I think your nanny has to choose: she either has guaranteed hours (which implies her availability during these hours) or freedom (which implies erratic payment).

It's your car. You have every right to know where it is.

You're unreasonable demands are going to cost you a good nanny.

I’ve been with my nanny family for 10 years. The kids are in school but I have guaranteed hours. Usually I only work 3-7:30pm. The parents keep me because they don’t have the kinds of jobs they can go without a nanny. I think MB kind of resents paying me 40hrs for 25, but if they didn’t have me on call they’d have no one for sick days or days or school and breaks. When I’m on call, I’m at my house doing whatever I please. I keep my phone on and wake up at 6am and get ready in case they call me in for a sick day. Otherwise I go get my nails done, my hair, groceries, babysit for other families (Mb’s sham friends who know I have to leave if she calls) whatever. If the school or MB calls, I drop everything and go get the kids. MB only asks me to do groceries and that’s it, so I just do theirs when I do mine. In return I never ever call in sick and will babysit sat nights for free when needed (since it’s outside of my guaranteed hours). It’s good for both of us. I think op needs to specify the nanny can’t leave, since maybe she thought she could.

She had chores (ie. something to do). She was within the right radius to be able to get to school to pick up kids early if necessary (illness or injury, presumably). She didn’t ask for time off because she wasn’t sure when she’d be done with chores, then decided she had enough time (less than 1 hour). That means she used common sense to evaluate needs and opportunity. Would you rather she ask for the day off?!

Anonymous wrote:what is the right answer in this situation? Our kids are in school. We pay our nanny to work several hours before she picks them up, and she has chores like grocery shopping and laundry. The chores don’t always take up all of her agreed hours, but obviously we pay her anyway. One day, she had finished her chores and left the house in our car an hour before she had to get the kids. I texted her to ask her to do something at the house, and she said that she had gone out and she would do it when she got back with the kids. I don’t know where she was, but there would be no reason for her to be so far away that she couldn’t get back and do what I asked before picking up the kids at school about 10 minutes from the house (unless she was doing a personal errand). I don’t mind if she goes out to grab lunch or whatever if she doesn’t have anything to do, but is it unfair of me to expect that she go back and do what I asked her to do when she is on the clock?

I put some of the most important parts in bold, OP.
She finished her chores. She thought she had an hour of time to run out and do something.
She took your car. That means she planned on doing her task, and going straight to pick up your kids. She was also planning ahead in case of traffic.
What did you ask her to do? Was it something that needed to be done right at that instant, or could it have been done in an hour when she was back at the house?
Did you specify that you wanted it done right then and there? It sounds like you asked her to (for example) take some chicken out of the freezer, and she said she'd do it when she got back. Not a big deal, IMO.

Why can't she run a personal errand if she's finished all of her chores and has an hour free?
You don't say how many hours/day and days/week she works, but maybe she needed to get to a bank or post office that has limited hours? Maybe she had a bad headache and needed to run to the store to get medicine?

Yes, it's unfair of you to expect her to sit at your house the entire time if she's finished everything.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly don’t know what you want to hear. Surely you know it’s draconian to expect her to sit in your house waiting for your beckon call. You seem to resent guaranteed hours, but you also surely know you can’t get a good nanny without them.

Actually, she is being paid to sit and wait as she is paid hourly. If she goes somewhere, she should let OP know and not charge her for the time.

I'd reduce the hours or increase the duties AND if it is your car put a tracker on it.

That’s one way to start looking for a new nanny.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly don’t know what you want to hear. Surely you know it’s draconian to expect her to sit in your house waiting for your beckon call. You seem to resent guaranteed hours, but you also surely know you can’t get a good nanny without them.

Actually, she is being paid to sit and wait as she is paid hourly. If she goes somewhere, she should let OP know and not charge her for the time.

I'd reduce the hours or increase the duties AND if it is your car put a tracker on it.

Clearly, she isn’t being paid to “sit and wait.”

Anonymous wrote:I honestly don’t know what you want to hear. Surely you know it’s draconian to expect her to sit in your house waiting for your beckon call. You seem to resent guaranteed hours, but you also surely know you can’t get a good nanny without them.

Actually, she is being paid to sit and wait as she is paid hourly. If she goes somewhere, she should let OP know and not charge her for the time.

I'd reduce the hours or increase the duties AND if it is your car put a tracker on it.

