Message
IMO, you should give a simple verbal notice as well as a slightly more detailed notice in writing:
"Dear Bosses,
Please consider this letter my formal one month notice of resignation from my position as <child's name>'s nanny.
I have enjoyed working for you and getting to know your <daughter/son>. Unfortunately, I find that I need a more consistent and predictable work schedule at this time, and I will be returning to daycare work. I look forward to maintaining a relationship with you after I no longer work for you.
Thank you so much for being supportive employers, and I wish you the best in your search for a new nanny.
Sincerely,
Nanny Wants a Better Schedule"
You do need to have something lined up for work that you could start ASAP, since many times inconsiderate employers feel that the concept of a long notice period applies only to the worker, not to the employer.
"Dear Bosses,
Please consider this letter my formal one month notice of resignation from my position as <child's name>'s nanny.
I have enjoyed working for you and getting to know your <daughter/son>. Unfortunately, I find that I need a more consistent and predictable work schedule at this time, and I will be returning to daycare work. I look forward to maintaining a relationship with you after I no longer work for you.
Thank you so much for being supportive employers, and I wish you the best in your search for a new nanny.
Sincerely,
Nanny Wants a Better Schedule"
You do need to have something lined up for work that you could start ASAP, since many times inconsiderate employers feel that the concept of a long notice period applies only to the worker, not to the employer.
It's been 4 years since that post was submitted to ISYN. I wonder how well the crazy beeyotch who wrote it is handling the utter lack of her predictions coming true...
Nanny.org (AKA The International nanny Association) does a salary survey every year, and nannies/agencies work together to put the word out and get as many responses as possible.
The issue is that it is generally a "word of mouth" set of responders, so nannies who aren't in the loop for whatever reason may not see the pleas for responders.
It has it's faults, but is a generally decent guide, just like the Park Slope Parents survey.
The issue is that it is generally a "word of mouth" set of responders, so nannies who aren't in the loop for whatever reason may not see the pleas for responders.
It has it's faults, but is a generally decent guide, just like the Park Slope Parents survey.
From nanny.org, the website of the International Nanny Association:
Parents are also encouraged to carefully consider which nanny care model suits them best when searching for a nanny. There are three main models of nanny care. These include custodial care, coordinated care and surrogate care. All models provide valued contributions to the family and support the parents as they raise their children.
In the custodial care model, the nanny’s role is limited to meeting the children’s physical and emotional needs during their parents’ absence. In this model, the parents manage the children’s day by providing the nanny with specific guidance. A nanny who provides custodial care will not have input into the child’s scheduling or activities and does not have a voice regarding childrearing practices or parenting philosophies.
In the coordinated model of nanny care the nanny’s role is to be a team player in raising the children. Nannies who engage in the coordinated model of care are viewed as true parenting partners. Nannies in this model have a voice when it comes to childrearing practices and parenting philosophies. Their input is not only sought, but highly valued by the parents. These nannies tend to be full charge nannies who are given the freedom to make the day to day decisions regarding the children’s activities and outings.
In the surrogate model of nanny care, the nanny’s role is to be the primary caregiver for the children. In this model of nanny care, the nanny may have limited interaction with her employers and may be left to make many decisions for the children in her care. Nannies who engage in the surrogate model of care may work for parents who travel extensively and require a guardian type of caregiver while they are away from the home.
http://nanny.org/page.aspx?pid=437#type
Parents are also encouraged to carefully consider which nanny care model suits them best when searching for a nanny. There are three main models of nanny care. These include custodial care, coordinated care and surrogate care. All models provide valued contributions to the family and support the parents as they raise their children.
In the custodial care model, the nanny’s role is limited to meeting the children’s physical and emotional needs during their parents’ absence. In this model, the parents manage the children’s day by providing the nanny with specific guidance. A nanny who provides custodial care will not have input into the child’s scheduling or activities and does not have a voice regarding childrearing practices or parenting philosophies.
In the coordinated model of nanny care the nanny’s role is to be a team player in raising the children. Nannies who engage in the coordinated model of care are viewed as true parenting partners. Nannies in this model have a voice when it comes to childrearing practices and parenting philosophies. Their input is not only sought, but highly valued by the parents. These nannies tend to be full charge nannies who are given the freedom to make the day to day decisions regarding the children’s activities and outings.
