OP, you haven't responded to the issue multiple PPs have pointed out. How will you feel when your nanny/housekeeper is not always available for the extra 10 hours/week that you need but aren't willing to guarantee?

Guaranteed hours are a great benefit but this is a perk that is not offered at all jobs. OP- offering a minimum guarantee is fine. Its a negotiated perk and doesn't have to equal the weekly gross/schedule. You just want to make sure that you do in terms of gross amount not "hours" to avoid the average vs base/OT issue.

I have a friend who does this because they travel 4 weeks out of the year. She offers 1/3 weekly gross on those weeks that she doesn't need the nanny. I'm sure that nannydeb will tell you to offer 100% plus a few mini spa days thrown in and plane fare in case the nanny wants to travel but my friend had no problem finding nannies to take this job.

Anonymous wrote:We are going to be hiring a full time nanny/housekeeper early this summer because both our kids will be in school full time. The job will be 50 hours most weeks but I would like to only guarantee 40 hours per week for 52 weeks per year. Is that appropriate?

There are 2 issues with this plan:

1) If you ask your employee to be available for only 40 hours, what will you do when she is NOT available, due to her own plans, for the additional 10 hours a week that you need?

IMO, you are far better off to reserve her time for 50 hours per week if you already KNOW you'll need her that many hours most weeks. Then your N/HK will know her time is reserved for you, and will not make plans that lead to either YOU being angry because she won't work the additional 10 hours you truly need, or HER being angry because you constantly ask her to stay late and she always has plans she winds up canceling.

2) If you are offering a job for 40 hours per week, you'll need to pay a bit more per hour to make your pay generally competitive. That means that when you have to pay OT for your 10 OT hours, IF your employee can work them, your OT rate will be higher.

You are seeking someone fairly rare, a person with the skill set to clean your home AND the skill set to care for your school age kids properly. Most nannies don't choose to be housekeepers, and many housekeepers are either unwilling or unable to be nannies. So you've limited your applicant pool right off the bat. In addition, many people who offer multiple skills to their employers are not willing to even consider wages below a certain level.

Although many people here will argue that "market drives rates", if a job doesn't offer a wage that is considered livable (IOW, could you like on what you want to pay your N/HK?), many candidates will assume you wouldn't offer more to an excellent candidate, and they won't bother responding to your ad. The OT situation plays into it as well here.

Two potential ads for you - which one says "stable job and good pay" to you?

1) Nanny/HK needed, minimum 40 hours/week, with likely OT almost every week. Guaranteed pay rate will range between $450 - $500 per week, based on experience and OT will be paid as needed.

or

2) Nanny/HK needed, guaranteed 50 hours per week. Pay rate will range from $650 - $700 per week DOE.

For ad #1, your straight rate is now maximum $12.50/hour. That means your OT rate is maximum $18.25/hour. Assuming you'll need all that OT 48 weeks of the year, you'll pay N/HK $682.50 48 weeks a year, and $500 4 weeks a year, or a grand total of $34,760/year.

BUT, your candidates will just see $12.50/hour with maybe, possibly, perhaps, some OT. Many household employees don't calculate OT, they just divide pay by hours.

For ad #2, working backwards from $700 for 50 hours, your straight rate is $12.72/hour and your OT rate is $19.08. That means you'll pay a grand total of $36,400/year.

BUT, your candidates will see a job at $14/hour.

So for an additional $1640 per year, you get all the hours you truly need without angst about nanny having other plans AND you get candidates who wouldn't reply to ad #1 applying to ad#2.

Anonymous wrote:

If you guarentee 50 hours, you can pick a reasonable weekly salary and calculate the base and OT rate. If you guarentee a reasonable rate for 40 hours, you are likely to need to guarentee the same base rate as your average rate would otherwise be. That's makes your OT rate significantly higher.

This isn't going to make a difference. I calculate the base and OT rate on a reasonable amount for 50 hours a week.

$650 for 50 hrs/weekly = $13 average per hour. The base for this is probably around $11.75 and the OT would be around $17.25. You can offer to guarantee 40 at the base rate of 11:50 which would be $470 a week. You could also guarantee hours by just putting in the contract that you will guarantee at least $500 per week. You can also just give the nanny the difference if she doesn't work enough hours.

This is exactly the PPs point. If you are only guaranteeing 40 hours, the nanny/housekeeper would expect a higher base rate than 11.50/hour

If you guarentee 50 hours, you can pick a reasonable weekly salary and calculate the base and OT rate. If you guarentee a reasonable rate for 40 hours, you are likely to need to guarentee the same base rate as your average rate would otherwise be. That's makes your OT rate significantly higher.

This isn't going to make a difference. I calculate the base and OT rate on a reasonable amount for 50 hours a week.

$650 for 50 hrs/weekly = $13 average per hour. The base for this is probably around $11.75 and the OT would be around $17.25. You can offer to guarantee 40 at the base rate of 11:50 which would be $470 a week. You could also guarantee hours by just putting in the contract that you will guarantee at least $500 per week. You can also just give the nanny the difference if she doesn't work enough hours.

Anonymous wrote:Do you want her to guarantee availability for all 50 hours? Or just for 40? If the answer is for all 50, then you have your answer.

Agreed

Do you want her to guarantee availability for all 50 hours? Or just for 40? If the answer is for all 50, then you have your answer.

Indeed there will always be plenty of immigrants for us Americans to take advantage of.

Anonymous wrote:A housekeeper is not a nanny and a nanny is not a housekeeper. I don't get what's so hard to understand.

Relax. The OP will obviously be posting a position that you will not be interested in, but plenty of others will.

Thanks 8:24; I didn't think about it that way.

Anonymous wrote:It's definitely appropriate, but it may not be as cost effective as you think. If you guarantee 50 hours, you can pick a reasonable weekly salary and calculate the base and OT rate. If you guarantee a reasonable rate for 40 hours, you are likely to need to guarantee the same base rate as your average rate would otherwise be. That's makes your OT rate significantly higher.

+1
If you're only guaranteeing a 40 hour workweek, nannies will focus on that.

A housekeeper is not a nanny and a nanny is not a housekeeper. I don't get what's so hard to understand.

Sure your gardener might do some plumbing for you in a pinch, but if he kind of does a bit of everything, he's not really a specialist in anything.

"Jack (or Jane) of all trades,
is the master of none."

It's definitely appropriate, but it may not be as cost effective as you think. If you guarentee 50 hours, you can pick a reasonable weekly salary and calculate the base and OT rate. If you guarentee a reasonable rate for 40 hours, you are likely to need to guarentee the same base rate as your average rate would otherwise be. That's makes your OT rate significantly higher.

Only if you're okay with her not always being available for more than 40 hours. If you would like her to be available for 50 hours, that is what you should guarantee.

We are going to be hiring a full time nanny/housekeeper early this summer because both our kids will be in school full time. The job will be 50 hours most weeks but I would like to only guarantee 40 hours per week for 52 weeks per year. Is that appropriate?