I honestly don’t know what you want to hear. Surely you know it’s draconian to expect her to sit in your house waiting for your beckon call. You seem to resent guaranteed hours, but you also surely know you can’t get a good nanny without them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what is the right answer in this situation? Our kids are in school. We pay our nanny to work several hours before she picks them up, and she has chores like grocery shopping and laundry. The chores don’t always take up all of her agreed hours, but obviously we pay her anyway. One day, she had finished her chores and left the house in our car an hour before she had to get the kids. I texted her to ask her to do something at the house, and she said that she had gone out and she would do it when she got back with the kids. I don’t know where she was, but there would be no reason for her to be so far away that she couldn’t get back and do what I asked before picking up the kids at school about 10 minutes from the house (unless she was doing a personal errand). I don’t mind if she goes out to grab lunch or whatever if she doesn’t have anything to do, but is it unfair of me to expect that she go back and do what I asked her to do when she is on the clock?

Yes, it is unfair unless you have stipulated where you need her to be. She could have used her free time to get her teeth cleaned or eyebrows done (thinking it was okay) and couldn’t run back to your house.

Tell your employee your expectations during her working hours. Just be clear. But under the circumstances you described, you are wrong to expect her to run back to your house the second you asked her to do so.

If she needs to get her teeth cleaned, shouldn’t she put in for paid leave at that time? How could she make an appointment for a dental visit during her paid hours and not think she might have to work?

I think PP was just using that as an example of a situation where the nanny couldn’t run home at OP’s will. Since what the nanny can and cannot do when finished her chores has not been discussed, I think OP is wrong in expecting her to run back to the house for anything short of an emergency.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what is the right answer in this situation? Our kids are in school. We pay our nanny to work several hours before she picks them up, and she has chores like grocery shopping and laundry. The chores don’t always take up all of her agreed hours, but obviously we pay her anyway. One day, she had finished her chores and left the house in our car an hour before she had to get the kids. I texted her to ask her to do something at the house, and she said that she had gone out and she would do it when she got back with the kids. I don’t know where she was, but there would be no reason for her to be so far away that she couldn’t get back and do what I asked before picking up the kids at school about 10 minutes from the house (unless she was doing a personal errand). I don’t mind if she goes out to grab lunch or whatever if she doesn’t have anything to do, but is it unfair of me to expect that she go back and do what I asked her to do when she is on the clock?

Yes, it is unfair unless you have stipulated where you need her to be. She could have used her free time to get her teeth cleaned or eyebrows done (thinking it was okay) and couldn’t run back to your house.

Tell your employee your expectations during her working hours. Just be clear. But under the circumstances you described, you are wrong to expect her to run back to your house the second you asked her to do so.

If she needs to get her teeth cleaned, shouldn’t she put in for paid leave at that time? How could she make an appointment for a dental visit during her paid hours and not think she might have to work?

Anonymous wrote:what is the right answer in this situation? Our kids are in school. We pay our nanny to work several hours before she picks them up, and she has chores like grocery shopping and laundry. The chores don’t always take up all of her agreed hours, but obviously we pay her anyway. One day, she had finished her chores and left the house in our car an hour before she had to get the kids. I texted her to ask her to do something at the house, and she said that she had gone out and she would do it when she got back with the kids. I don’t know where she was, but there would be no reason for her to be so far away that she couldn’t get back and do what I asked before picking up the kids at school about 10 minutes from the house (unless she was doing a personal errand). I don’t mind if she goes out to grab lunch or whatever if she doesn’t have anything to do, but is it unfair of me to expect that she go back and do what I asked her to do when she is on the clock?

Yes, it is unfair unless you have stipulated where you need her to be. She could have used her free time to get her teeth cleaned or eyebrows done (thinking it was okay) and couldn’t run back to your house.

Tell your employee your expectations during her working hours. Just be clear. But under the circumstances you described, you are wrong to expect her to run back to your house the second you asked her to do so.

I think if you are paying her, she should be there or close enough to do your tasks.

I think you should tell her that and also tell her that if she has an appointment or something that would take her away from that, she needs to tell you in advance.

what is the right answer in this situation? Our kids are in school. We pay our nanny to work several hours before she picks them up, and she has chores like grocery shopping and laundry. The chores don’t always take up all of her agreed hours, but obviously we pay her anyway. One day, she had finished her chores and left the house in our car an hour before she had to get the kids. I texted her to ask her to do something at the house, and she said that she had gone out and she would do it when she got back with the kids. I don’t know where she was, but there would be no reason for her to be so far away that she couldn’t get back and do what I asked before picking up the kids at school about 10 minutes from the house (unless she was doing a personal errand). I don’t mind if she goes out to grab lunch or whatever if she doesn’t have anything to do, but is it unfair of me to expect that she go back and do what I asked her to do when she is on the clock?