MB here. I would ask your nanny if she is feeling burned out and would like a reduction in hours. There might be something else going on in her life responsible for the change in behavior. Or, perhaps the commute is getting to her. If I cut my nanny's hours, it would bring more stress to her life unless her compensation remained the same. We have a nanny that has been with us a long time. We have made various adjustments to the job and compensation package to keep her.

Meant: "Paying a nanny more should NOT affect quality of care."

If quality of care is decreasing or no acceptable you have a different problem - bad attitude nanny, incompetent nanny, burned out nanny, selfish nanny, etc.

bleigh wrote:Our nanny's schedule is Mon-Fri, 7 am-6 pm and I think she's at the beginning of a burnout. I've been thinking about reducing her schedule either by (a) having someone else work 7-9 am or 4-6 pm so that her schedule is 45 hours per week or (b) changing her schedule to Mon-Thu, 7 am-6 pm and hiring someone else to work on Fri. She's great at caring for my kids and I don't want to lose her to burnout. Do you like either of my changes or can you suggest one? (Staggered schedules with my spouse isn't an option.)

Background:
kids are ages 2.5 (my very active boy goes to a program 4 hours per day), 14 months and 8 weeks; she gets 15 PTO, and we reimburse 100% of health insurance.

Thanks!

Paying a nanny more should affect quality of care.
If 50 hours of week with 3 kids of different ages and schedules is too much for her, talk with her nicely about some solutions. Another nanny or housekeeper comes from 4-6pm or maybe Fridays or Wednesdays or something. Or maybe you put one or two kids in a morning preschool program. That could we with the afternoon naps or quiet time should be totally manageable. She would do pickups and maybe the drop off if you or spouse cannot.

Simple- ask her.

I also want to know why you think she is burnt out. Is the quality of her work suffering? Is she complaining? Has she been using crutches Mike screen time more frequently of late? Is she simply not getting around to extras like laundry?

I ask because there may be different options for addressing it depending upon your specific concerns, and because I myself am a nanny that works ridiculously long hours and I do not feel burnt out. I love my job and frankly it is my primary focus in life. I like being at work more than I like hanging out with friends, going to the movies activities. On the weekends when I go to a festival or an end, I always wish that I had my charges with me so that I can share the experience with them. There are some people who can work long hours in certain jobs and not find it overwhelming or stressful. Want to have her hours jobs? What is your relationship like? I have found that determinant for me and feeling burnt out he's not the number of hours worked, but understanding and appreciative my employers are.

For example, right now I work 7 AM through 7:30 PM with a one-year-old twins. I discussed with my employers that I would like to lay down and take a 30 minute power nap when the kids go down for their nap. That gives me the energy to get through my day and not be so exhausted when I get home that I don't have the energy to eat dinner or throw in a load of laundry. My employers agreed to that without making me feel as if I was lazy, and they are always appreciative of anything I do around the house or for the kids.

Why do you suspect she is burned out?
In all honesty caring for three young kids under 3.5 sounds like the perfect recipe, but you need to talk to her directly before you actually work out the logistics.

And if she is on board, I say give her Friday off so she gets a three-day weekend every week.

Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just a thought to bring to the discussion as well. If you hire a new PT nanny, you won't need to pay her OT. If the goal is purely to avoid burnout, and not save money, I'd consider offering your nanny an increase in hourly rate, so the extra OT gets worked back into her paycheck. At the very least, raise her base rate, so her average remains the same, but if you could go even further, I'm sure that would be appreciated.

Ahhh, DCUM's go-to advice. Less work, more money. Wish the rest of the world worked the way DCUM seems to think it does!

Sorry, the poster you are quoting and a mb. I roll my eyes all the time at the trouble people have with blended and average rates, but this is one situation where it makes sense to consider the affect your average rate will have on the nanny. If you cut OT out of a job and give those hours to a new person, money will be saved. I'm just pointing out, if saving money is not the goal (as it is much of the time when OT hours are reduced) it will go a long way to not take advantage of that savings and give it to the nanny instead.

