I am an MB and I am never late. I get off at 5pm, and it takes me 30 minutes to get home. But since I know things come up and traffic varies, I have my nanny on (and pay her) until 6pm. Then when I get home at 5:30pm or 5:45pm, I have a few minutes to change by myself and then hear about the day before she leaves. And there has been a time or two that I've gotten home right at 6pm, and then I'm not stressed that I'm late. That's what I do.

If you're an MB who needs a little flexibility, I don't see why you wouldn't do it that way (really, it can't be that much to pay an extra half hour each day, can it?). Alternatively, you could say the nanny's end time was between 5pm and 6pm and that she will be paid in 15 minute round increments depending on actual departure time. That seems annoying to track though.

If I were a nanny and my bosses were repeatedly late (like more than once or twice a month), I would say something - "My end time is 6pm, and you have been home at 6:20pm five times this month. I make plans for after work assuming I'll be leaving at 6pm, and when you are late, it means I'm late for my afterwork plans. Additionally, it means that I am in your home for about an additional half hour for which I am not getting paid. Can we discuss some options for how to address this issue?" But then you also better be sure not to be late yourself after that conversation!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A little late happens. Its called having a job and getting stuck in traffic. An hour late is a different situation. Not all jobs are 9-5. If you are late, is it ok for them to dock you 5-10 dollars each time. You'd be pretty upset over that. Be flexible.

If I was consistently 5-10 minutes late my pay would not be docked, I would be fired. Traffic is pretty consistently bad at the same time each day and I'm guessing you take the same route to get home after work. Factor traffic into your commute or have your nanny's day end officially a half an hour later to give yourself some wiggle room. There is no excuse for routine lateness and it is not an issue of flexibility, it is one of respect.

The reason for having a nanny is having flexibility. We see people who walk-in as our office closes. I always call but often I have no alternative but to work late as my boss demands it. If I lose my job, so does my nanny. My husband has an hour commute so by the time I realize I have to work late, he often cannot get home in time. It sucks for everyone around but if I had better options, we'd be in a center which would be far cheaper.

Understandable, but that doesn't mean you tell your nanny her end time is your end time +commute time and then cross your fingers it actually happens on occasion. You factor in traffic, having to work a few minutes late here and there etc. and you make her end time reflect it. Do you see the difference in job satisfaction between a nanny schedule to get off at 5, but only occasionally does, versus a nanny scheduled until 5:30, whose MB gets home anywhere between 5-5:30, allowing her to properly discuss the day and leave at her actual end time? The second nanny feels like her end time is respected and on the rare occasion her MB is running significantly late, that nanny would still only leave maybe 15 minutes late, and probably isn't going to think twice about it. Yes a nanny should be flexible, but parents also should be respectful of her time and realistic about when they get home, their need to talk at the end of the day, change clothes, check mail, etc.

+1,000
I really don't see why this is such a difficult concept for some people to grasp. It seems like parents take the attitude that since they are paid more, their jobs and time is more important than ours. This "flexibility" bs is really getting old. Your nanny isn't being flexible when she deals with your constant lateness, he/she is just being taken advantage of.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A little late happens. Its called having a job and getting stuck in traffic. An hour late is a different situation. Not all jobs are 9-5. If you are late, is it ok for them to dock you 5-10 dollars each time. You'd be pretty upset over that. Be flexible.

If I was consistently 5-10 minutes late my pay would not be docked, I would be fired. Traffic is pretty consistently bad at the same time each day and I'm guessing you take the same route to get home after work. Factor traffic into your commute or have your nanny's day end officially a half an hour later to give yourself some wiggle room. There is no excuse for routine lateness and it is not an issue of flexibility, it is one of respect.

The reason for having a nanny is having flexibility. We see people who walk-in as our office closes. I always call but often I have no alternative but to work late as my boss demands it. If I lose my job, so does my nanny. My husband has an hour commute so by the time I realize I have to work late, he often cannot get home in time. It sucks for everyone around but if I had better options, we'd be in a center which would be far cheaper.

