Anonymous wrote:I said in the contract it was one week her choosing, one week ours, but in reality since we guarantee hours she's looking at 3-4 weeks of my choosing and one of hers.

The difference between "week of your choosing" and "guaranteed hours" is that should you have to cancel a trip at the last minute, on the "week of your choosing," you couldn't expect her to come in or cancel any of her plans because you designated that as her vacation week. For other weeks, where you are paying "guaranteed hours," the assumption is that she is available to work, but you canceled on her.

My nanny gets two weeks of her own choosing (before someone jumps on me), but the "guaranteed hours" clause says: "Guaranteed hours assume you are available to work, and that we have canceled. We have never had to cancel a vacation, but it could happen! In this case, your choices would be 1) come to work, 2) use paid time off, 3) take unpaid time off."

My new contract reads two consecutive weeks of vacation and that I have the right to veto which weeks if travel would be too expensive. Guaranteed pay for all weeks the family travels for their vacation means that I will oversee the house as needed, but I have the right to travel with the understanding that I return early if they notify me that they are returning early. I will also be going along for family work trip, and I get 1 out of every 3 days as mine to do as I wish, no matter the location.

I said in the contract it was one week her choosing, one week ours, but in reality since we guarantee hours she's looking at 3-4 weeks of my choosing and one of hers.

I get 2 weeks my choice, and sick days whenever I need them. If I am sick, I am sick. With that said if your nanny is constantly out sick you have other issues. I take maybe 1 sick day a year. So afer being with my family long term, that is our new arrangement, i would rather have the vacation days.

Anonymous wrote:What if I don't use all my sick leave in a year? Is it paid out at the end the year?

Personal days (encompasses sick days) are use or lose. vacation carries over. We gave her several options on how to handle this part of the benefit package and thisnisnthe option she chose

first year we did 2 weeks vacation (1 week our choosing), 1 week sick. This year we switched to 3 weeks PTO (1 week our choosing) to incentivize our nanny to use less sick days (last minute notice vs advance so we can get backup care).

Anonymous wrote:What if I don't use all my sick leave in a year? Is it paid out at the end the year?

It depends on the family. Some families allow rollover for sick leave, some pay out for unused sick leave if you don't take any. Some families allow rollover of PTO, some say use it or use it, some pay out any you choose not to use. Some families allow vacation to be paid out if not used, others say use it or lose it. I don't think anyone allows vacation to rollover unless it's negotiated in the contract.

What if I don't use all my sick leave in a year? Is it paid out at the end the year?

3 week of general PTO at nanny's choice to be used for any reason and paid out at the end of the year.

We do 12 days PTO all her choice in addition to guaranteed hours. It accrues at 1 day per month, and can roll over. I also don't reduce her pay for an occasional doctor's appointment that takes up less than 2 hours of work and is scheduled well in advance.

Anonymous wrote:5 days sick, 3 personal, and 2 weeks vacation her choosing. Sick gets paid out at end of year. Personal is use or lose. Vacation carries over.

Never understood how a week of employers choosing could be seen as A benefit if she has guaranteed pay

The week of their choosing is still a benefit because she can't be called in to stock the refrigerator, do the kids' laundry after they leave or take care of pets. Depending on the contract, a nanny who get s guaranteed pay may do any or all of those while the family is gone if it isn't a vacation week. And most nannies prefer to sort/donate kids' clothes, sort/clean/donate toys and do major prep for crafts and activities while the kids are gone.

Depends on the family.

Some packages are 3 weeks vacation (2 at the family's choice, 1 at nanny's choice), 5 days combined sick/PTO.

Some packages are 2 weeks vacation (1 at family's choice, 1 at nanny's choice). Those packages usually have 3-5 sick and 3-5 PTO or 5-10 combined sick/PTO.

Some packages are 1 week vacation (at nanny's choice), guaranteed pay for every week that the family is on vacation. Either they have 3-5 sick and 3-5 PTO or 5-10 combined sick/PTO.

Rare packages have 4+ weeks of vacation, more than 5 sick days, more than 5 PTO days and/or more than 10 combined sick/PTO days.

It depends on the family and the nanny. Can you arrange one week of care more easily that one day here, one day there? If so, go with more vacation and less PTO. If you travel a lot or have a lot of time off work, perhaps you should go with the one week vacation package, and anytime you are going to be gone for a week, nanny gets guaranteed pay to do 3-6 hours of prep for your return but otherwise is off. Most families choose to go with a package that has two weeks of vacation and more sick than PTO.

5 days sick, 3 personal, and 2 weeks vacation her choosing. Sick gets paid out at end of year. Personal is use or lose. Vacation carries over.

Never understood how a week of employers choosing could be seen as A benefit if she has guaranteed pay

If you do a search you'll see many answers to this.

What's the standard? How many days do you offer?