Anonymous wrote:I imagine a restaurant would cope with a high turnover rate much better than a family/child would.

...Unless you're our poster-in-denial who believes that babies and little children can cope with any amount of nanny turnover without consequences. She wants a study done to prove otherwise. God help us.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. I pay a college-aged kid to work three hours each day. You get paid when you show up. You don't get paid when you don't show up.

Speak for yourself. If that's how your job is, good for you.

Help me here. When I worked at a restaurant, I had scheduled hours. However you could be "cut" and sent home early if the business was slow. You didn't get paid for scheduled hours, only actual hours. How is this different?

Even part time restaurant workers can be guaranteed a certain amount of hours, that is the similarity. The difference is that restaurant's part time workers, if not given any benefits such as guaranteed hours, do have a high turn over. Personally, if I am expected to keep a certain time slot available for you, but it is hit or miss if I'll actually work and get paid, I would not be able to maintain that. That type of position may require a retiree who did not need the money.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. I pay a college-aged kid to work three hours each day. You get paid when you show up. You don't get paid when you don't show up.

Speak for yourself. If that's how your job is, good for you.

Help me here. When I worked at a restaurant, I had scheduled hours. However you could be "cut" and sent home early if the business was slow. You didn't get paid for scheduled hours, only actual hours. How is this different?

Even part time restaurant workers can be guaranteed a certain amount of hours, that is the similarity. The difference is that restaurant's part time workers, if not given any benefits such as guaranteed hours, do have a high turn over. Personally, if I am expected to keep a certain time slot available for you, but it is hit or miss if I'll actually work and get paid, I would not be able to maintain that. That type of position may require a retiree who did not need the money.

Exactly, a family does not want to be hiring 3 different people over the year. Also, most PT jobs outside of the after school nanny world can offer more hours per week if needed. If the nanny job is only for 2-3 hours per day, 5 days a week, you better expect to be paying me for all that time whether you come home 30 minutes early or not. Or I will leave your position, and find another one. I can always go work at a restaurant instead and get more hours each day as well.

I imagine a restaurant would cope with a high turnover rate much better than a family/child would.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. I pay a college-aged kid to work three hours each day. You get paid when you show up. You don't get paid when you don't show up.

Speak for yourself. If that's how your job is, good for you.

Help me here. When I worked at a restaurant, I had scheduled hours. However you could be "cut" and sent home early if the business was slow. You didn't get paid for scheduled hours, only actual hours. How is this different?

Anonymous wrote:She is an afterschool babysitter. She gets ZERO benefits. only pay her when you need her, OP.

Maybe in your mind this is how it works. Things are changing though, and many after school nannies are getting more and more benefits that were even considered in the past. The only ones that are still not common are Health benefits and a cell phone stipend. If you want someone dependable, that will stick around for not just the whole year but maybe even come back for the next, then you will reconsider that extra paid day off here and there if it makes her happy.

OP, do you want this sitter to guarantee her time to you? You cannot expect her to keep your time slot available if you are not willing to guarantee she'll be paid for that time. I am a nanny and I have a family that I work for once a week, but the pay is not guaranteed, so I have no qualms about taking off work when needed. This situation works fine for us, but wouldn't work for most people. I think that you should consider the dependability that you are looking for, then pay appropriately to get it.

OP here. Thanks all.

FYI - she is a slightly-older-than-traditional-aged college student and deliberately arranges her class schedule to be available in the afternoons for babysitting work. She's had an after-school position for the past couple of years and is eager to continue that kind of arrangement. She is unlikely to jump around between jobs - she has said a number of times that she wants to make a commitment for the year that she can count on (and that is what she has done in the past). So we just need to work out the details.

I am generally of the "you get paid for the hours you work" mind set when it comes to babysitters, but I also am willing to make some concessions in order to land & keep this sitter. I will take the various suggestions into account and put together a plan that hopefully we both can be happy with!