7:05? HAHAHA

My boss is LATE 15 MINUTES to take me home. She's on her phone talking to her relatives.

Dang. I feel like you need a new nanny. You guys offer great benefits. I love my family but I don’t get those type of benefits!! I work part time some months and full time other months but always make sure to show up 5 mins early or call if I’m going to be late. As for phones, sometimes I will go on my phone for a few mins while the kids play together but I don’t sit and watch my own TV shows. That’s dismissive. My opinion would be to let her go.

Agree with PPs that 1) she feels underpaid (2 weeks bonus isn’t anything special) and 2) that is exacerbated by her being part time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen good nannies become slacker nannies when they feel underpaid. Only OP knows if this might be an issue.

Most people who feel like they’re well paid don’t want to lose their job.

I don’t think she’s underpaid at all! We even gave her a Christmas bonus that was two weeks of her salary!

Honestly this is probably part of the issue. Bonuses should be performance based and you are effectively telling her that her current performance is worth double her weekly salary...

She sounds like a crappy nanny. Part-time nannies tend to be flakier as a group.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen good nannies become slacker nannies when they feel underpaid. Only OP knows if this might be an issue.

Most people who feel like they’re well paid don’t want to lose their job.

I don’t think she’s underpaid at all! We even gave her a Christmas bonus that was two weeks of her salary!

Honestly this is probably part of the issue. Bonuses should be performance based and you are effectively telling her that her current performance is worth double her weekly salary...

Just get a new nanny. I don't know why you can't figure this out.

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen good nannies become slacker nannies when they feel underpaid. Only OP knows if this might be an issue.

Most people who feel like they’re well paid don’t want to lose their job.

I don’t think she’s underpaid at all! We even gave her a Christmas bonus that was two weeks of her salary!

I’ve seen good nannies become slacker nannies when they feel underpaid. Only OP knows if this might be an issue.

Most people who feel like they’re well paid don’t want to lose their job.

I think it’s time to get a new nanny. Your current nanny does not have your child’s best interest in mind (TV and not engaging). The lateness thing would drive me crazy. In my book you get one or two “sleep thru the alarm” in a year - not every month. Sounds to me like you hired a babysitter and not a nanny.

Look for a former preschool teacher, OP, or a nanny who is older (less likely to be addicted to her phone) and loves playing with your toddler.

Definitely get a new nanny and build at least 15-20 mins into the schedule before you have to be out the door. I was a nanny for 12 years and now a mom boss for 3 and I have never had less than 15 mins overlap. That sounds really stressful for everyone.

Thank you!! I only call when she gets there late b/c I used to be working from outside the home and HAD to be out the door by 7:05 (we had a couple minutes overlap so I could talk about how he slept, ate, etc. and prep her on anything for the day). When I call her at 7:05 it's still 20ish minutes until she gets to our home. She is not a young nanny - she is actually 35 and a career nanny which is making me even more frustrated about all of this.

I know that she cares for him and has his best interest at heart, but the excessive missing days (even with COVID) is getting frustrating for us and scrambling to cancel. Yes, I know we should have backup care and we DO, but when I'm relying on my backups 50% of the time that's when there is an issue

The only thing I see problematic on your end is the fact that you call her if she isn’t at your home at the EXACT minute she is supposed to be.

I mean - I get how important it is to be prompt & on time.
But five minutes late is not enough grace time to call her.
I am sure others will disagree w/me on this…..this is just my personal opinion.

However that is benign compared to what your Nanny is doing (or not doing!)
How old is she? I am only asking because it does not appear that she is taking her job 100% seriously.
If she is young > perhaps she thinks caring for little kids is “easy money” and she doesn’t depend on her position w/your family to pay her bills.

I personally think she is an inefficient employee.
Especially most recently.
She has not shown up for a lot of her scheduled workdays + I think it is just rude and absurd that she is texting your Mother-in-Law at such an early hour, asking to trade days.
She is showing you she has zero respect.

I think you have very good cause to issue this person her walking papers.
You sound like a very good employer who seems to be taken advantage of by this irresponsible Nanny.

I wish you all the best in your search for a better Nanny for your child.

You need to look for another nanny. She's on the way out anyway.

Hi All!

Backstory: So we have had our nanny for ~1 year now. She first joined us when our son was a newborn, so expectations were pretty much keep him on a (somewhat) schedule, fed, clean, etc. We gave her a pass to the zoo, encouraged walks, trips to the park, etc. If she took him out for whatever reason we paid for it (took to an exhibit we would pay for her). She works for us 3 days/week, and many times we let her go early (and still pay her). We offer her 6 days of sick time, 3 vacation days, and then anytime we are on vacation she gets paid as well. We have been flexible with her schedule, if things come up she can switch days with my MIL, etc. and many days she gets off early since I (mom) WFH or my mom comes and gets him for a sleepover.

There have been SEVERAL instances of Nanny being late (call her at 7:05 when she is supposed to be here at 7) and it's clear that we have woken her up from sleeping and she'll be here soon. No big deal, I get people sleep through their alarms, but this happens 1-2x a month...

We have had a conversation with her saying we NEED her here M-W and she needs to be more attentive to our son.

Our issue:

Since January she has been sick 9 of the 19 days she is supposed to work. She got COVID and had a doctors note saying she could not work for 2 weeks, but this was AFTER already being out 1 week. No big deal, we made it work with our schedules and family stepped in to help. After being out for 3 weeks we had a talk with her and asked how she wanted to handle the 8 days she had been out - Sick, Vacation, Unpaid, etc. She asked us how OUR employers were handling COVID (it's 2022, employers are no longer required to pay employees for COVID pay). We did have COVID as well, but worked through it the entire time. We (graciously) agreed to give her one week of COVID pay and she then used 5 sick days.

This year things have been slacking...child's laundry isn't getting done, I go down to the play area and she's on her phone and my child is on the other side of the room, they're at the table eating and she's watching videos on her phone, she is watching her shows while they are in the playroom on the tv, etc.

I told her I no longer wanted non-child tv shows on when he's awake (we rarely have the TV on in our home if child is awake, so I don't think this is a big deal) and that helped.

I don't know what to do, we are having another talk with her about how she NEEDS to be here and we rely on her. She's texting my MIL at 6 in teh morning and asking her to switch days with her. On one hand great, you're being pro-active, but on the other I am the child's mother and as his parents WE determine his schedule; she has done this several times even though we have told her she can't just ask my MIL anytime she doesn't want to work.

Help, what do we do? I feel like we have had very direct conversations with her about being attentive, being on time, we are flexible to a point but we need our son on a schedule.


Should we look for another nanny? Clearly we're not getting our point across with our expectations as we are having to continuously have these conversations with her.