Understandable, but that doesn't mean you tell your nanny her end time is your end time +commute time and then cross your fingers it actually happens on occasion. You factor in traffic, having to work a few minutes late here and there etc. and you make her end time reflect it. Do you see the difference in job satisfaction between a nanny schedule to get off at 5, but only occasionally does, versus a nanny scheduled until 5:30, whose MB gets home anywhere between 5-5:30, allowing her to properly discuss the day and leave at her actual end time? The second nanny feels like her end time is respected and on the rare occasion her MB is running significantly late, that nanny would still only leave maybe 15 minutes late, and probably isn't going to think twice about it. Yes a nanny should be flexible, but parents also should be respectful of her time and realistic about when they get home, their need to talk at the end of the day, change clothes, check mail, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A little late happens. Its called having a job and getting stuck in traffic. An hour late is a different situation. Not all jobs are 9-5. If you are late, is it ok for them to dock you 5-10 dollars each time. You'd be pretty upset over that. Be flexible.

If I was consistently 5-10 minutes late my pay would not be docked, I would be fired. Traffic is pretty consistently bad at the same time each day and I'm guessing you take the same route to get home after work. Factor traffic into your commute or have your nanny's day end officially a half an hour later to give yourself some wiggle room. There is no excuse for routine lateness and it is not an issue of flexibility, it is one of respect.

The reason for having a nanny is having flexibility. We see people who walk-in as our office closes. I always call but often I have no alternative but to work late as my boss demands it. If I lose my job, so does my nanny. My husband has an hour commute so by the time I realize I have to work late, he often cannot get home in time. It sucks for everyone around but if I had better options, we'd be in a center which would be far cheaper.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A little late happens. Its called having a job and getting stuck in traffic. An hour late is a different situation. Not all jobs are 9-5. If you are late, is it ok for them to dock you 5-10 dollars each time. You'd be pretty upset over that. Be flexible.

If I was consistently 5-10 minutes late my pay would not be docked, I would be fired. Traffic is pretty consistently bad at the same time each day and I'm guessing you take the same route to get home after work. Factor traffic into your commute or have your nanny's day end officially a half an hour later to give yourself some wiggle room. There is no excuse for routine lateness and it is not an issue of flexibility, it is one of respect.

+1 if a nanny is late with the same frequency many MBs think is excusable for them, we wouldn't be having a discussion about docking pay, everyone would be screaming "fire her!" I don't sweat 10-15 minutes here and there. Its habitual lateness that is a problem, be it nanny or MB. If my MB was home 15 minutes late almost as much as she was on time, I'd be having a conversation about extending my work day to better suit her needs and to allow me to plan my evenings. As people who live in the city, we all know that 15 minutes can mean the difference between a 20 minute commute and an hour.

Anonymous wrote:A little late happens. Its called having a job and getting stuck in traffic. An hour late is a different situation. Not all jobs are 9-5. If you are late, is it ok for them to dock you 5-10 dollars each time. You'd be pretty upset over that. Be flexible.

If I was consistently 5-10 minutes late my pay would not be docked, I would be fired. Traffic is pretty consistently bad at the same time each day and I'm guessing you take the same route to get home after work. Factor traffic into your commute or have your nanny's day end officially a half an hour later to give yourself some wiggle room. There is no excuse for routine lateness and it is not an issue of flexibility, it is one of respect.

A little late happens. Its called having a job and getting stuck in traffic. An hour late is a different situation. Not all jobs are 9-5. If you are late, is it ok for them to dock you 5-10 dollars each time. You'd be pretty upset over that. Be flexible.

Communication, communication, communication. If you think you will be home anywhere between "4:00 and 5:00" make sure the babysitter knows it will be anywhere in that range. If this is a regular arrangement, then the nanny should know that you'll be home later than 4:00 some days and that she'll be compensated. If this is made known upfront so that she can plan (and so that you can verify she is OK with the arrangement). Then there's no problem.

If you claim you will be home 4:00 on the dot, and rarely are, then that's a problem.

When we run late, we round up the the nearest hour. I can understand others paying for the 15 mins or half hour worked. It strikes me as very poor behavior to routinely fail to pay someone for working late.

Anonymous wrote:I think you should learn how to use parenthesis.

