Raise for Second Child?
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Anonymous
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I am returning to work and asking our nanny to watch our five-month-old as well as our 4 year old. However the 4 year old will be at school or camp for most of the day most days, until 3:30 everyday.
We had been paying her $17 an hour for one child and she did the laundry and helped with some meals. Now I think I am going to offer her $20 an hour and want to make sure that's fair. While our eldest will mostly not be there we figure the extra $3 an hour could be counted towards laundry and cooking meals a couple times a week. Is this fair? |
Anonymous
| I think it's too much. $18 an hour is plenty. |
Anonymous
NP. Then I have a job for you. Deal? |
Anonymous
Thanks but I already have a job. |
Anonymous
| That does seem like a very large raise - do you have the ability to continue to give her raises and bonuses if you bump her that much? Great if you do, but I also think it's a little more than necessary, though generous. I might do $19/hr, knowing that I could still bump another dollar at her anniversary, or have a cushion for bonuses etc... But it really depends on how concerned you need to be about the dollars. |
Anonymous
| I would bump her up $1 more per hour. Your offer is generous, but you would be paying too much. |
Anonymous
| NP. That's a very generous increase, especially considering that she will still be caring for one child most of the time. If you can swing it and still afford to give her annual increases in the future, great. She'll likely be thrilled. Personally, I would bump her up to $18.50. |
Anonymous
Why does a nanny need bonuses? As the kids get older the work gets easier. Most nannies don't expect bonuses or pay increases and 99% of nannies would never consider quitting just because they didn't get a dollar an hour raise. MBs who read this forum and think it is common place to give your nannies raises please reconsider because most of these posters on here do not live in the real world. |
Anonymous
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You are right, OP - $20 an hour for two children is appropriate. Your four year old will be in school less often than you think - it is shocking how many school holidays, teacher conference days and sick days a preschool/kindergarten has!!! Plus the nanny, I assume, will now be doing at least the pick-ups from school with a four month old in tow. Your four year old will still be wearing clothes, still need his laundry done and room cleaned, and still need to eat.
I honestly do not know why people (not you OP - you seem to get it) think that everything is so much easier once a child starts school. I'd rather have two children home with me where I can control their schedules than the juggling that is involved with school pick-ups in the dead of winter. |
Anonymous
Child gone for 6 or 7 hours vs. Having to spend 30 minutes picking them up from school .... hmmmmmm |
Anonymous
With a months old baby after the winter we had last year... hmmmmmmmmm Unless the four-year-old never has a school holiday to gets sick and needs to be home and can make his own meals and do his own laundry - the work load is basically the same if you are doing your job correctly. |
Anonymous
SAHM here and I never saw a great reduction in work when my then three-year-old went to preschool and I had a baby at home. It is really a pain getting them ready, snacks packed and in the car to get the older child to school at the assigned drop off time. Nearly every day the baby's schedule would be disrupted by my preschooler's school schedule (falling asleep in the car and thus not getting his full morning nap, having to wake him from a nap to pick up older child, cutting nursing sessions short because we had to get into the car, etc.) And older child had more laundry after he started preschool than before - preschool is messy and potty schedules weren't strictly enforced. The extra time I did have when older child was in school was 100% devoted to the baby. |
Anonymous
A global $3 an hour raise incase the 4 year old is ever sick or home from school is pretty dumb. On those occasions when both children need care you could pay at the higher rate or give a bonus, but theres no reason to give a $3 an hour raise for 8-10 hours a day every day. Wake up. |
Anonymous
MB you're responding to here. I want to be able to offer our nanny annual increases and bonuses. I appreciate receiving those things in my workplace, and it helps motivate me to stay in my job, do my best, feel appreciated, etc... Why wouldn't a nanny - especially one that we value and hope will want to stay with us for several years - not deserve the same? Our nanny is terrific and compensation is one way we can demonstrate our appreciation. |
nannydebsays
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OP, if you adore your nanny, and you want to show your appreciation for a job well done AND a $3/hour raise will still allow you to offer additional raises over time, and bonuses if you wish, you should absolutely do exactly that. $3/hour is a little more than $150/week, or a little more than $7800/year.
Not knowing your nanny's personal skill set, her level of experience, or anything else, it's impossible to correctly gauge what the "right" new baby raise might be, but if you have a nanny you want to keep, a terrific raise helps. And to the SAHM at 9:52 - exactly! There is no decrease in work with an additional infant when the older child heads to school. The older kid still needs clean clothes, food to eat, activities to do after school, and so on, and the baby needs to be on some sort of schedule that fits around the older child's needs. It becomes way more of a juggling act. |