is not on baby duty so I guess she thinks she can get everything else I’ve asked her to do done. I’m honestly not confident it will. Her time management is poor.

I’m about ready to look for another candidate, but want to understand if this is normal or if my expectations are too high. She’s being paid $1200 a week right now to do very little so I’m fairly annoyed.

Your Nanny/Manager should be annoyed with you, $30 is way low -try getting one from an agency and you’d see the cost of having a house manager/ Nanny. Pump up her salary and she’d def get things done.

[Anonymous]

But the Nanny Manager accepted the job at that rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But the Nanny Manager accepted the job at that rate.

Right, and she's displaying the work ethic that is comparable to the pay. Higher pay will yield higher quality candidates.

[Anonymous]

problem is that most parents expect their nannies to work without a break when they wouldnt smh shame on you

[Anonymous]

$30 is way too high for someone who behaves this way. The few people on here who say $30 is low are just spamming. Maybe 5-10% of all nannies make more than $30/hr. The rest fall below this threshold.

What ever you tolerate now, will be your norm going forward and you can't fix it. It will be cause for more conflict.

I unfortunately had a nanny like this, she was a great lady but her time management was poor. She would constantly talk on the phone while working or what telemundo while cooking, and I had to talk with her multiple times. Her answer was always that if the kids are not home and I am working then I should be able to talk on the phone or watch my show much as I want. The problem was in 5 hours all she would do was cook a meal and tidy around the playroom. Nothing beyond what I could get done in 1-2 hours.

Needless to say she had to leave as it was clear that she didn't take her job seriously.

[Anonymous]

pp, are you trolling us? Why are you calling your housekeeper and cook a nanny? Nannies do not cook, I am a nanny and all that is required is to warm a pre-made meal in a microwave. And yes, nannies make more than $30, maybe not 100% of them but half of the nannies I know do.

[Anonymous]

OP never said how many hours her nanny manager worked. They never even came back to the thread.