Outside of being wonderful employers by respecting our contract and never undermining my authority, my family does a ton of little things to show me their appreciation.

They often buy me things they know I like - specific chocolate, cheese, wine, etc. They often shop at really nice markets so they've given me 'salads to make' bags to take home with a couple of nice veggies, cheese and herbs. The dad is a bit of an olive oil connoisseur so I have been stocked with amazing expensive olive oil for the last few years thanks to his generosity.

They always bring me little treats from travels - not location tshirts but something they know I'd appreciate. They send me pictures of the kids with little notes from them when they're away - not all the time and not in a 'work' way, but just to remind me the kids miss me and can't wait to see me.

They don't mind if I run personal errands from time to time with the kids - a bit of grocery shopping, popping to the bank. I've never abused this, but it has been hugely helpful on the couple occasions I did this.

I cook for the kids so I do most of the grocery shopping and I am welcome to buy things for myself as well, and help myself to their fridge and pantry. If we eat out with the kids, my meal is paid for.

We have an agreement that I buy stuff for them out of my own money (my idea because it's just easier for me than to constantly keep track of the petty cash box) and when I get reimbursed at the end of the month it's always rounded up to the next big number. It's only a couple of bucks, but that's just nice.

They're very generous with allowing me to take time off if need be and have a good back up system - invaluable. In return I try to be as flexible as possible.

They're very happy for the children to get to know my family and take an interest in my life outside of work - I play in a band and they have taken the children to my shows many times.

They are very appreciative of little things. I'm a bit of a neat freak so I occasionally sort out the kids wardrobes or craft supplies or toys (things that are not in my duties) or cook a big meal for the entire family, and they are incredibly thankful and never forget to say so. I think it's my biggest motivation to do extra things for them.

They're my afternoon family and not my main source of income, and they travel a lot and I quite like my flexibility, too, so our initial agreement was that I am only paid when I work (guaranteed hours but we let each other know in advance when we're away and those weeks are unpaid). Then, of their own accord, they suggested I should still be paid when they travel because they felt it unfair I should lose out on pay because of them. I was fine with our set up before, but it was a very nice thing coming from them.

In any case, I think the little perks are nice, but the most important thing for me is knowing and being told that what I do is being appreciated.

--Plane ticket home once a year to see her family (far away)
--Paid days off when we are traveling
--She has a very small apartment and we let her host her church small group at our house while we were traveling
--She is welcome to add items to our grocery list (or buy things she wants when she runs to the grocery store for us)
--We help support her church charity (she helps organize backpacks for kids in her church whose parents can't afford to buy them).
--Movie tickets for her and her friends - she wouldn't necessarily spend the money to go to the movies but loves going so we give her 4-6 ticket vouchers every birthday and Christmas

Nanny here- a gas card would be great if she is driving your children using her own vehicle. I know I would appreciate that from my employer, considering I drive almost 40 miles a day to pick up the kiddos from preschool, take them home, and wait for MB or DB to arrive home for $10/hr. So it's part-time, but I'm also a SAHM mom and they allow me to bring my 23 MO daughter. I'm not hurting for money, I do this simply to bring in the extra income, and I enjoy the children and the interaction between their children and my daughter. Many might say I'm taken advantage of, but I really love this family. They are so kind, but a gas card would be great. If she's not driving your kids around or driving a distance to your home, maybe a giftcard to a shopping center would be great. You can never go wrong with giftcards. Also, extremely kind of you to treat your nanny with such thoughtfulness.

Anonymous wrote:We live in San Francisco, and some of our perks are location-specific.

We pay for a gym membership as one of the benefits - we consider it part of being healthy.
At least a couple of times a season we get the nanny two tickets to a ballgame.
When we travel we generally either have our nanny fly with us there OR back (working) but not both, and give an extra day or two in the foreign city for them to explore on their own. So we extend their hotel stay and give about $100 per day for food and whatever else they might want to buy.
One time DD came home from school saying a school friend woke up on their birthday with a bedroom filled with balloons, and the nanny said nobody's ever done that for her. Challenge accepted!
On the nanny's birthday DH and I come home early and bring a cake so we can sing happy birthday and celebrate.
We got the nanny tickets to the Color Factory.

Wow!

Anonymous wrote:I've added her name as the second adult (or an add-on if they allow it) to our family memberships at local attractions, so she can also use them on her own time.

