Question for nannies who do more than "light housekeeping"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm not PP, but I too would not appreciate being asked to do housekeeping. Not because it is housekeeping (I clean my own house after all), but because to me that is not within the scope of my job. I would be similarly offended if my boss asked me to do their taxes, fix their sink, or take their phone calls; it simply isn't within the scope of the job I signed up for. Now I'm sure some genius will pop in and say that the job is whatever the boss defines it as, and of course it is to an extent, but it isn't good management to drastically change the definition and scope of someone's position and expect to retain good employees. If your boss hired you to do your job, and you agreed to it and are perfectly comfortable doing tasks generally within that realm, I'm sure you wouldn't appreciate them coming to you and saying "our needs have changed a bit and what really I need now is a butt wiper/whatever you used to be."

All of that being said, I have no desire to sit around and stare at your walls for 8 hours a week, and have you resent me for it. I would appreciate my employer coming to me with their concerns and having a discussion about how we can make those hours productive. I think at the very least she can take on kid laundry now, and maybe she has things that she enjoys doing and wouldn't mind taking on for you. I love to cook, and don't see it as work. I would be happy to prepare dinner for the family on mornings I had no children.

You are contradicting yourself. You say you won't agree to housekeeping not because it's beneath you, but because it's "not within the scope of your job."

But in the second paragraph, you say you wouldn't mind taking on OTHER things that are also clearly not within the scope of your job, yet still enjoyable or at least not disagreeable to you - like cooking. So it's not that you object to things outside the scope of your job. It's that you want to participate in deciding WHAT things outside the scope of your job you will take on. Some of them - like cleaning - you won't. Others - like cooking - you might. Don't pretend it's about "not within the sc
ope of my job". It's about things you like vs. things you don't like. It's about your personal preference, not the principle of job scope.

Don't be so asinine. Of course the nanny will tell you what SHE might enjoy doing. If you don't like her established job scope, that nanny door goes a swinging. Next, please. Never mind your poor child. Nanny needs to keep busy with your toilet scrubbing or whatever you feel like, or else.

No, I don't think so. Next....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Don't be so asinine. Of course the nanny will tell you what SHE might enjoy doing. If you don't like her established job scope, that nanny door goes a swinging. Next, please. Never mind your poor child. Nanny needs to keep busy with your toilet scrubbing or whatever you feel like, or else.

No, I don't think so. Next....

Did you even read before posting? The nanny said she wouldn't do things outside her job scope. Unless she personally enjoys them, that is. To me, that's hypocritical. Either use "job scope" for everything, or "personal preference" for everything. Cooking isn't within job scope either, yet that poster would do it willingly. Why?

And you know, everyone is laughing at your never-stopping campaign for job security using the big scary "severed attachment". A child who is in freaking kindergarten already is well beyond the age where the change in caregivers would do any damage. Actually, the change in caregivers does little damage at any age, as long as caregivers are good. Change is a part of life. If the nanny gets a better offer or decides to stop nannying, she will go in a minute, and no severed attachments myths would keep her at a job if that job no longer fits with her vision of what's best for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm not PP, but I too would not appreciate being asked to do housekeeping. Not because it is housekeeping (I clean my own house after all), but because to me that is not within the scope of my job. I would be similarly offended if my boss asked me to do their taxes, fix their sink, or take their phone calls; it simply isn't within the scope of the job I signed up for. Now I'm sure some genius will pop in and say that the job is whatever the boss defines it as, and of course it is to an extent, but it isn't good management to drastically change the definition and scope of someone's position and expect to retain good employees. If your boss hired you to do your job, and you agreed to it and are perfectly comfortable doing tasks generally within that realm, I'm sure you wouldn't appreciate them coming to you and saying "our needs have changed a bit and what really I need now is a butt wiper/whatever you used to be."

All of that being said, I have no desire to sit around and stare at your walls for 8 hours a week, and have you resent me for it. I would appreciate my employer coming to me with their concerns and having a discussion about how we can make those hours productive. I think at the very least she can take on kid laundry now, and maybe she has things that she enjoys doing and wouldn't mind taking on for you. I love to cook, and don't see it as work. I would be happy to prepare dinner for the family on mornings I had no children.

You are contradicting yourself. You say you won't agree to housekeeping not because it's beneath you, but because it's "not within the scope of your job."

But in the second paragraph, you say you wouldn't mind taking on OTHER things that are also clearly not within the scope of your job, yet still enjoyable or at least not disagreeable to you - like cooking. So it's not that you object to things outside the scope of your job. It's that you want to participate in deciding WHAT things outside the scope of your job you will take on. Some of them - like cleaning - you won't. Others - like cooking - you might. Don't pretend it's about "not within the scope of my job". It's about things you like vs. things you don't like. It's about your personal preference, not the principle of job scope.

I'm the poster that you re responding to, and I disagree that it is a contradiction. I think the meaningful difference in the two scenarios tht I described are that one would be the employer asking the employee to step outside the scope of their job, which to me is inappropriate. To unilaterally make significant changes to the definition of the position may be your right as an employer but it is not a good way to keep good employees. The second scenario, in which I would be willing to step out of the scope of the previously defined job, is one in which the employer includes the employee in the conversation. If my employer came to me with their issues, seeking a mutually beneficial and satisfactory solution, I would work with them in that pursuit. This MB would like to make the child free hours productive. Some nannies are comfortable with certain tasks while others are not. Cooking would be the first solution that I would offer after any child related tasks. Yes it is outside the scope of the job but I've volunteered it, not been dictated to, and we would now have a situation that we are both happy with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nanny here - Asking her to clean your house and do your laundry is not okay. BUT!!! You can ask her to do many other things. I've been with my nanny family almost 8 years and things have changed over the years. I do kids laundry, easy errands (post office, dry earners, target), grocery shopping, organization, dishwasher and sweeping kids areas. If your nanny won't do any of those, get a new nanny because those are reasonable duties. Do not ask her to clean your house or do YOUR laundry.

Why not? I pay someone by the hr to care for my kids or my house (not both at once though).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nanny here - Asking her to clean your house and do your laundry is not okay. BUT!!! You can ask her to do many other things. I've been with my nanny family almost 8 years and things have changed over the years. I do kids laundry, easy errands (post office, dry earners, target), grocery shopping, organization, dishwasher and sweeping kids areas. If your nanny won't do any of those, get a new nanny because those are reasonable duties. Do not ask her to clean your house or do YOUR laundry.

Why not? I pay someone by the hr to care for my kids or my house (not both at once though).

You may hire anyone you want, but that one ain't a nanny.