In the surrogate model of nanny care, the nanny’s role is to be the primary caregiver for the children. In this model of nanny care, the nanny may have limited interaction with her employers and may be left to make many decisions for the children in her care. Nannies who engage in the surrogate model of care may work for parents who travel extensively and require a guardian type of caregiver while they are away from the home.
http://nanny.org/page.aspx?pid=437#type
Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the replies.
Definitely understand that providing benefits is important. The position is not full-time though, and calculating PTO/paid time off could get fairly complicated.
How PT is your position? Unless you only need someone 5 hours a week, you just offer to pay them when THEY are available to work but YOU don't need them, and then if you want to offer them 1 weeks worth of PTO, you can do so easily. If nanny works 20 hours a week, she is allowed 20 hours of PTO for illness or appointments. 30 hours worked per week = 30 hours PTO per year. And so on.
You and she both track the PTO use, and when it's gone it's gone, and she is not paid for tine off SHE takes when YOU need her.
Anonymous wrote:We are going to be hiring a full time nanny/housekeeper early this summer because both our kids will be in school full time. The job will be 50 hours most weeks but I would like to only guarantee 40 hours per week for 52 weeks per year. Is that appropriate?
There are 2 issues with this plan:
1) If you ask your employee to be available for only 40 hours, what will you do when she is NOT available, due to her own plans, for the additional 10 hours a week that you need?
IMO, you are far better off to reserve her time for 50 hours per week if you already KNOW you'll need her that many hours most weeks. Then your N/HK will know her time is reserved for you, and will not make plans that lead to either YOU being angry because she won't work the additional 10 hours you truly need, or HER being angry because you constantly ask her to stay late and she always has plans she winds up canceling.
2) If you are offering a job for 40 hours per week, you'll need to pay a bit more per hour to make your pay generally competitive. That means that when you have to pay OT for your 10 OT hours, IF your employee can work them, your OT rate will be higher.
You are seeking someone fairly rare, a person with the skill set to clean your home AND the skill set to care for your school age kids properly. Most nannies don't choose to be housekeepers, and many housekeepers are either unwilling or unable to be nannies. So you've limited your applicant pool right off the bat. In addition, many people who offer multiple skills to their employers are not willing to even consider wages below a certain level.
Although many people here will argue that "market drives rates", if a job doesn't offer a wage that is considered livable (IOW, could you like on what you want to pay your N/HK?), many candidates will assume you wouldn't offer more to an excellent candidate, and they won't bother responding to your ad. The OT situation plays into it as well here.
Two potential ads for you - which one says "stable job and good pay" to you?
1) Nanny/HK needed, minimum 40 hours/week, with likely OT almost every week. Guaranteed pay rate will range between $450 - $500 per week, based on experience and OT will be paid as needed.
or
2) Nanny/HK needed, guaranteed 50 hours per week. Pay rate will range from $650 - $700 per week DOE.
For ad #1, your straight rate is now maximum $12.50/hour. That means your OT rate is maximum $18.25/hour. Assuming you'll need all that OT 48 weeks of the year, you'll pay N/HK $682.50 48 weeks a year, and $500 4 weeks a year, or a grand total of $34,760/year.
BUT, your candidates will just see $12.50/hour with maybe, possibly, perhaps, some OT. Many household employees don't calculate OT, they just divide pay by hours.
For ad #2, working backwards from $700 for 50 hours, your straight rate is $12.72/hour and your OT rate is $19.08. That means you'll pay a grand total of $36,400/year.
BUT, your candidates will see a job at $14/hour.
So for an additional $1640 per year, you get all the hours you truly need without angst about nanny having other plans AND you get candidates who wouldn't reply to ad #1 applying to ad#2.
I wonder why anyone would want a job that doesn't offer them any PTO? When would they go take care of appointments that can't be done on weekends? What would they do if they were too ill to work?
Just doesn't make much sense to me...
Just doesn't make much sense to me...
Anonymous wrote:nannydebsays wrote:I would consider calling 911 the bare minimum response to an extreme emergency. If a child is choking on something and stops breathing, the "warm body" can call 911 and wait until someone arrives. Someone with CPR/First Aid training will know how to try to help the child until paramedics/firefighters arrive. That might mean the difference between severe brain damage due to oxygen deprivation and a traumatized child who will recover fully.
