Advice on letting Nanny go

[Selexys]

I’m in a little bit of a predicament. We just found out last Friday that my LO (3 y.o.) was accepted into a prestigious preschool that we’ve been on the waitlist for, for a while. However, they want her to start at the beginning of January. We were always planning for our caregiver needs to change once she got into preschool, but we were hoping for some more lead time so that our nanny had ample opportunity to find a new position with a different family. This leaves us with letting our nanny go with 2.5 weeks notice and it’s during the holidays.

She has been with us for 2 years and has been wonderful with our child. The last 6 months though, it appears she has become less engaged and almost unhappy in her position. She was running late for a stretch of time that was remedied once we brought it up, but her attitude has been very apathetic towards us and slightly less so with our child. We hear great things from other families who see our nanny out and about with our child. Things such as she plays very well with her and isn’t on her phone very much. But when she is at home with our child, I notice she is on her phone more and isn’t as engaging as I would prefer.

Now these are all nuances that aren’t the reason we are letting her go. But I wanted to give some insight on how she has been these last six months in order to tailor how I should give her notice at the end of this week. So all in all, I’m looking for advice on how to do this as kindly and gently as possible as I know it’s a really crappy time with not a ton of notice (would have preferred a month) and it being during the holidays.

Thank you all for your help!

P.S. We do not have a contract with our nanny as she preferred to not have one. It was discussed during the interview and it was her choice. Our prior nanny’s have all had contracts in place. This is why it’s a bit of a grey area for us.

[Anonymous]

You give her the 2.5 weeks notice, and you give her whatever severance you were going to give her (I think 1-2 weeks per year of service is typical, so 2-4 weeks) PLUS the extra week and a half pay so it's the equivalent of 4 weeks notice. So let's say you would have given 3 weeks severance - you give 4.5 week's severance. And offer to post a recommendation for her on your neighborhood listserv.

The other stuff isn't relevant - it's not why you're letting her go.

[Anonymous]

I’m not sure you would even add the other stuff if you clearly employed her for 2yrs. Is it to make yourself feel better for letting her go? I get a nanny is not forever. But I would’ve told my nanny we were on a waitlist so she would at least know it was coming. I agree with the above poster. Pay her the two weeks severance so she is good for a month. Next time have a contract so there are no grey areas . That was a bad on both parties

[Anonymous]

Don’t forget to addd her Christmas bonus as welll

[Anonymous]

Agree with PPs. You can pay her for4-6 weeks even if you don’t need her for that long.

I’m curious what makes a 3 yo preschool prestigious? Is the play doh better quality?

[Anonymous]

Assuming your Nanny knew that your child was on a waitlist for preschool - - I am sure she will fully understand if you need to let her go now since it is beyond your control that he got in a little earlier than you had initially thought.
I highly doubt she will blame you.

That being said, can you let her know right now (vs. the end of next wk.) that your child will be starting preschool the beginning of next month?
Because the more notice that she receives > the better it will be for her to secure a new family to work for.
I would let her know stat.

Do you have any idea why she may be less enthused about working w/your family these past six mos.??
Could it have anything to do w/her pay scale or household duties??

Regardless it might be a good idea to show her how much you appreciate all she has done for your family w/a nice Christmas bonus and/or severance payment.

Wishing you all the best!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure you would even add the other stuff if you clearly employed her for 2yrs. Is it to make yourself feel better for letting her go? I get a nanny is not forever. But I would’ve told my nanny we were on a waitlist so she would at least know it was coming. I agree with the above poster. Pay her the two weeks severance so she is good for a month. Next time have a contract so there are no grey areas . That was a bad on both parties

+1
I also do not see why you told us that your nanny seemed less engaged with your child these last 6 months and that she was engaged on her phone a lot more, etc.
Is the reason because you feel bad about letting her go with such short notice and wanted to feel justified in doing so?
I find this to be a tad bit odd.

[Anonymous]

Pay her a Christmas bonus and a full month extra. This doesn’t seem complicated.

[Anonymous]

Can your nanny keep working for a little longer thru Jan to smooth the transition to preschool? That will give her a longer notice period.

[Anonymous]

Full month plus bonus would be about $5-6K so that is nonsense. Xmas bonus yes but no one pays full month extra

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pay her a Christmas bonus and a full month extra. This doesn’t seem complicated.

Unless OP's employer is one of the Kardashians, this has to be sarcasm, right?