Anonymous wrote:Hi! I'm a nanny in a share for 2 Infant boys. My starting hourly rate was $17/hour, however I will say this is my first share and I've seen higher rates ($18-$20 starting) quoted as the norm.
The majority of my employers (3 out of 4) are federal employees and I was given all federal holidays as PTO, as well as 2 weeks vacation (one of which they choose) and 5 personal/sick/bad weather days. When I am sick, my employers work it out between the four of them who will cover for me and this has worked really well for us.
As far as what to look for in a potential family, its really important that you share similar parenting styles and communicate well with each other. Also you want to make sure you have similar expectations in mind for how the share will work, how long you'd like it to last, and how you will handle being employers together.
For your potential nanny, make sure to find someone whose style matches that of your and your share partners. She needs to have the experience and stamina to handle two young children at once, as well as juggling the expectations and desires of 4 parents. Good luck!
Agree with this poster 100%
To add:
When I started driving my charges regularly to classes like gymboree, I started receiving a monthly gas reimbursement.
Health insurance is a nice perk if you can swing it, but not necessary. I don't receive any money towards my health insurance.
As for vacation time: My contract calls for one month's notice. Since I tend to fly during my vacations, I book them much further out than one month. And unless there are specific dates I need to be somewhere, I try and work my vacation time around my employer's vacation time (summer, Christmas).
For sick days I try and call the night before. Both families have some backup care, but I try to avoid calling in sick unless it's something serious -- high fever, vomiting.
One day when I was sick, the moms from each family split up the day so they could get some work done from home.