Good point. Now, how long does it take of a lay person to get a CPR/First Aid training? 1 year of full-time training? a degree in CPR?
Or... just a few evening classes?
I rest my case.
Well, it takes me 8 hours or so every 2 years. I am not sure what your point is, so could you elaborate before you rest?
OP, in many situations (especially with nannies who martyr constantly as you described in your post), the employers set low expectations in the initial contract. (Care for kids, do kid laundry, pick up toys, feed kids prepared meals)
Then the employers started adding little tiny tasks to the nanny's day. (Vacuum, run errands, stay late once a week...) but didn't actually ASK nanny if she were willing to do those things, or offer to pay more for the additional work.
If that trend continues, many nannies get aggravated, and start to complain about how horrid their employers are as parents...because the employers have made nanny think they can't manage without her and loaded her down with work she never expected to be doing when she agreed to work for them.
Disrespectful employers = disrespectful and whiny nanny who feels beaten down and therefore tries to make herself feel better by constantly discussing how she goes above and beyond.
OTOH, respectful employers (who don't expect their nanny to constantly be "flexible" about when her work day ends) take the contract seriously, and don't start out with bare minimum duties, figuring to add stuff in each week. They know what they want nanny to do, and nanny knows they won't begin adding stuff to her list.
That nanny may also have complaints (because NO ONE loves their job 100% of the time) but she feels respected and valued. Therefore, she is willing to take the occasional extra duty on, without additional pay, figuring that her willingness to help out will be noted and will benefit her at raise time.
Respectful employers = respectful nanny who doesn't feel the need to flog her importance all over the place.
Then the employers started adding little tiny tasks to the nanny's day. (Vacuum, run errands, stay late once a week...) but didn't actually ASK nanny if she were willing to do those things, or offer to pay more for the additional work.
If that trend continues, many nannies get aggravated, and start to complain about how horrid their employers are as parents...because the employers have made nanny think they can't manage without her and loaded her down with work she never expected to be doing when she agreed to work for them.
Disrespectful employers = disrespectful and whiny nanny who feels beaten down and therefore tries to make herself feel better by constantly discussing how she goes above and beyond.
OTOH, respectful employers (who don't expect their nanny to constantly be "flexible" about when her work day ends) take the contract seriously, and don't start out with bare minimum duties, figuring to add stuff in each week. They know what they want nanny to do, and nanny knows they won't begin adding stuff to her list.
That nanny may also have complaints (because NO ONE loves their job 100% of the time) but she feels respected and valued. Therefore, she is willing to take the occasional extra duty on, without additional pay, figuring that her willingness to help out will be noted and will benefit her at raise time.
Respectful employers = respectful nanny who doesn't feel the need to flog her importance all over the place.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:It always depends on what you want. Some people are happy with a 'warm body' and a smile. Others want someone who would instantly know what to do in the most extreme emergency.
Call 911? Otherwise you are talking about either a paramedic/firefighter or emergency room physician.
"Warm bodies" may or may not speak decent English, may or may not know infant/child CPR and First Aid, may or may not have a clue about illness in infants and toddlers.
I would consider calling 911 the bare minimum response to an extreme emergency. If a child is choking on something and stops breathing, the "warm body" can call 911 and wait until someone arrives. Someone with CPR/First Aid training will know how to try to help the child until paramedics/firefighters arrive. That might mean the difference between severe brain damage due to oxygen deprivation and a traumatized child who will recover fully.
It sounds as if you've found a lot of bad apples. Maybe the people recommending these women aren't aware of how a professional behaves?
Anonymous wrote:If I were in your position here's what I would do. "Thank you for your honesty; I really appreciate it. The reality is, it's my job to take care of you when I'm here. If you want limited contact with me, I will try to respect your wishes, as long as you are staying safe and doing everything you're supposed to. If we're ever doing something that intrigues you and you'd like to join us, or you need help with anything, please know you have an open invitation to do so. Deal?"
Then I'd give him his space. Once or twice a week I'd invite him to "help bake cookies" or "make a Valentine's Day card for Mom" but would respect when he says no thank you as long as he says it politely.
