Yes $100-$200 is absoloutely fine.. Infact In real life I rarely see a nanny get over 1 week as a bonus.

OP,
Not all nannies expect yearly raises or costly bonuses. I do think that a cash bonus and a heartfelt card is better than a "thoughtful gift" that might not be exactly what she would like. But the amount you listed would be acceptable to most reasonable nannies. I would have a meeting where you discuss a raise versus more vacation time versus something else. I would be up front about what you can afford and let her know how much you appreciate her.

Anonymous wrote:What is 'market' ? Really I know families with excellent nannies and they pay them less than $10 per hour and the nannies are happy and have been with them for years. Then to come here and see hourly rates constituting an annual salary of about 40K...I dont understand how to evaluate a nanny and rank their salaries.

Troll. Please stop posting this everywhere.

What is 'market' ? Really I know families with excellent nannies and they pay them less than $10 per hour and the nannies are happy and have been with them for years. Then to come here and see hourly rates constituting an annual salary of about 40K...I dont understand how to evaluate a nanny and rank their salaries.

"This is exhibit A as to why you should not start out at above market. "

it is really crazy that the standard expectation is that a nanny should get a raise every single year. So that means that a smart family needs to budget considerably below what they could afford to pay her so that they make sure to allow for raises over time. In the end, nanny probably makes less overall than she would have if she'd started higher but not get constant raises.

A $50-$100 bonus is more than appropriate for the 1st year of employment. I would hold off on a raise until next year or so. It is not necessary to give an annual raise. Even Fed workers did not get a cost of living increase last year. it is not mean it is practical. you do not want to begin resenting the nanny because you know that you can hire someone for less.

A personal, heartfelt gift will carry some weight, but only if it's something you ABSOLUTELY KNOW she wants/needs. Personally, I hate getting an expensive gift that isn't quite right for me for whatever reason, and knowing all the better things that money could have gone towards.

As for the yearly raise, is it possible that changes to her benefits package might be easier to swing financially? Perhaps making that extra week of PTO permanent, or paying for health care, or adding her phone to your plan, etc? Things that you might have the flexibility to do easily and more cheaply than your nanny would be able to.

This is exhibit A as to why you should not start out at above market.

Unfortunately you started your nanny on the higher end of the pay scale and of what you can afford. Hopefully, she understands this and will accept smaller bonuses and raises, but she may not. Whatever you do, make sure you verbally and wholeheartedly express your gratitude for her contribution to your family.

We have a PT nanny who started working for us in January of this year. We par her $17 an hour for 2 kids, have given 2 weeks paid vacation (plus paid days off here and there--federal holidays if they fall on one of her work days, and days when we haven't needed her due to visiting relatives, etc), plus recently gave her an additional paid week off since she went pretty much the full year without taking a sick day. We like her very much and feel like she does a great job with the kids. In general, I feel like this is a pretty good package--but am wondering what to do about the holiday bonus and also about a one-year raise. We will definitely give her a bonus of some kind but I have real questions about whether or not we can afford 1-2 weeks pay--we were thinking more in the range of $100-200. Also, I think we could afford to give her a raise to $17.50 but I have no idea if we'll be able to give her a raise every year and I hope that she'll work for us for a long time to come--at least a couple more years.
I'm wondering--
1. Does a personal, thoughtful gift carry any weight or would we be better off giving her as large a bonus as we can afford?
2. Is it expected that we offer a raise after one year? Is a 3% adjustment considered fair and/or does it match up with the going rate?
We do have a contract which doesn't address raises or bonuses, but since it's coming up on a year we will be sitting down to look over her contract pretty soon.
Thanks for any guidance!