does anyone pay their nanny a salary as opposed to hourly rate?
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Anonymous
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We have 2 kids in daycare but are considering moving to a nanny for convenience reasons. We would definitely need someone for at least 50 hours/week. I would like to pay a slightly over-market salary in exchange for not having to worry about tracking hours and figuring out overtime, and we would commit to not exceeding a certain number of hours per week, say, 60. We are not trying to cheap out here, quite the contrary. I am interested in paying more to not have to nickel and dime individual hours. Assuming I can get the numbers right to make this appealing for a nanny, do you think one would go for it? I've never heard of it being done this way, but I would think a nanny might appreciate this too. After all, there will be weeks when we're below 50-60 hrs and we would pay vacation of course.
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Anonymous
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I think you should guarantee pay for 50
hours and then keep track of the hours that go over 50. Make sure that the hours over 40 are paid at time and a half. |
Anonymous
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Why not pay her for the 60 hours?
I'd hate it if you were constantly extending my workday without checking with me in advance, as I often have other plans when my commitment for the day is done. |
Anonymous
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For years now I have paid the nanny a weekly, fixed, amount. It is based on an hourly rate (40 hours at x, plus 10 hours at overtime) but it is a fixed amount and it is paid through a payroll service. I don't do a thing - it all happens automatically.
When there has been occasional hours beyond the fixed 50/week we have written her a check for that amount (at overtime rates.) It works quite well. I am sure that if you say you are paying for a guaranteed number of hours weekly but may not always need that full amount, that nannies will be fine with that. It's adding hours often or haphazardly that would be trickier. What you're proposing seems totally fine to me. |
Anonymous
| Thanks, I appreciate the feedback. Part of the idea would be to buy a little flexibility, frankly. I do not want to cheat the nanny, but I also don't want to be sweating 5-10 minutes late because some bozo broke down in the middle of the bridge during my commute. I haven't been thinking about it in terms of paying for 60 hrs when we only need 55, but maybe that's the way to do it. I'm kind of having a hard time with the hourly thing, is all. It's all a bit new to me. |
Anonymous
People in Hell want ice water. Nannies are HOURLY employees and are not, and cannon be, salaried. You can figure out that you pay her for 40 hours, plus 1.5 her HOURLY rate for all hours over 40 and call it a salary. You can also call a dog's tail a fifth leg but it is still a tail. If she works 55 hours one week then you still have to pay her for the extra five hours over her normal 50 hours. Why is this such a difficult concept? |
Anonymous
| We pay our live in a salary for this exact reason. We were very upfront about the hours and the salary. It means some weeks are very busy and some weeks are less busy like any salaried job and I think it works for all of us. She has been working with us for 7 years. |
Anonymous
| You can pay an nanny a salary as long as it is based on the minimum wage and complies with OT rules. All you need to do is work it out based on the hours you need her pay her that amount. For instance if you need her 50 hours a week at an hourly rate of 18/hr it would be as follows: $720 (gross) regular pay plus 10 hours OT $270 = $990/week. |
Anonymous
I am a salaried nanny and have zero complaints about it. I'm making good money, have decent benefits and work 53 hours per week. The parents, however, never alter my schedule. If they get home early - I still stay until 5:30, and they've only been 5-10 minutes late maybe 2 or 3 times in the year. They have only ever dismissed me to leave early once, on Christmas Eve. I don't bitch it though because these are my hours. I get paid regardless so I should be here. It's nice having the exact same amount of money deposited into my account every other Friday. |
nannydebsays
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To avoid any appearance of illegal pay methods if you are ever taken to the state wage and labor board, you MUST pay nanny an hourly wage. It is, however, quite easy to figure out how to do that. -Determine how many hours you want nanny to keep open for your use each week. ****Let's say 60, so that you have the time cushion you want. -Determine your budget for childcare. ****Let's say $75,000/year -Figure out the weekly cost of your budget. ****$1440/week -Take about 15% off the top of that for your share of employment taxes and fees for a nanny tax company. ****1440 - 216 = 1224/week -Divide the weekly gross wage by your total number of needed hours. ****40 at regular rate + 20 at time-and-a-half = 70 hours, divided into 1224 = $17.48/hour, $26.22 OT rate -Guarantee nanny pay for 60 hours a week 52 weeks a year. Write up the wages in your contract as: "Nanny will work from 7 am - 7 pm Monday - Friday, for a total of 60 hours worked per week. Nanny will earn $17.48 for the first 40 hours of work, and $26.22 for the 20 hours of overtime. Nanny is guaranteed her full weekly gross wages of $1223.60 52 weeks of the year as long as she is available to work outside of the 15 days of PTO nanny is given for each employment year." And OP, the easiest way to keep nanny happy is to let her off early on occasion, especially if she is working a 60 hour/week schedule. So if you are home and settled in at 6:30, thank nanny and tell her to have a good night. Oh, and if your childcare budget isn't getting you the quality of nanny candidates you want, push the wage offered up and see if you attract better people. As a disclaimer, even not knowing where you live and what sort of candidate you seek, I would guess $1200+/week will get you some great candidates. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
Why does she live-in? Do you pay her enough to rent a room some else? |
Anonymous
someplace... |
Anonymous
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Why would you want to pay for 60 hours on weeks when your employee only works 50? You say you're not looking to be a cheapskate, but a competitive wage for two kids starts at 18/hour. So with overtime you'd be paying at least $27/hour. Factor in your share of SS/Medicare and that's over $30/hour.
So, are you really prePared to pay an extra $300/week just because calculating a weekly salary is too tedious. You must have a lot of money. I have my nanny record her arrival aNd departure times each day then add it up each week. It's tedious but only takes a few minutes to add. And that way I haVe a record of her time in her own handwriting-- sparing me from any risk of lawsuits. Plus she knows she gets paid for every minuTe she works. |
Anonymous
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Figure out what you're willing to pay for 50 hours, guarantee the 50 hours, and then work backwards from there and figure out what the rate is for straight time and overtime. It doesn't really matter what it is if you're guaranteeing the hours - you'll end up paying the same thing every week anyways.
If 50 hours isn't enough, then figure it out for 53. Will you need weekend help or be going away for trips? Figure out in advance what you'll be paying for that, particularly because it will involve overnights, which is tricky. Our nanny is great, but we've had some issues with the agreed-upon pay for overnights, etc. |