I give her a $50 Walmart gift card every couple of months. She has a credit card to use to buy supplies and such for crafts or cooking projects, but she also occasionally picks up stuff herself. I figure this covers it.

Obviously if she takes the kids out to eat, we pay for her meal, too.

I let her run personal errands with the kids if she needs to. She's done things like look at a rental house, stop in for a lab test, stop by a notary ... that kind of thing.

You are a great boss!!!!!

A great nanny perk is if you have a full-time Nanny, you should let her use your washer + dryer while working so she doesn’t have to spend her free time washing clothes.

Anonymous wrote:Let her go home early sometimes and don't dock her pay.
This used to make my day when I was a Nanny.

This is what we do. A grandparent comes and let see her out 30 min before her official end time once or twice a week. I pay her anyway and it's even part of her OT pay. We go on more vacations than the 2 weeks and she gets that time paid. I take random days off and let her out around 2 pm (with notice so she can make plans). She's welcome to all the food in the house as well. I get her extra jars of local honey that she loves (my friend keeps bees) and bags of lemons for tea in winter.

After a year with us, we covered her gas 100%. She drives ten miles each way and I don't want to ever lose her to a family closer to her home.

Put her name on our Netflix, Hulu and hbo on demand.

Let her go home early sometimes and don't dock her pay.
This used to make my day when I was a Nanny.

Anonymous wrote:I've added her name as the second adult (or an add-on if they allow it) to our family memberships at local attractions, so she can also use them on her own time.

I give her a $50 Walmart gift card every couple of months. She has a credit card to use to buy supplies and such for crafts or cooking projects, but she also occasionally picks up stuff herself. I figure this covers it.

Obviously if she takes the kids out to eat, we pay for her meal, too.

I let her run personal errands with the kids if she needs to. She's done things like look at a rental house, stop in for a lab test, stop by a notary ... that kind of thing.

Nanny here and personal errands are a major perk for me. I work 7am-6pm or later, sondoing things like the post office or the bank during my off hours is either impossible or requires a long wait in line. I don’t abuse it but that little bit of leeway makes my weekends run much more smoothly.

I've added her name as the second adult (or an add-on if they allow it) to our family memberships at local attractions, so she can also use them on her own time.

I give her a $50 Walmart gift card every couple of months. She has a credit card to use to buy supplies and such for crafts or cooking projects, but she also occasionally picks up stuff herself. I figure this covers it.

Obviously if she takes the kids out to eat, we pay for her meal, too.

I let her run personal errands with the kids if she needs to. She's done things like look at a rental house, stop in for a lab test, stop by a notary ... that kind of thing.

We live in San Francisco, and some of our perks are location-specific.

We pay for a gym membership as one of the benefits - we consider it part of being healthy.
At least a couple of times a season we get the nanny two tickets to a ballgame.
When we travel we generally either have our nanny fly with us there OR back (working) but not both, and give an extra day or two in the foreign city for them to explore on their own. So we extend their hotel stay and give about $100 per day for food and whatever else they might want to buy.
One time DD came home from school saying a school friend woke up on their birthday with a bedroom filled with balloons, and the nanny said nobody's ever done that for her. Challenge accepted!
On the nanny's birthday DH and I come home early and bring a cake so we can sing happy birthday and celebrate.
We got the nanny tickets to the Color Factory.

I've had a nanny for several years, and try to be the kind of employer that I'd want to work for. One thing I'm curious to hear about some of the small perks that families may offer to their nannies, things that are outside of compensation, bonus, health insurance, and PTO. For instance, with our current nanny, she's free to buy groceries for her own meals that she eats at our house (generally breakfast or lunch) when she's doing the grocery shopping for us, which is somewhat of a perk because she doesn't eat the same things that the kids do. We've also been very flexible about her bringing her kids with her from time to time, such as when they've had a non-holiday off from school. And we're flexible on sick leave -- she can take it to care for a sick kid or to attend a dr appt.

I realize that these sorts of things don't make up for low pay or treating a nanny poorly, but at the same time, I've worked at various jobs and often appreciated some of the little things that I get from my company. One company I worked for had a free cafeteria with really good food, a couple of had free on-site gyms, and a one company issued employees smart phones as well as LTE-enabled tablets, and paid for unlimited service on the devices (they'd also replace them if the screen got cracked or whatever).

Anyway, interested to hear some of the smaller things that other families do for their nannies to let them know in little ways that they're appreciated.