This is absolutely the right approach. Brilliant!
PP, what top priority event might happen to necessitate answering your phone in a check out line?
I mean, dying relatives and urgent medical issues aside, I can't really think of much that couldn't be handled in 5 minutes after retrieving a vm.
I mean, dying relatives and urgent medical issues aside, I can't really think of much that couldn't be handled in 5 minutes after retrieving a vm.
Nanny has bills to pay 52 weeks per year. If you choose to not use her services when she is available, you need to pay her anyhow. IOW, if you CHOOSE to be out of town 4 weeks of the year, then you still pay your nanny for those weeks.
It is also not unreasonable to mandate that nanny takes her vacation when you take yours, especially if an employer will be taking 4 or more weeks off each year. I'd suggest giving a nanny at least 2 months notice of planned time off in this case, so she can make plans of her own.
It is also not unreasonable to mandate that nanny takes her vacation when you take yours, especially if an employer will be taking 4 or more weeks off each year. I'd suggest giving a nanny at least 2 months notice of planned time off in this case, so she can make plans of her own.
Anonymous wrote:PP here. This is really frustrating. OP asked a question that I'd really like to know the answer to and this just devolved into useless drivel.
The question is how to deal with the PAY of a nanny when you have two kids, but she's only caring for two on a limited basis.
OP, we are going to be doing this in the fall. The answer is obviously NOT that you pay for two and suck it up. That's ridiculous. I also think it's kind of silly to say that it's too complicated to do hourly rate. Our current nanny watches my some part time and if he's sick and stays home, I see if she can stay all day (completely within her discretion). If she says yes, then I add her extra hours to the payroll. How is that hard?? Similarly, if my older son is home because no school or sick, then I add the extra to her payroll!! I just don't see the problem with this.
Anyway, what we are planning to do is tell her that there is a weekly rate and show her the math on what that rate is based on (letting her know that any additional hours with more than one child will result in an increase of that week's rate). For US it looks like this:
40 hours a week of infant care, 16 hours of those 40 include toddler care. SO we do 24 hours a week at $16/hour ($384) and 16 hours a week at $22/hour ($352/hr). So that's $736 per week, or $2944/month. We would tell her that is what we're paying her and then if the toddler is home, we add the extra $6/hour to each hour that she has them both. We pay a payroll service so this is incredibly easy for us to manage.
I would love to hear some more real responses to this rather than the crap that tends to come from nanny forums, but maybe expecting too much here.
I have a few questions for you.
Has this nanny been with you for a year or more? If so, are you manipulating her hourly rate to make sure she continues to get the same paycheck as she gets currently starting in the fall or will she be taking a pay cut?
IOW, does nanny currently make $22/hour for 40 hours ($880/week), and you plan to reduce her pay to $736/week, or does she currently make $736/week and will simply make the same based on different math? (BTW, the $736/week means a monthly rate of 4.3 x $736, or $3164.80/month. Paying her for 4 weeks/month means you will short her on 4 weeks of pay per year.)
If you will be keeping the pay the same, then more power to you, and I hope your nanny is content with your solution. But if you are cutting her weekly pay by nearly 21%, I'm willing to bet that you'll be seeking a new nanny as soon as she finds a new job.
As for real solutions, there are a few.
1) Assume that more often than not nanny will be responsible for both kids, and continue to pay her the same amount and give her raises as appropriate, until all of your kids are in at least half day school 5 days a week, then renegotiate expectations.
2) Decide that you will no longer be giving nanny raises, since she will have fewer responsibilities with an older child in school 6 or more hours a week.
3) Decide that you will be cutting nanny's pay for all hours she does not physically have charge of the child who attends school.
4) Fire nanny and hire someone new at a lower rate.
Of course, all of these solutions come with their own issues:
1) You feel resentful that you are continuing to pay nanny the same wage for 6 or so hours with one fewer kid, and you start to try to get her to quit so you can save money.
2) Nanny resents your belief that her job has become "easier", and eventually quits.
3) Nanny can no longer afford to pay her bills, and eventually quits.
4) You wind up cutting the new nanny's pay once the 2nd kid starts school, and then you cycle through the craziness all over again every few years.
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