Would reduce your nanny's bonus for this?

[Anonymous]

nannydebsays wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. We are 100% certain this is going on; if we say nothing, it will presumably continue to go on for the next two months.

I haven't spoken with her as of now. Yesterday is a good example of why. She did everything we asked of her: Picked up something I needed that was out of her way before she got the kids from school. Made a big, healthy dinner from scratch for the whole family. Made sure the kids did their homework, practiced their instruments and played a game with them. Tidied the kids' rooms and play area.

It's hard to approach her and have this discussion when, for the most part, she is doing a good job. If she were going to be with us for another year, I absolutely would. Just not sure how it will help when the time remaining is so short.

"Hi nanny. We wanted to talk with you to let you know that we appreciate all the hard work you're doing for our family each day. The fact that your "to do" list is completed nearly 100% of the time is terrific. One thing we do need to discuss is that we have found out that you are scheduling yourself to work for another family during times you have committed to work for us. Is there a particular reason that you are double booking yourself?"

Then I would ask:

"How do you think we should handle this issue? We obviously are not happy that we have been paying you to spend time working for other people, but we value you and the time you have spent with our family and we feel the need to resolve this so that it doesn't negatively impact the last few months you spend with us."

And then take the discussion from there. You aren't attacking her, you are asking a perfectly reasonable question while emphasizing how pleased you have always been with her work ethic, and how sad you are to have found out about the "double billing". If she doesn't need all the time she spends with your family to do the work she has to do, offer to reduce her hours OR increase her work load so that she can stay busy.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She's about to have a baby and is getting all of the money she can. Honestly, it's not the RIGHT thing to do, but I don't think she has evil intentions. She might do the cleaning etc super fast (I mean, you clearly thought she HAS been cleaning for those 2 hours, right?) and then go to another job for a few.

Also, are you 100% certain?

I agree - if she has taken care of all chores you wanted done, and has always been available to your DC when needed, it is not right, but it is not a hanging offense. I suspect if she had been upfront with you about this AND could accomplish what you expected you would have been okay with it at least on a trial basis to start. She is going to go a while without income, and I suspect OP is sensitive to the instinct to hide the nuts before the snow falls.

[Anonymous]

+1.

The deception is not right, but she probably feels that you aren't getting cheated b/c she is doing all that you ask. If she took an extra "break" (liked napped) for 2 hrs more a week nobody would care since she is pregnant...

Did you explicitly say you expected her to come back and clean or whatever during those hours or did you just assume?

Not a nanny BTW

[Anonymous]

My concern is that there is a (small) risk for your child in the after school activity. Ie - if there is an emergency, is this nanny not available to come and get her. I see exactly why you want to wait two months and just take it out of the bonus, but this is putting your young child in a potentially difficult position.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My concern is that there is a (small) risk for your child in the after school activity. Ie - if there is an emergency, is this nanny not available to come and get her. I see exactly why you want to wait two months and just take it out of the bonus, but this is putting your young child in a potentially difficult position.

I don't get what you're talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My concern is that there is a (small) risk for your child in the after school activity. Ie - if there is an emergency, is this nanny not available to come and get her. I see exactly why you want to wait two months and just take it out of the bonus, but this is putting your young child in a potentially difficult position.

I don't get what you're talking about.

If the child in the after school activity becomes ill, persumably MB would ask the nanny to drop the housework and pick up the child. Or the activity could get canceled last minute. Any number of things could happen that would require an adult to come and pick up the child early.

Since the nanny is apparently working elsewhere, she is therefore actually not available to pick up the child early in the event of an emergency. Like I said, its unlikely, but I personally would not want to put my child at risk in this situation. I work 30 mins away from the house/school and cannot get there quickly if needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My concern is that there is a (small) risk for your child in the after school activity. Ie - if there is an emergency, is this nanny not available to come and get her. I see exactly why you want to wait two months and just take it out of the bonus, but this is putting your young child in a potentially difficult position.

I don't get what you're talking about.

If the child in the after school activity becomes ill, persumably MB would ask the nanny to drop the housework and pick up the child. Or the activity could get canceled last minute. Any number of things could happen that would require an adult to come and pick up the child early.

Since the nanny is apparently working elsewhere, she is therefore actually not available to pick up the child early in the event of an emergency. Like I said, its unlikely, but I personally would not want to put my child at risk in this situation. I work 30 mins away from the house/school and cannot get there quickly if needed.

I posted a +1 to nannydeb's post, and stand by it, but I don't think your argument is convincing. If I were double booking one childcare job and one cleaning job, I would go into it with the understanding that I would miss my cleaning job if I was required elsewhere. In no way do I believe this nanny would have (or would now) refuse to pick up a child in an emergency because she was cleaning someone else's house.

[Anonymous]

She is not cleaning for the other family, she is providing childcare. What is she doesn't have any extra car seat and has no way to cart all kids in the case of an emergency.