Anonymous wrote:And isn't the today show filed in NYC? of course their bonus is huge is NYC. Everything is mos expensive there!

Give your nanny what you can afford. And also write her a really thoughtful thank you card from your heart. I'm a center director and I love the cards from parents thanking me for specific things, whether it's how I run the center, how much I made a difference in their lives or in their child's, or sharing something the child has said about me. And I read those when things are tough so i can remember the good things. So make sure you do that in addition to whatever monetary amount you give her.

Anonymous wrote:employer here...I HATE seeing the whole "one weeks pay for a bonus" because we cannot afford to do that. I really want to shower my nanny with gifts and bonuses as much as possible because she's so wonderful, but we have a nanny because we've never gotten in to a day care spot and it turns out that we just love her and how much my child is thriving with her.

We're giving her what we can afford - neither my husband nor myself receive a bonus at all during the year (both fed employees) and have faced pay cuts and recovering from losing pay while I was out on "maternity leave".

While a weeks pay might be standard (I've never received anything like that at any job!), I really hate that I can't provide this for her. It bums me out

Anonymous wrote:
Your financial problems are not your nanny's problem. She puts up with cheap parents and does a fantastic job taking care of your kids. You cannot give her a measley week's salary, you cannot afford a nanny. Cheapskates like you are nothing but pigs. I hope she finds anothet job with someone who appreciates her and can afford to give her a decent bonus. Hell. I'd Go without something for myself to give my employees a bonus.

I am not a nanny.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

nannydebsays wrote:Good Lord. OP, a bonus is just that, an additional amount of money for doing an exceptional job. As a nanny, nannies who expect bonuses and/or try to play the "I'll leave if my bonus isn't X..." game with their employers PISS ME OFF.

Give your nanny what you can. Many nannies don't get bonuses at all.

And, in all honesty, if you are stretching so much to afford your nanny you might want to seriously look into a FT nanny share.

Thanks - we tried for a FT share and it was very difficult because our nanny has pretty set/strict hours. It's rare in DC (actual DC not the burbs) that a family needs 8 hours a day of care. We had trouble, and our nanny was fine with a pt share. It works great for all of us. We're stretched to the point of $500-$700 is a lot. We have savings for emergencies. I honestly don't think a bonus is an emergency. However, maybe since we haven't had her for a full year, we can give her a bonus at "annual review" time to make up for not being able to pay her what seems to be expected by nannies in this area at holiday time. That will give us time to save money for that bonus.

More nonsense.

If you're not a troll you're exceedingly clueless. What a mess.

This. The only place I've ever heard this "standard bonus" nonsense is on this forum. We have never given a week's bonus and our nanny has been with us for almost five years.

Most professions cut bonuses years ago.