Those are LONG days. Obviously discuss things with her, but if I were in her shoes I'd want to lighten that schedule.

Disagree with 09:56. You should begin the conversation.

Unless she has told you she is burned out I would leave it the way it is I wouldnt want to lose the money I was making.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just a thought to bring to the discussion as well. If you hire a new PT nanny, you won't need to pay her OT. If the goal is purely to avoid burnout, and not save money, I'd consider offering your nanny an increase in hourly rate, so the extra OT gets worked back into her paycheck. At the very least, raise her base rate, so her average remains the same, but if you could go even further, I'm sure that would be appreciated.

Ahhh, DCUM's go-to advice. Less work, more money. Wish the rest of the world worked the way DCUM seems to think it does!

We are simply pointing out that losing 10 hours a week of overtime is losing 15 hours of base pay. Presumably OP is looking for a solution because she wants to keep this nanny. Making the job financially unworkable does not meet that goal. If the nanny isn't worth paying and is burnt out them fire her and find someone fresh. If the nanny is burnt out because she is incredibly hardworking and dedicated and you don't want to lose her, then you need to factor finances into the equation.

Anonymous wrote:Just a thought to bring to the discussion as well. If you hire a new PT nanny, you won't need to pay her OT. If the goal is purely to avoid burnout, and not save money, I'd consider offering your nanny an increase in hourly rate, so the extra OT gets worked back into her paycheck. At the very least, raise her base rate, so her average remains the same, but if you could go even further, I'm sure that would be appreciated.

Ahhh, DCUM's go-to advice. Less work, more money. Wish the rest of the world worked the way DCUM seems to think it does!

Anonymous wrote:Just a thought to bring to the discussion as well. If you hire a new PT nanny, you won't need to pay her OT. If the goal is purely to avoid burnout, and not save money, I'd consider offering your nanny an increase in hourly rate, so the extra OT gets worked back into her paycheck. At the very least, raise her base rate, so her average remains the same, but if you could go even further, I'm sure that would be appreciated.

So, basically she should pay double for some of these hours so her nanny can have a nanny?

OP, you need to sit down with your nanny and ask her how she's feeling about the job. You also need to have specific examples of what you mean by "burnout," and you need to acknowledge that a cut in income would hurt her. But, you also are offering to make the job work for her without firing her, which would be the next step if she is burnt out.

If you do decide to go the part time route, I think you'll find it easier to find someone for the one full day than for just two hours each day.

Just a thought to bring to the discussion as well. If you hire a new PT nanny, you won't need to pay her OT. If the goal is purely to avoid burnout, and not save money, I'd consider offering your nanny an increase in hourly rate, so the extra OT gets worked back into her paycheck. At the very least, raise her base rate, so her average remains the same, but if you could go even further, I'm sure that would be appreciated.

You should definitely discuss this with her first. Unless you plan to raise her hourly rate to compensatenfor the drop in hours, you may be looking at her either having to scramble to pick up weekend sitting to balance the reduced hours or she will simply quit because you unceremoniously cut her hours/pay.

I am a fairly well-paid nanny at around $50,000 per year and I still live paycheck-to-paycheck. Reducing my pay by 1/5 would not work for me or reduce my stress level.

Our nanny's schedule is Mon-Fri, 7 am-6 pm and I think she's at the beginning of a burnout. I've been thinking about reducing her schedule either by (a) having someone else work 7-9 am or 4-6 pm so that her schedule is 45 hours per week or (b) changing her schedule to Mon-Thu, 7 am-6 pm and hiring someone else to work on Fri. She's great at caring for my kids and I don't want to lose her to burnout. Do you like either of my changes or can you suggest one? (Staggered schedules with my spouse isn't an option.)

Background:
kids are ages 2.5 (my very active boy goes to a program 4 hours per day), 14 months and 8 weeks; she gets 15 PTO, and we reimburse 100% of health insurance.

Thanks!