We live in the city and rely on cabs and public transportation. Sometimes there are delays. Sometimes it's hard to get a cab. People who live in a city understand that and roll with it. Nobody's getting stressed out by 10 minutes here. So we tell our nanny/babysitter that we'll be home around midnight, and that means anywhere between 11:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. If we got home at 12:45 then we'd tip extra for being 15 minutes late.

You are the kind of parent that drives nannies and babysitters nuts. Saying around midnight (or 4 pm, or any other agreed upon time) does NOT mean it is ok to show up at 12:30. Yes, many people take public transportation but that needs to be factored into an arrival time, not used as an excuse for tardiness. If your nanny said she would be there "around 8 am" and then showed up at 8:15 or 8:30 and blamed it on the traffic, you would be pretty pissed. It goes both ways. Respect the time of the people you employ.

-Not PP you were criticizing, but how was my parenthesis use?

I think you should learn how to use parenthesis.

We live in the city and rely on cabs and public transportation. Sometimes there are delays. Sometimes it's hard to get a cab. People who live in a city understand that and roll with it. Nobody's getting stressed out by 10 minutes here. So we tell our nanny/babysitter that we'll be home around midnight, and that means anywhere between 11:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. If we got home at 12:45 then we'd tip extra for being 15 minutes late.

Anonymous wrote:If its a FT job you should be a little accommodating and flexible. That will possibly get you a bonus and a great reference. It makes a nanny more dependable and likable if she makes life easier on you and doesn't fuss over a few minutes.

If its a casual babysitting job, charge for the extra time

This is a big if. In my experience, if a family is the type to come home late relatively frequently(multiple times a week is too often) and offers little more than a flippant " sorry, oh well", they tend also to be the type to forget about the little things when reference or bonus time comes. I worked for one such family for over a year; they were late 2-3 times a week, left piles of dishes around the kitchen that I took to cleaning because it grossed me out, and couldn't manage to remember to run my payroll on time or get my hours right. Come bonus time, nothing not even a card or a thank you for the gift I got their child. Eventually I gave notice, they flipped out and threatened to sue me! I bent over backwards for this family but some people are just take take take type people. If the being late bothers you, say something. Don't sit around silently fuming expecting a big payout later because it very well may not come.

Anonymous wrote:If its a FT job you should be a little accommodating and flexible. That will possibly get you a bonus and a great reference. It makes a nanny more dependable and likable if she makes life easier on you and doesn't fuss over a few minutes.

If its a casual babysitting job, charge for the extra time

This advice is nuts. Don't allow yourself to be taken advantage of, OP, unless they are your new charity case.

If its a FT job you should be a little accommodating and flexible. That will possibly get you a bonus and a great reference. It makes a nanny more dependable and likable if she makes life easier on you and doesn't fuss over a few minutes.

If its a casual babysitting job, charge for the extra time

My families usually tend to go by 15 minute increments (if about 15 minutes late, then add 1/4th of my hourly rate etc).

I have one family that doesn't, she isn't normally more than 15 minutes late but it does get irritating that she thinks a sorry is enough and then doesn't offer to let me go early (or start a bit later) another day to balance it out. She has a flexible schedule and could do this, and it is a live-in exchange so my pay just goes towards my rent/utilities. An offer to buy me dinner when they do takeout would make up for it as well, but I think she just doesn't think that 15 minutes affects me since I live there?

I had one parent that would throw me an extra $5 if she went 5 minutes over my normal time, half the time I would tell her it was alright and not to bother (if we had just been talking for that extra time).

Sorry if this has been discussed already, but I am fairly new on here.

Anyway, I am seeing this problem a lot in my work as a Nanny/Babysitter and am wondering what is appropriate.

On many occasions the parents will show up later than expected...Nothing major...Usually within a 10-20 min. time frame. I notice many families handle it differently. Some will simply apologize, then pay me my regular amount and send me on my merry way. Others will add five dollars while others will round up either to the half hour or the whole hour. The ones who add up to the whole hour explain they do it because number one.) They were late and feel I should be compensated for my extra time and number two.) That since they agreed to be home by a certain time...say 8PM, then came home at say 8:20PM, they know that I had counted on leaving at 8 so for the inconvenience of that principle alone, I should be compensated and rounded up for the next hour.

What do you all think?
And what do you all do?