Reply to Nanny Understands Pay?

Forum Index » Employer Issues

Reply to "Nanny Understands Pay?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Advice Please: 
I have a 60+ nanny who is legal but does not drive, speaks only a little English and has about 15 years of nanny experience. She has been with us in DC for 2.5 years and cares for a 3yo and 1yo, 42 hours a week, the 3yo is in preschool 3 days a week and she helps with light housekeeping. Four weeks paid vacation (taken all at one time) and 5 sick days. We have family come and visit a lot and so this year she will have had a total of 48 days paid off (even more days off last year). She is [b]net[/b] $17.50 per hour ($750/week), 20+ pocket money per week, plus one week bonus pay. 
I really try and make her feel like part of our family, usually I have breakfast made for us all when she arrives and we eat together with the kids, I listen to her problems, any time she needs to leave early or come in late, I make arrangements so we can accommodate her without reducing her pay, etc. 
The problem is that I am really getting the feeling that she thinks that we are not paying her enough. She [i]frequently[/i] talks about nanny friends who "make much more" than she does and other families who are "offering very good salaries". I think that with the time off, the pay and the fact that she has a lot of flexibility, our pay is competitive. If you asked her-- I know that she would say that she loves our kids and loves working with us-- but I also think that she believes that she is doing US a favor. 
Question 1-- Am I right? Are we competitive?
Question 2-- If so- how do I help her understand that she is incorrect in believing that everyone else is making more than she is and that there are a ton of other employers out there looking to pay more?
I want us both to be happy where we are and I want her to feel appreciated but I know that we really can't afford a higher salary. 
Thanks in advance.[/quote]

I think you are very competitive with you pay AND with your vacation and sick days. Has she been at this rate since the beginning (2.5 yrs ago) or has she had raises since then? If she started at that rate and has not has a raise, she count be hinting that she expects a raise after all that time. I do think that her rate is very good since you mention it is NET and not GROSS. Then the amount of Vacation you had been doing was actually twice as much as needed, and this year even more. I think that the extra vacation is fine if doing that instead of a raise, but she might not be realizing that. I would add up how much extra vacation it is and the rate she would be making if actually working that amount of time, and add it to her rate to show what kind of "raise" it is. She also might forget that 2 weeks is standard, and so not counting federal holidays, show her that other (maybe 40-42 days?) off has been almost 6 weeks!!! Not sure if some of that has been sick days used or not, so that means 5-6 weeks of vacation other than federal holidays. When comparing that to 2 weeks, if she can't see how great she has it, then I would have some real concern about her judgment. Some people would rather have more pay (and work) than extra paid time off though, so maybe she is one of these. If so, then this is not the job for her. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics